Our Team
At Thrive Health Therapies, our highly experienced multidisciplinary team is dedicated to delivering the best possible outcomes to help you reach your goals. Comprising skilled professionals across various allied health disciplines, our team is passionate about providing tailored support and evidence-based interventions that empower clients of all ages. Whether you're seeking assistance with speech pathology, occupational therapy, or physiotherapy, we are here to guide you every step of the way.
Management Team
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Rachel King
Director & Lead Physiotherapist
Rachel has 9 years experience working in community rehabilitation both in Australia and in Cambodia. She is passionate about helping clients reach their goals through her clinical work and by working to ensure Thrive Health Therapies provides fair, professional and knowledgable services. Outside work, Rachel enjoys spending time with family and keeping her kelpies entertained!
Occupational Therapists
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Renee Romeo
Clinical Director/Senior Paediatric Occupational Therapist
Renee has 17 years experience working as an OT with paediatric clients. She works with children with Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, developmental disorders, genetic disorders, learning difficulties and other developmental areas.
As our Clinical Director, Renee provides guidance and training to our therapists and is the first point of call to answer any clinical enquiries from clients, parents and other informal and formal supports.
Outside work Renee enjoys cycling, surfing and spending time with her family.
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Simon Forby
Occupational Therapy Team Leader/ Senior Occupational Therapist
Simon graduated Flinders University with a Masters in Occupational Therapy in 2020. Since then he has had experience working within acute, rehabilitation and community settings across metropolitan hospitals and country settings. Simon joined Thrive in 2023 wanting to work more closely with NDIS participants to achieve their goals and build stronger relationships. Outside of work Simon enjoys playing football, camping across SA, and cooking.
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Samuel Lawless
Senior Occupational Therapist
Sam brings to our team a wealth of knowledge, with 15 years experience as an OT and over 6 years experience working with NDIS participants. Sam has worked in aged care and metropolitan, rural and international hospitals. He works with adults across a range of diagnosis including physical, intellectual and psychosocial disabilities. In his spare time, Sam loves to travel, go to the beach and spend time with his friends and family.
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Sonja Kumar
Senior Occupational Therapist
Sonja has 15 years of experience as an OT, working mainly in the hospital setting across a number of wards (brain injury, renal, geriatric) and in day rehabilitation with people with neurological, orthopedic, geriatric and chronic conditions. She was the lead senior clinician in the clinical trial of the Care of People with Dementia and has published a systematic review regarding OT & Parkinson’s Disease. Outside work, Sonja enjoys going to the park, baking and reading.
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Ashleigh Koch
Senior Occupational Therapist
Ashleigh is based in Gawler and primarily provides OT services in Gawler and surrounds. She has had 13 years experience as an OT, working across aged care and disability sectors. She has experience working with NDIS participants with physical, intellectual and psychosocial disabilities. In her spare time, Ash enjoys spending time with her family and keeping fit!
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Jessamy Blair
Senior Occupational Therapist
Jessamy has 10 years of experience working as an OT in a community setting with NDIS participants.
She has a strong interest working with adults with neurological conditions, and has predominantly worked with individuals with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). She also has experience working with individuals with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities and spinal cord injuries. She has completed trauma informed training for developing interoception awareness.
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Jessica Ciarla
Senior Occupational Therapist
Jess has over 11 years experience in acute, rehabilitation and community settings working with adults with a range of diagnoses including orthopaedic/vascular conditions, geriatric conditions, neurological disabilities and a range of medical and surgical conditions. Majority of her career has been spent working in acute hospital settings and Jess has recently joined the Thrive team in 2024. Jess has a great interest and passion to work with NDIS participants and support them to achieve their goals and develop new skills and greater independence to maximise their health and wellbeing throughout daily life. In her spare time, Jess enjoys spending time with her family and friends and is a mum to two young daughters.
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Kate Levett
Senior Occupational Therapist
Kate brings to our team a wealth of knowledge, with 10 years experience as an OT and 3 years experience working with NDIS participants. Kate has worked in a variety of roles across her career, including community aged care, acute community based care, residential aged care, and community mental health across metropolitan and rural settings. She works with adults across a range of diagnoses including physical, intellectual and psychosocial disabilities. In her spare time, Kate enjoys spending time with her family and friends.
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Natasha Gadaleta
Senior Occupational Therapist
Natasha is an OT with over 12 years experience working in various settings with knowledge of a wide range of conditions. Majority of her career has been spent with adults in aged care and rehabilitation settings, including chronic pain rehabilitation. She also brings experience working with both children and adults with vision loss and blindness. Natasha enjoys supporting clients to feel empowered and knowledgeable, to be able to do more of what is important to them in their day to day lives. Outside of work you will find her listening to a podcast, walking at the beach and spending time with her family.
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Gabrielle Brunton
Senior Occupational Therapist
Gabi completed a Bachelor of Health Science in 2020, and a Master of Occupational Therapy in 2022. She has gained experience in both hospital and community settings.
Gabi is passionate about increasing access to health services in country areas, with a keen interest in helping people to engage with the activities that are meaningful to them.
Outside of work you’ll find her at the beach, spending time with family (including her kelpie), or cooking.
Physiotherapists
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Bianca Shepard-Furler
Senior Physiotherapist
Bianca has 6 years experience in both inpatient acute care services and community Physiotherapy having worked in Perth and Adelaide. Her passions include gait rehabilitation post amputation, upper and lower limb rehabilitation post stroke, as well as working with people with neurological conditions including spinal cord injury, Parkinson's disease and Multiple Sclerosis. Bianca enjoys working closely with participants and providers to create mobility and manual handling plans to optimise function and community participation, including reintegration back into sports.
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Rachel King
Director & Lead Physiotherapist
Rachel has 10 years experience working in community rehabilitation both in Australia and in Cambodia. She is passionate about helping participants reach their goals through her clinical work and by working to ensure Thrive Health Therapies provides fair, professional and knowledgable services. Outside work, Rachel enjoys spending time with family and keeping her kelpies entertained!
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Razz Jaafar
Senior Physiotherapist
Razz has 6 years clinical experience both in community and hospital settings across country and metro based health services having worked in both Victoria and Adelaide. His particular interests include cardiorespiratory & stroke rehabilitation & enjoys working with people to create some outside of the box therapy ideas specific to them. Razz likes to take a restorative care approach to therapy addressing target areas holistically to maximize independence and work on client cantered goals important to them. Outside of work Razz enjoys reading, playing video games and travelling to different parts of the world.
Speech Pathologists
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Cassandra Raulinaitis
Senior Speech Pathologist
Cassandra graduated Flinders University with a Masters in Speech Pathology in 2021, previously completing her bachelor’s degree in linguistics at the University of Western Australia in 2019. She has experience working with paediatric clients within the community. She has experience working with NDIS participants in a range of areas including: speech, language, literacy, feeding, and dysphagia. In her spare time, Cassandra enjoys cycling, running, swimming, and spending time with family and friends.
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Referral Form
Fill out our easy online referral form and we’ll be in touch!