Flexible working conditions are enticing more women back into the workforce, reducing the shortage of qualified therapists, says leading NDIS therapy provider Therapy Connect.
As online therapy experiences growing acceptance, more female practitioners, especially mothers, are bridging the chronic supply and demand gap impacting patients around Australia.
The latest data from the Australian Government Department of Health fact sheet shows that only 11 per cent of occupational therapists are currently employed. Studies show a shortfall of over 200k health workers by 2050, specifically in the aged care and disability sector.
Currently, 90 per cent of Therapy Connect practitioners are women who find the model ideally suitable for their lifestyle while ensuring they are still making a valuable contribution to the thousands of Australian NDIS therapy participants.
Sunshine Coast mum and Therapy Connect speech pathologist, Kirstyn O’Rourke, was able to pack up her family and travel around Australia while providing specialist care for clients from her caravan.
“I am so grateful for the opportunity to take that year to travel with my family. We wouldn’t have been able to do it if I hadn’t worked. It’s so important for the allied health industry to provide flexibility for both mums and dads.
“Being a female-dominated profession, flexibility allows those who choose to work and parent to still their family first. Flexibility and balancing working hours with ‘living hours’ is becoming more and more important, especially in industries like ours.”
Therapy Connect Co-Founder Simone Dudley said the online model had attracted more women back into the allied health industry, encouraging practitioners such as Kirstyn to excel in their careers while balancing family life.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have seen the reality of healthcare ‘burnout’, and it’s one of the leading causes of the skill shortage,” she said.
“Therapy Connect’s online model doesn’t just support our workforce; it has also improved employee productivity and engagement as well as helped with recruitment and retention.
“Caring for the healthcare workforce with flexible work hours to suit their family, lifestyle and location has never been more important. Therapy Connect offers highly skilled allied health professionals the opportunity to have the best of both worlds – a rewarding career and a fulfilling lifestyle with freedom to work from anywhere and set their own hours.”
To find out more, visit: therapyconnect.com.au/
