Elizabeth Davis

About me

I am a registered and Mental Health Endorsed Occupational Therapist, working since 2010 and have experience in public mental health, community health, and private mental health.
I am passionate about meeting people where they are at and supporting them to progress towards their goals in an agreed approach that maintains safety and a positive regard for the person and their inner healer. I have specific interest in body-based approaches to therapy and have completed private studies in psychotherapy.
I value personal and professional growth and life-long learning for myself and have been honoured to support other mental health clinicians with their professional supervision and development since 2016.
I enjoy music, movement, and balcony gardening to support my own well-being and use free-association journaling to process my own elements of inflexible thinking and reveal my own mind.

My experience

My mental health designated role experiences range across adult and older adult services, community and residential/ bed based services.
I spent my two year graduate position with a Community Care Unit as a sole OT, extending my experiences working in Older Adults within Aged Psychiatry Assessment and Treatment Team (APATT). I left mental health specific services for a while and worked in community setting with progressive neurological conditions with a emphasis on equipment provision, managing adjustment disorders/ coping with changing function and ongoing grief and loss, and advocacy and support to optimise functioning and remain in paid employment roles. I returned to mental health services to work in adult Continuing Care Teams, where I worked primarily with clients with significant trauma history and also clients with forensic histories. Later I returned to Community Care Units in a Senior OT role.
I currently work within the NDIS and private OT landscape through Allay Occupational Therapy - with adolescent and adults with primary concern relating to a mental health condition and or behaviours of concern.
I was fortunate to have a couple of years acting in the CMHL Statewide MH OT Educator role. This role provided me with a fuller appreciation for vast depth and breadth of skills and nuances of each of the AMHS and supporting access to supervision and peer spaces to support, learn and grow together as a discipline.

My current role/work

My current roles:
Allay Occupational Therapy Private practice -
Community based OT for private clients of NDIS funded packages with primary mental health condition
Supporting professional development and the supervision of OTs

My training

I have a Bachelor Degree in Behavioural Science and a Bachelor Degree in Occupational Therapy with Honours.
Supervisor Training & Education Program (STEP) was completed with Western Health & Melbourne University in 2012 before engaging in providing supervision.
I have engaged in workshops and learning from Michelle Bihary's approach to supervision and leadership, guided by reflective cycle. I have completed online modules through NWMHP and CMHL. I engage in regular reflective practice to ensure an openness to learning and improvement in my skills and the space I support and help create.
I am currently completing the Occupational Therapy Australia Professional Supervision Program.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ACT training began in 2017 with Making Waves Training course with SPECTRUM and Turning Point, following further workshops through MHTDU from 2018 and 2019. ACT became a prominent feature and tool in group and individual client discussions and approaches to living in alignment with client's own values whilst also holding space for life's ongoing challenges. I was a member of ACT working group in NWAMHS and continue to engage in ACT specific peer reflective practice groups to ensure ongoing development and implementation in my practice.

Hearing Voices Approach training through Voices Vic 2010 provided me with a new understanding, appreciation and an approach to engage and support voice hearers, support them to emerge as the essential voice, and to recognise and hold compassion for themselves and the voices they experience. I continue to attend HVA specific peer supervision and clinical review spaces to continue development and practice implementation.

My approach to supervision

Focus on fostering a safe space to explore and reflect current knowledge and skills and support growth and development.
I frequently utilise a Reflective Practice Cycle to support critical reflection through a clinical experience to support opportunity to explore all aspects, not overlook aspects and also move through areas that we can sometimes find ourselves getting stuck in.
I am guided by the person I am working with, overall agreed approach, as well as responding to needs that present. If themes emerge in supervision discussions, these then become an important aspect to explore and unpack together.