Sophie is one of our wonderful allied health leads, overseeing our Assistive Technology team, and she's incredibly passionate about all things AT. She originally worked at Indigo from 2013 - 2016, back when it was the Independent Living Centre of WA, before heading to the UK to work and travel. When she returned to Australia in 2020, she came straight back to Indigo, and has been one of our dedicated occupational therapists and team leads since.
What does your role involve?
I assist with the operational management of the Assistive Technology team, helping support the team to deliver a great service to our clients. I help with day-to-day coordination, including rostering, managing our Experience Centre and keeping things running smoothly. In my role, I really enjoy supporting team members with clinical knowledge, providing training to students and health professionals, working to keep up to date with assistive technology and responding to client feedback so we can continue to improve our service.
What do you like most about your role and working at Indigo?
I feel really lucky to work as part of such a great team at Indigo. I genuinely enjoy supporting team members, and it’s great to be surrounded by people who are motivated to do their best and make a real difference for clients.
I also love working in the Assistive Technology space, it’s an area where there’s always something new to learn, with new devices and technologies constantly emerging. That ongoing learning is something I really enjoy.
Tell us about the most interesting project you have worked on during your career.
It’s hard to pick just one highlight. I worked in London in a Wheelchair and Seating Service, and I found the experience of working in a different country and funding system interesting. There were also some unique environmental challenges, particularly prescribing wheelchairs in homes with much less space and often multiple stairs.
I also remember visiting the ILC during my OT training and finding the education session on assistive technology really eye-opening. Now, I really enjoy being on the other side of that — supporting students and other health professionals to learn about AT during education sessions.
Describe a memorable moment arising from your role.
One memorable moment from my role this year was delivering Assistive Technology training and a tour of our Experience Centre to a group of Occupational Therapists visiting from Japan. At the last minute, their interpreter couldn’t make it, so some team members and I found ourselves relying on a lot of enthusiastic hand gestures and demonstrations to get the message across. Despite the language barrier, everyone got involved and seemed to enjoy the session. There were still plenty of questions at the end, which we worked together using Google Translate. It turned our to be a fun experience in the end.
Of the four Indigo values (integrity, passion, creativity, together), which one do you express the most strongly during your workday and why?
I think integrity and together are the values I connect with most. I really value doing what I say I will and being honest, even though that can sometimes be challenging. It’s something I try to bring into my work every day.
I also strongly value togetherness. I rely a lot on my team and the wider organisation for collaboration, and believe we achieve the best outcomes when we work together.
