ABOUT RCOT

Resident Cavoodles

Lewis – 11-year old male

Pippa – 10-year old female

Pippa and Lewis might get excited, bark and jump, but they are very friendly and love meeting new people. They love cuddles and respond well to “NO” and “Ta”. You’ll know they are in the office from our sign on the door, if you prefer not to say hello, just let one of our staff know.

Reid Chester
Director / Senior Occupational Therapist

Reid graduated from Curtin University in 2013 with a Master of Occupational Therapy.

Prior to this he completed a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science (2008) and a Post-graduate Diploma of Exercise Science (2009) where he became a qualified and accredited exercise physiologist. Since graduating as an occupational therapist, Reid has maintained his roles in the paediatric field. His roles have included a private practice, focusing on sensory integration, gross and fine motor development. He then moved into a role as a live-in professional therapeutic carer, looking after 3 young boys full-time, providing therapeutic care and managing challenging behaviours and past trauma, preparing them for foster care. It was after this role, that Reid went into community-based therapy, and worked for larger organisations focusing on therapeutic support and consultation for children on the autism spectrum and their families. In his spare time, Reid loves getting outside.

He has 2 dogs (Lewis and Pippa), chickens (who all have names but get called “the girls”) and loves just hanging out in the garden or at the park with the dogs. Reid strives to always engage his clients in therapy, and is often seen climbing on the equipment, completing the monkey bars and being challenged by the kids to keep up, and complete some interesting activities.

Jarred Stenfors
Director / Therapeutic Teacher

Jarred has been a primary school teacher for 9 years. In this time, he has worked in various roles in the education department, including a classroom teacher, learning support coordinator and the lead curriculum specialist (mathematics). In 2017/2018, he was employed by the Autism Association of WA as a key therapist in their early intervention team, with a primary role of developing and delivering therapy plans, along with re-writing school curriculum to ensure the inclusion and support of all students on the autism spectrum.

Jarred has expressed a desire to move away from full-time teaching, and focus on supporting RCOT clients in their participation in schooling. With his knowledge and experience in autism, emotional regulation, social skills, curriculum and education, we believe Jarred can contribute so much to our team, our clients, their families, and their schooling.

He will be accessible to our NDIS clients through their capacity building (CB), daily living budget (the same budget used for OT, speech, psychology etc), as an “other professional”, in line with our senior OT rate of $193.99/hour.

Some areas where Jarred can support clients are,

• 1 on 1 therapy
• School meetings, including IEP meetings
• Education assessments (primary school)
• Implementation and review of IEP’s
• Implementation and review of behaviour management plans
• School visits and observations
• SLES (School Leaver Employment Support)

Jarred brings a vast knowledge of the education department with him, and this will enable him to better express therapy needs and ideas to teaching staff, he knows the challenges teachers face when implementing strategies into a classroom and is better equipped to support teachers in doing this.

Tiarn Chester 
Administrative Coordinator

Tiarn has completed a Certificate IV in Business (2014), a Diploma in Event Management (2015) and 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training (2023). 

Tiarn is passionate about helping everyone around her, supporting and assisting families to her best ability. Tiarn is our main and sole administrator. Her roles here at RCOT are to help consult all client bookings, payments, staff schedules, social media and the organiser of our awesome holiday programs and client events. Soon Tiarn will be integrating her yoga and mindfulness knowledge into RCOT, offering kids group and parent 1:1 classes. Yoga and meditation is a great way to help kids with their interoception. This service also gives our parents the ability to regulate and take time out for themselves.

Outside of work, Tiarn enjoys being active outdoors, the beach, and spending time with her family, friends and cats Billie & Mabel.

Lachy Broun
Senior Occupational Therapist

Lachy studied at Curtin university, graduating with a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy with second upper class honours in 2019.

He has focused his attention on working within the area of developmental paediatrics with a focus towards emotional and sensory regulation, gross and fine motor skills as well as building greater capacity with activities of daily living. Lachy has a wealth of experience in supporting children and adults with disabilities and developmental delays including autism, global developmental delay, sensory processing difficulties and down syndrome. He has productively supported his clients who experience challenging behaviours, anxiety and depression. Lachy has developed these skills through a wide range of support worker roles while studying, including private roles and most recently working as a Lifeskills team member at Intelife Group in Balcatta.

Lachy has a special interest in therapy through sport, and plays hockey, cricket, basketball and tennis in his spare time. He has been a coach for the YMCC year 11/12s A-team for the past two years while also volunteering at junior carnivals as a ground controller and referee. Lachy hopes to support every person he meets through his job as an occupational therapist and ensure that they feel special and valued. He strives to leave work every day knowing he’s made a difference in the lives of his clients and their families.

Gemma Tily-Laurie
Senior Occupational Therapist

Gemma completed her Bachelor of Science (Occupational Therapy) at Curtin University and graduated with Honours in 2019.

Since University Gemma has focused her efforts in the field of developmental paediatrics and comes to us with substantial knowledge after 14-month employment, as a lead Occupational Therapist at a local multidisciplinary clinic. Gemma has experience working with children with Autism, Global Development Delay, and sensory processing difficulties. Gemma is passionate about working with children and their families to achieve their goals and has a passion for working in areas the of sensory processing, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, emotional regulation, and activities of daily living.

Outside of work, Gemma loves spending time with her chocolate Labrador, family and friends. Gemma enjoys playing football for her local team.

Janet Gowland
Senior Occupational Therapist 

In 1999, Janet completed a Bachelor of Science at UWA with a Major in Human Movement. Here she became involved in group programs aimed at developing the basic building blocks of movement and witnessed how children thrived with play based and activity related therapies. This led her to her further study in Occupational Therapy.

Janet graduated in 2003 from Curtin University with a Master of Occupational Therapy. She has worked in rural and remote locations as an OT working with children with fine and gross motor delays and visual perceptual difficulties. Janet also has a teaching background and has been working in Secondary Schools for 12 years. She is passionate about instilling confidence in students to foster learning and social development goals.

Janet is also supporting our young adults through SLES (School Leaver Employment Supports).

When she finds the time, Janet enjoys travelling and exploring the outdoors on the Bibbulmun Track, which she is completing section by section. She is a Mum to her three girls and can be seen visiting the park and beach with her Border Collie puppy.

Sacha Downing 
Occupational Therapist / Functional Capacity Assessment Assessor

Sacha graduated from Curtin University with a Bachelor of Science – Occupational Therapy and class honours in 2021.

Following graduation, Sacha worked at the East Metropolitan Youth Unit which is an acute psychiatric unit for adolescents. Sacha progressed to work within the school aged service at the Autism Association of Western Australia. Sacha has a wealth of experience in sensory processing, fine and gross motor interventions, self care intervention, social skills development, speech and language support, functional assessments, positive behaviour support and mealtime interventions.

Sacha has an immense passion for supporting and empowering individuals to live a life as their best version of themselves, despite the constraints placed upon them due to their disability/diagnosis. Sacha has had a vision since she was young girl coaching a disability swim squad, to enhance the lives of young individuals with a disability, support their families and siblings, allowing them to live the life they see for themselves. Sacha decided to study OT for the reason – to make a difference in the lives of people. Sacha strives to be an advocate, mentor and support to people living with a disability and stand for the achievement of their personal goals. Sacha has high interests in mental health’ standing in support of creating increased awareness and care for those experiencing mental health difficulties.

Outside of work Sacha loves to spend time outdoors in nature or at the beach, going to the gym and spending time with her friends and family.

Claudia Gonzalez
Occupational Therapist

Claudia completed her Master of Occupational Therapy in 2019 at Curtin University. She also has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Sociology. Since graduating in 2019, Claudia has primarily worked in the community delivering mobile services to NDIS participants. She resided and worked in Melbourne from 2020 to 2022, before returning to Perth to have her child. 

Claudia resumed working in 2023, delivering mixed adult and paediatric services for a large disability organisation before starting at RCOT in July 2024.  Claudia is dedicated to empowering her clients, working towards their goals and advocating for their unique needs. Claudia’s interests are diverse, ranging from helping children and teenagers develop their skills to be able to perform a variety of activities in their every day life that may be challenging, and helping them develop the ability to regulate their emotions.

Claudia works part time on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and spends her spare time looking after her young daughter as well as her  Australian Shephard “fur baby”.

Michael Dwyer
Support Worker

Mike is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Psychology at Curtin University. Afterwards, he hopes to undertake further study and research into the field of human behaviour.

Mike’s interest in psychology is born from a combination of his time working in the Perth hospitality industry and a wide range of reading. When the pandemic hit, he was able to take the time to pursue tertiary education. Now in his 3rd year, he has a keen interest in identity formation, learning and behaviour formation, the nature of attention and focus, and how the everchanging landscape of the internet is impacting individuals.

When Mike has free time, he enjoys cooking new dishes, going to the gym, reading, playing hockey and catching up with his mates.

Rama Brownfield-Young
Support Worker

Rama is nearing completion of his Bachelor of Psychology at Curtin University, driven by a desire to become a Clinical Psychologist. He finds deep fulfilment in supporting others on their mental health journeys, fuelling his passion for clinical practice. Rama’s academic interests in psychology delve into individual differences, therapeutic methods, and cognitive elements like learning, perception, and memory.

Rama enjoys the balanced lifestyle that support work provides, looking forward to his weekly sessions with his clients. These sessions incorporate a variety of activities, from gym sessions and snorkelling to public transport training, 3D printing, and board games. Through these activities, Rama fosters social interaction, general life skills development, and local community exposure.

Beyond his academic pursuits, Rama enjoys weight-lifting, free diving, photography, and video games as personal outlets.