Occupational Therapist | Infants, Children & Adolescents | Hastings

Food Play Grow by Family Dietetics
Full-time or Part-time | Hastings
HPSS Level 1–3 | Multiple positions may be available

About the Role

Food Play Grow is looking for Occupational Therapists to join our multidisciplinary team in Hastings.

We work with infants, children, adolescents and their families across a diverse range of needs — and we're open to appointing more than one OT.

That means we're not looking for one person who can do everything.

We're interested in finding great clinicians who bring their own strengths, experience and perspective to the team, and who want the opportunity to develop a caseload around the work they do particularly well.

You might love early intervention. You might be at your best working with neurodivergent school-aged children. Perhaps adolescents are your people. Or you may have developed expertise in disability, trauma, mental health, functional capacity or working with families experiencing complexity.

Tell us what you're good at and what you'd like to become even better at.

Experience Comes in Different Forms

We're recruiting across HPSS Levels 1–3, and we recognise that professional capability isn't measured only by the number of years since you graduated.

Life and lived experience matter to us too.

You may bring experience from disability, education, community services, mental health, parenting, advocacy or another part of your life that has shaped how you understand people and the environments they live in.

We're looking for clinicians with curiosity, sound judgement and the ability to connect with people.

For us, being a great OT is not just about knowing an assessment or intervention. It's about understanding the person in front of you and being able to problem-solve when the textbook answer doesn't quite fit real life.

Your Caseload

Depending on your experience and interests, your caseload may include:

Infants and early childhood intervention

Neurodivergent children and adolescents

Autism and ADHD

Developmental differences and disability

Sensory processing and regulation

Emotional regulation and participation

Fine and gross motor development

Self-care and activities of daily living

Executive functioning and organisational skills

School participation, including barriers to attendance and engagement

Building independence through adolescence

Mental health and its impact on everyday function

Trauma and its impact on participation

Functional capacity and NDIS-funded intervention

Medicare-funded care

Children and families requiring support within their home or community environments.

You don't need experience across all of these areas.

We want our clinicians to have opportunities to develop areas of genuine expertise, rather than expecting everyone to maintain the same generalist caseload.

Therapy That Works in Real Life

We like good clinical reasoning. We also like creative problem solving.

Our goal isn't for a child to master a skill only within a therapy session. We want to understand what is getting in the way of participation in everyday life and work out what might genuinely help.

Sometimes that happens in a clinic room.

Sometimes it happens through play.

Sometimes you need a kitchen.

And sometimes the best place to understand a problem is in the home, school or community where it's actually happening.

Our Hastings service provides access to:

Clinic consulting rooms

Dedicated play and therapy spaces

Purpose-built Therapy Kitchens

Home-based practice where appropriate

Community-based practice environments.

We're interested in OTs who can use these environments thoughtfully — not because therapy needs to be complicated, but because real-life problems often need real-life solutions.

Working With Complexity

Hastings is a diverse community, and some of the children and families we support are navigating considerably more than a single diagnosis.

Our work may intersect with neurodivergence, disability, trauma, mental health, family stress and socioeconomic or psychosocial complexity.

Some families are also supported by schools, NDIS teams, medical services, community organisations or government and family services.

This work requires more than clinical knowledge.

It requires flexibility, professional boundaries, empathy, practical thinking and the ability to meet people where they are.

For the right clinician, it is also work that can be enormously meaningful.

About Food Play Grow

Food Play Grow is part of the Family Dietetics and Family Allied Health network, bringing together clinicians committed to practical, evidence-informed and family-centred care.

Our foundations are in paediatrics, nutrition, feeding and disability, with our broader allied health services continuing to grow around the needs of the communities we support.

Our clients don't always fit neatly within one discipline or one diagnosis.

That's why we value clinicians who bring their own professional expertise while also enjoying genuine multidisciplinary practice.

Who We're Looking For

We'd particularly like to hear from OTs who:

Enjoy working with infants, children, adolescents and/or families

Bring strong clinical reasoning and outside-the-box problem-solving skills

Are comfortable adapting therapy to the person and environment

Value neurodiversity-affirming, person- and family-centred practice

Can work sensitively with disability, trauma and psychosocial complexity

Understand that progress may look different for different families

Enjoy multidisciplinary collaboration

Know their professional scope and when to seek support

Want to develop a genuine area of clinical interest and expertise.

We're interested in what you bring professionally — and the experiences that have shaped the clinician you are.

Essential

Bachelor or Masters qualification in Occupational Therapy recognised in Australia

Current registration with AHPRA

Current Working with Children Check

Current NDIS Worker Screening Check, or willingness and eligibility to obtain one prior to commencement

Eligibility to work in Australia

Person- and family-centred, evidence-informed clinical practice

Strong communication and relationship-building skills

Commitment to supervision, multidisciplinary practice and ongoing professional development.

Why Food Play Grow?

We want our OTs to build careers, not simply fill appointment books.

We offer:

Full-time and part-time opportunities

HPSS Level 1–3, commensurate with experience and responsibilities

A dedicated CPD budget

Clinical supervision and professional development

Multidisciplinary practice

Purpose-built clinic, play and Therapy Kitchen spaces

Opportunities for clinic, home and community-based work

The opportunity to shape your caseload around areas of clinical interest

Scope to develop genuine specialist expertise

Autonomy appropriate to your experience

The opportunity to contribute to a growing allied health service.

We take private practice seriously as a clinical career and value clinicians who see the professional opportunity in providing excellent, practical and meaningful care within the community.

Your Location

Food Play Grow
37–41 Victoria Street
Hastings VIC

Interested?

You might love working with babies and their parents.

You might have found your niche working with neurodivergent children.

You might connect particularly well with adolescents who haven't engaged with traditional therapy.

Or perhaps your career or life experience has given you a perspective that doesn't fit neatly into a selection criterion — but makes you a better OT.

We'd like to hear about it.

We're looking for clinicians who can think, adapt, connect and turn good occupational therapy into real-life changes that matter to children and families.

As we may appoint more than one clinician, you don't need to be everything to everyone. Tell us about the work you do well and the direction you'd like your OT career to take.

Apply through SEEK with your CV and a cover letter telling us about you, the experience you bring, your clinical interests and what you're looking for in your next role.