An occupational therapist in Hervey Bay helps children, adults and older people manage everyday tasks like dressing, schoolwork, cooking, moving safely around the home and getting out into the community. Astrad’s occupational therapists are mobile. Assessments and therapy happen in your home, at school or out in the community across Hervey Bay and Maryborough, and telehealth is available when it suits.
Most people searching for OT on the Fraser Coast want three answers fast. Will it help? How do we pay for it? Does someone have to drive us to a clinic? This page answers all three for parents, NDIS participants and older people. Funding rules have changed for every one of those groups in the past year, so if you last looked into this a while ago, things may be different now.
What occupational therapy covers, in plain English
Occupational therapy deals with “occupations” in the broad sense: all the activities that make up a day. For a five-year-old, that might mean holding a pencil, coping with the noise of a classroom or getting through bath time calmly. For an adult after a stroke, it might mean showering safely, getting back to driving or managing a kitchen when one hand won’t cooperate. For an older person, it usually comes down to staying at home: getting in and out of bed, stepping into the shower, reaching the clothesline without falling.
An OT works out what gets in the way. The barrier could be physical, such as strength, coordination or balance. It could be sensory processing, meaning how a person takes in and responds to touch, sound and movement. It could be cognitive, like planning, memory and attention. Or it could be the environment itself: a step at the back door, a bath with no grab rail, a classroom layout that doesn’t work. The OT then works on that gap with therapy, practical strategies, equipment or changes to the environment.
Our occupational therapy services on the Fraser Coast include:
- Paediatric and play-based therapy at home, school or kindy
- Autism (ADOS) and sensory profile assessments
- Functional capacity assessments, plus ILO, SIL and SDA housing assessments for NDIS participants
- Home assessments and hospital-to-home assessments, including recommendations for home modifications
- Assistive technology and mobility equipment
- Aged care OT and falls prevention
- Driving assessments and medico-legal assessments
That list includes a few clinical terms. ADOS is a standardised observation tool used as one part of an autism assessment. A sensory profile is a structured questionnaire that shows how a person responds to sensory input in daily life. ILO, SIL and SDA are NDIS housing supports, and an OT report can be part of the evidence a participant submits when asking for them.
Astrad also offers speech pathology, plus psychology by telehealth. That means a family needing more than one discipline can keep everything with one provider, and the therapists can talk to each other directly. You don’t have to pass messages between three separate services.
Why the Fraser Coast suits a mobile OT model
The Fraser Coast is older than most of Queensland and has higher support needs. The median age in the region is about 51, compared with about 38 for regional Queensland (ABS Census, 2021). The population is also growing, reaching 120,685 in 2024 (NEMA, 2024).
In practice, this creates a problem. The people who most need OT are often the people who find it hardest to get to a clinic. Think of someone who has stopped driving, a parent whose child finds car trips and waiting rooms overwhelming, or a person just home from hospital who tires after an hour on their feet.
Leaving hospital is the other pressure point. Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service runs an occupational therapy department across Hervey Bay and Maryborough hospitals, covering inpatient assessment, therapy and discharge planning (Queensland Health, 2026). Hospital OT usually ends when the person leaves the ward. Community OT is most useful in the weeks after discharge, when someone is relearning how to manage their own bathroom, their own steps and their own routines. A hospital-to-home assessment looks at the actual house, with its actual doorways and the actual height of the bed.
The best place to assess how someone manages their day is the place where that day happens.
A clinic room can show what a person is capable of. Their kitchen shows what they actually do. For children, the classroom or the lounge room shows how they cope with the real distractions and demands of their day, which a quiet therapy room can’t reproduce. We think that difference matters enough to build our whole service around it.
Paying for OT on the Fraser Coast in 2026
Funding is where most families get stuck, and it’s also where the rules have shifted most over the past twelve months. The table below sets out the main pathways. More detail follows.
| Pathway | Who it suits | How OT is funded | First step |
|---|---|---|---|
| NDIS (plan-managed or self-managed) | NDIS participants of any age | Capacity building budget, charged at or below the NDIS price limit | Check your plan and talk to your plan manager or support coordinator |
| Support at Home | Older people assessed as eligible for aged care | AT-HM scheme for equipment and home modifications; Restorative Care Pathway for short-term allied health | Aged care assessment through My Aged Care |
| Thriving Kids | Children 0-8 with developmental delay or autism and low to moderate support needs | Being phased in, with allied health parts still to come | Ask your GP or child health nurse about local rollout |
| Medicare | People with a chronic condition and a GP plan | Partial rebate for a limited number of sessions | Book a GP appointment |
| Private | Anyone | Self-funded | Contact the provider directly |
NDIS participants
Astrad is not a registered NDIS provider. If your plan is plan-managed or self-managed, you can use your capacity building funding for our occupational therapy. Agency-managed plans can only pay registered providers. If your plan is agency-managed, ask your support coordinator or the NDIA whether a change in plan management suits you. That decision belongs to you and the Agency, not to us.
The NDIS price limit for occupational therapy is $193.99 per hour in standard areas (NDIA, 2025). Since July 2025, provider travel for therapy supports has been capped at half the hourly therapy rate (NDIA, 2025). This matters for a mobile service, and it’s worth asking any provider how they charge travel before you start.
Planning is also changing. The NDIS is moving to a standardised support needs assessment, and New Framework Planning is currently expected to begin on 1 April 2027 (Association for Children with a Disability, 2026). That date has moved before, so treat it as provisional. Whatever the planning model looks like, our view is that clear functional evidence collected in a person’s own environment stays useful. The NDIA makes all funding decisions, and no therapist can promise what a plan will include.
Older people and Support at Home
Support at Home replaced Home Care Packages and Short-Term Restorative Care on 1 November 2025 (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, 2025). Two parts of it matter for OT. The first is the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications (AT-HM) scheme. Under AT-HM, every home modification has to be prescribed by an occupational therapist working within their scope of practice, and the funding can cover the item, the professional assessment and support to use it safely. The second is the Restorative Care Pathway, which offers time-limited allied health aimed at regaining independence (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, 2025).
Both start with an aged care assessment. For a family worried about a parent’s falls risk or a bathroom that has become unsafe, the OT prescription requirement makes a home visit by an OT the step that gets modifications moving.
Children and Thriving Kids
Thriving Kids is a new program for children aged 0-8 with developmental delay or autism and low to moderate support needs. Family supports reportedly started rolling out on 1 October 2026. Targeted allied health, including OT and speech pathology, is expected to be fully available by January 2028, and children already in the NDIS (or who join before then) are generally expected to keep their NDIS supports while they remain eligible (Association for Children with a Disability, 2026).
Families don’t have to wait for a new program to be fully in place before getting an assessment, either privately or through existing funding. For questions about your own child’s development, start with your GP, paediatrician or child health nurse.
Medicare and private clients
A Medicare chronic condition plan through your GP allows up to five allied health sessions each calendar year. Those sessions are shared across all allied health disciplines, and Occupational Therapy Australia argues this falls well short of what most OT clients need (Occupational Therapy Australia, 2025). The rebate covers part of the fee, so expect to pay a gap. Private clients pay us directly and can start whenever suits them.
Home visit or telehealth: how we decide
Telehealth occupational therapy works for some goals but not others. You can’t measure a shower recess over video, and you can’t judge how a wheelchair handles a particular hallway without seeing someone use it.
Work that needs a home visit:
- Home modification assessments
- Equipment trials
- Falls prevention
- Transfer practice
- Most play-based therapy with younger children
Work that suits telehealth:
- Coaching parents
- Reviewing strategies between visits
- Planning routines
- Talking with teachers
- Check-ins for families in the more rural parts of the Fraser Coast between in-person sessions
We hold telehealth to the same standard as a home visit. If a session can’t meet that standard over video, we come out instead. Many clients end up with a mix, with home or school visits for the hands-on work and telehealth check-ins to keep progress on track.
What happens at a first OT visit
The first session is mainly about listening and watching. The OT will ask about goals, daily routines, health history and what feels hardest at the moment. Depending on why you’ve come, they may watch a child play or write, see an adult move around the kitchen, or check a bathroom and entry for hazards. Standardised assessments may be used where they add useful information.
A little preparation makes the first visit more productive:
- Any recent reports from a GP, hospital, school, paediatrician or other therapists
- Your NDIS plan or Support at Home details, and your plan manager’s contact information
- A short note about the tasks that are hardest right now and when in the day they happen
- Any equipment you already have, even if it sits unused in a cupboard
- For a child, a favourite toy, and a time that avoids naps and hungry moments
After the assessment, the OT agrees goals with you and sets out a plan. That might be regular therapy, a report for funders, equipment recommendations, or a mix of these. The work between sessions matters as much as the sessions themselves. We build practical strategies around the family’s real routines, so progress can keep going on the days the therapist isn’t there.
How to choose an occupational therapist in Hervey Bay
Start with registration. Every practising occupational therapist in Australia must be registered with the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia through Ahpra, and you can check any therapist on the public register.
After that, ask practical questions. Will the therapist come to your home or your child’s school, or will you need to travel? Does their registration status fit how your NDIS plan is managed? How long is the current wait for a first visit? How do they charge travel, and how long do reports take? Will you get strategies you can use at home, or only the sessions? Private and NDIS clients can usually self-refer without a GP referral, but a Medicare rebate needs a GP chronic condition plan in place first.
Pay attention to the questions they ask you. A good first conversation is about the person and the goals they care about, not only a diagnosis. Occupational therapy works best when it fits the whole person and their environment, and research suggests that goals a person has chosen themselves may be more motivating than goals set for them. Every plan should look different, because every client’s day is different.
If you have questions about occupational therapy in Hervey Bay or Maryborough, or want to check how your funding might work with us, call 0468 552 997 or email [email protected]. We’re happy to talk it through before you book anything.
Do I need a GP referral to see an occupational therapist in Hervey Bay?
Not always. Private clients can contact an occupational therapist directly, and NDIS participants with plan-managed or self-managed funding can usually start without a referral. A referral or plan from your GP is needed if you want a Medicare rebate. Older people using Support at Home funding go through an aged care assessment first. If you are unsure which applies to you, ask your GP or plan manager.
Can an occupational therapist work with my child’s teacher or school?
Yes, with your consent and the school’s agreement. An OT can visit the classroom to see how your child manages real school tasks, then share practical strategies with teachers and support staff. This might cover handwriting, seating, sensory breaks or classroom routines. Schools have their own processes for allowing visiting therapists, so it helps to raise the idea with the teacher or learning support team early.
What if I am not sure whether my child needs OT, speech therapy or psychology?
This is a common question because the disciplines overlap. Speech pathology focuses on communication and swallowing, occupational therapy on daily tasks, play and sensory needs, and psychology on emotions, behaviour and wellbeing. Your GP or paediatrician can help you work out where to start. Because Astrad offers all three, we can also talk through your concerns and point you to the discipline that seems most relevant.
Can family members or support workers be involved in OT sessions?
Yes, and we encourage it. Parents, carers, partners and support workers are often the people who carry strategies into everyday life between sessions. Having them present means they can see how a technique or piece of equipment is used and ask questions as they come up. The client’s wishes come first, so adults can choose who joins their sessions.
Does private health insurance cover occupational therapy?
Some private health extras policies include occupational therapy, but cover varies a lot between funds and policies. Annual limits, waiting periods and the amount paid back per session all differ. Call your health fund before your first appointment to confirm whether OT is included, what you can claim and whether you need anything specific on your receipt.
