Cathy Hill

Cathy is the company director of The Do Network and clinical manager. Her wealth of experience is key to the guidance and effectiveness of The Do Network team. Her generosity in sharing her therapeutic knowledge and wisdom is invaluable.

Cathy graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy in 1978. She was a bonded scholarship holder and was sent to work at Wolston Park Hospital discovering a love of psychiatry that has lasted her whole career. She developed a keen interest in rehabilitation outcomes for people with schizophrenia with a particular focus on community integration, employment and being a parent with mental illness. After completing her bond period she left Australia to work in an acute mental health unit in a hospital in South India. Here she was introduced to systemic family approaches. Returning to Australia, she moved into the community sector, running day centres in metropolitan areas. This was work she delighted in as it gave full rein to her interest in working with people with long-term serious mental illness.

As the delivery of mental health services changed, Cathy began work as a mental health case manager, while continuing to offer occupational therapy consultation to clients seeking a return to work. Her caseloads continued to reflect her interests in parenting and community integration. Cathy became an authorised mental health practitioner and gained recognition as a person with high levels of knowledge about capacity, driving and accessing generic community services for clients. She was a sought-after supervisor, often accepting staff identified as having difficulties at work, many of whom went on to become valued members of staff.

When Cathy moved to working in an acute inpatient setting in Queensland, she needed to find a new way of conducting functional assessments. She discovered the Cognitive Disabilities Model incorporating the Allen Cognitive Levels. She did a workshop with Delaune Pollard and began to incorporate this evidence-based approach in her practice. Delaune mentored her through this process and then invited her to deliver workshops about the CDM. Now Cathy travels all over Australia and New Zealand delivering workshops. Because of COVID she now delivers workshops online as well. She is recognised as a lead practitioner in Australia for the CDM.

Needing a break from routine case management and wishing to expand her skill set, Cathy took a year’s secondment to work as a research assistant at the Queensland Centre for Schizophrenia Research.

Cathy spent 10 years managing her husband’s medical practice. This gave her the opportunity to understand many of the co-occurring medical conditions common in people with serious mental illness, such as diabetes. With the advent of the NDIS, she also learned about managing a private practice which gave her confidence to start her own occupational therapy company.

From her work with parents with a mental illness, Cathy became interested in the functional cognitive impacts of parents with cognitive disabilities. In partnership with a psychologist, this led to the development of a system for assessing the capacity of people with functional cognitive impairments to parent, along with recommendations for the disability supports and training required for successful parenting. This work is done in the child safety system in Queensland.

Throughout her career Cathy has sustained her interest in research and evidence-based practice. She has published articles and presented at occupational therapy conferences. She is a contributor to a series of textbooks on the Cognitive Disabilities Model and the Allen Cognitive Levels.

Since beginning work in the NDIS space Cathy has received many referrals to work with autistics. She identifies as a neurodivergent person and practices in a neurodivergent, affirming way. She uses a systemic family approach and is occupationally focused. She is aware that much of the disability experienced by neurodivergent and mental health clients is trauma based and she has completed extensive training to be able to support people with trauma histories.

Cathy is committed to keeping up to date with knowledge as it develops. She does this by researching the latest developments in a specific area and checking for updated evidence about an area of practice. She uses her clinical experience to determine the relevance of evidence to a specific client.

Cathy maintains membership of OT Australia including a range of special interest groups, as well as being a member of the Allen Cognitive Network in the USA and the Child Protection Practitioners Association of Queensland. At a macro level, Cathy is committed to addressing the social determinants of occupational engagement and to recognising and reducing the barriers for people with disabilities in the wider community. As part of this commitment, Cathy is a director on the board of Karakan, a community not-for profit that supports people with mental health challenges, disability, or both, to achieve their goals and build connections within their community to live a more enriched life.