Vision & Values | Claudia Marshall Occupational Therapy

Vision and Values Statement

VISION

A future where every person has the opportunity, support and freedom to live a meaningful and self-determined life. Where unmet needs related to disability, brain injury and mental health are recognised and responded to holistically, rather than contributing to cycles of inequity and incarceration. Where people can live where they want, connected to family, Country, culture and community, and with the support and skills to keep doing so.

MISSION

To provide holistic, rigorous and evidence informed occupational therapy and consultancy that responds to intersecting health, disability and social complexities, particularly where people’s needs are often overlooked by services and systems.

Through individualised assessment and therapeutic intervention, the practice works with adolescents and adults to strengthen participation, build self efficacy and increase choice, wherever they live. Time is taken to build relationships, understand each person’s circumstances and collaborate with the family, kin, professionals and support networks the person chooses to involve.

Through consultancy, the practice contributes occupational therapy knowledge to assessment, service delivery and decision making across disability, health and justice settings. This includes working with services, professionals and organisations to offer clinical perspectives, identify unmet needs and address barriers, so that decisions better reflect people’s abilities, circumstances, priorities and aspirations.

All work is guided by clinical rigour, cultural humility and a commitment to equity. Practice is informed by evidence, ongoing critical reflexivity, appropriate supervision and meaningful engagement with the people and communities involved. The focus is on outcomes that reflect people’s priorities, relationships, community and way of life, supporting greater choice and self-determination over time.

VALUES

The way I understand equity, respect and our responsibility to each other, both personally and professionally, is shaped by my parents. They taught me to approach the world with kindness, compassion and empathy, to act with integrity, and to appreciate each person’s individuality, strengths and potential. I feel fortunate to have been raised with these values, which continue to shape how I see the world, relate to others and approach my work as an occupational therapist.

My six core values reflect my commitment to delivering evidence informed, person centred occupational therapy that recognises that culture, relationships, environment and community influence people’s lives. The values, and how Claudia Marshall Occupational Therapy and Consultancy (Claudia Marshall OTC) practises them, are set out below.

Claudia Marshall OTC understands that self-determination is central to service delivery. Each person receiving services defines which occupations are meaningful, what matters in their life and what a good life means to them. Claudia Marshall OTC recognises and builds upon the person's strengths, capabilities, knowledge and aspirations. Self-determination builds the person's efficacy to explore areas of their life they may not have considered, and to identify the support they may need to participate in and perform occupations.

Claudia Marshall OTC will:

Present options and provide clear and accessible information.
Practise supported and shared decision making principles.
Respect the person's autonomy, preferences and right to make decisions about their own life.
Advocate for the person, their wellbeing and their goals.
Assist the person to work towards their potential.
Acknowledge that the person may wish to have family and kin involved as important sources of knowledge, connection and support.
Extend capacity building beyond individual therapy to strengthen the person's ability to pursue their goals within their chosen relationships and community.

1. SELF-DETERMINATION

2. RELATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY

Claudia Marshall OTC recognises relationship building as a clinical requirement. Effective occupational therapy is founded on trust, which takes time to establish. Relationships carry responsibilities of respect, reciprocity and accountability.

Claudia Marshall OTC will:

Take time to understand the person, their circumstances, relationships, responsibilities and priorities.
Maintain open and clear communication.
Collaborate with the person, their chosen support network, relevant community members and other professionals involved in their care.
Respect the different forms of knowledge and experience that the person's support network provides.
Recognise the professional and institutional position held in the occupational therapy role, use it responsibly and share decision making wherever possible.
Contribute to communities through knowledge sharing, capacity building and advocacy, in ways that respect local priorities, strengthen existing capabilities and support Community led aspirations.

3. CLINICAL EXCELLENCE

Claudia Marshall OTC understands that the person's occupational needs and circumstances can be complex, requiring thorough and individualised clinical work. The practice values depth over volume and maintains a caseload that allows sufficient time for comprehensive assessment, clinical reasoning and care.

Claudia Marshall OTC will:

Consider the interaction between the person, their environment and their occupations when undertaking assessment and intervention.
Allow time to observe, inquire, gather relevant information and understand the person's functioning within the context of their daily life.
Explore presenting difficulties as part of the person's whole life and not in isolation, including co-occurring conditions, lived experiences, environmental barriers and unmet needs.
Apply trauma responsive practice across all care, recognising that any person may have experienced trauma, whether or not it has been disclosed.
Deliver practice informed by contemporary evidence, professional standards and clinical reasoning.
Critically appraise the available evidence, including its cultural validity and relevance to the person and context, and acknowledge limitations and uncertainty transparently.
Select occupational therapy approaches based on the evidence base, accessibility and suitability for the person and context.
Maintain clinical competence through ongoing professional development, reflective practice, and regular clinical and cultural supervision.

Claudia Marshall OTC understands every person has the right to participate in occupations that give daily life meaning, purpose and structure, including while in custody (Townsend & Wilcock, 2004; World Federation of Occupational Therapists [WFOT], 2019). Occupational injustice occurs when people are excluded from, or denied access to meaningful occupation through circumstances beyond their control, including incarceration, poverty, disability, racism, family and domestic violence, and the ongoing impacts of colonisation (Whiteford, 2000).

The practice has a particular commitment to priority populations and communities who face systemic barriers to accessing services that meet their needs. This includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people living in regional, rural and remote areas, people with disability, and people involved in the justice system.

Claudia Marshall OTC will:

Advocate for the person's right to participate in meaningful occupations, including while in custody.
Provide equitable access to individualised occupational therapy, as far as possible, for people across diverse backgrounds and circumstances.
Adapt service delivery to reduce barriers to access, including distance and inaccessible service design.
Align practice in ways consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (United Nations, 2007), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (United Nations, 1979), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989), and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (United Nations, 2006).
Uphold the person's rights, participation and self-determination through individualised clinical care, collaboration and advocacy.
Recognise and respond to violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation, coercion and unauthorised or inappropriate restrictive practices, and support access to advocacy and other relevant services.

4. OCCUPATIONAL JUSTICE

Claudia Marshall OTC understands integrity is the foundation of ethical occupational therapy practice. The practice operates in accordance with the Occupational Therapy Australia Code of Ethics (Occupational Therapy Australia, 2014) and the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia Code of conduct (Occupational Therapy Board of Australia, 2022). The Code of Ethics is based on the principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, honesty and veracity, justice, respect and confidentiality.

Claudia Marshall OTC will:

Provide services for the benefit of the person.
Communicate honestly and accurately, including in reports, records, fees and funding arrangements.
Describe qualifications, experience and services accurately.
Acknowledge errors, be open with the person about what has occurred, and respond to feedback and complaints fairly.
Practise within scope and competence, and refer on when a person's needs fall outside these.
Protect privacy by not using people’s personal stories, photographs or identifying information for promotional purposes.

Other professional obligations are set out in the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia Code of Conduct.

5. INTEGRITY

Claudia Marshall OTC recognises the cultural authority, knowledge systems and right to self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Occupational therapy is a Western, socially and culturally constructed profession, and this influences its concepts and frameworks. Claudia Marshall OTC is committed to decolonising occupational therapy practices. Culture, language, identity, relationships and connection to place can shape how people understand health, wellbeing, occupation and support. Claudia Marshall OTC recognises the importance of cultural safety, which is determined by the person, family and community receiving the service (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency [Ahpra], 2020). Cultural responsiveness is the action taken by the practitioner to support culturally safe care (Indigenous Allied Health Australia [IAHA], 2019). Claudia Marshall OTC commits to cultural responsiveness as an ongoing responsibility through learning, accountability and critical reflexivity about the practitioner’s own culture, assumptions, position and power.

Claudia Marshall OTC will:

Acknowledge the limits of the practitioner’s own cultural knowledge and commit to listening, learning and working accountably with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities.
Reflect on how power and privilege are held by the practice, the profession and the practitioner.
Identify and address racism and ableism in the practice’s own service delivery, and in the systems people engage with, within the practice’s sphere of influence.
Work in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, supporting Community led priorities in service planning, delivery and evaluation.
Seek guidance through relationships with Elders and people who hold relevant cultural knowledge, in ways that respect local processes and consent.
Critically examine frameworks, assessments and service models, including their claims of cultural relevance, and modify practices that do not reflect the histories, cultures, knowledge systems and lived experiences of the people the practice works with (Gibson et al., 2025). Recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems as foundational to assessment, intervention and consultancy.
Recognise social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) as a holistic understanding of health that includes connection to body, mind and emotions, family and kinship, community, culture, Country, and spirituality and ancestors (Gee et al., 2014), and use this understanding to inform assessment, goal setting, intervention and outcome measurement.
Deliver services that are place based where practical, respecting local knowledge and cultural protocols.
Use strengths based approaches that recognise the knowledge, skills and priorities of people, families and communities.
Respect Indigenous cultural and intellectual property in the development, use and sharing of resources, knowledge and materials.
Be guided by Indigenous data sovereignty principles.

6. CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS