“I love kids and I always wanted to work with kids,” said Paris. “I did heaps of my university placements with kids, and I’ve always worked from a young age with kids by teaching them and doing support work with them as well.”

“As an Occupational Therapist there is a range of different things I can do to support kids, young people and adults living with disability to be as independent as possible in everyday life.

“At the moment I’m particularly working with autism and some muscle conditions. For a young child my work might be aimed at supporting them to be independent at school and sit, write, and do other school tasks.

“The therapy focus for an adult might be supporting them with meal preparation, going out into the community, or participating in their favourite sport – things that are meaningful for the individual.”

Paris said settling into Broken Hill had been a good change for her.

“The community here is so nice, there are plenty of things to do, and you never get bored,” she said. “I’m living very close to our office in the YMCA centre, which means the YMCA’s new gym is also very close to home.”

A PhD in the early childhood and sensory processing field is part of Paris’ future plans. “Eventually I’d like to get into a position where I can teach and support others to do the things that are meaningful to them,” said Paris.