Allied Health Assistants
Support that keeps your therapy moving
An Allied Health Assistant works under the direction of your Occupational Therapist, Physiotherapist or Podiatrist to carry out your therapy plan more often, and at a lower hourly rate, so progress keeps ticking along between appointments.
What an Allied Health Assistant does
Your qualified clinician sets the goals and designs the program. Your Allied Health Assistant is the person who helps you put it into practice, session after session.
Guiding you through the exercises and strategies in your plan
Practising everyday skills like dressing, cooking, mobility and routines
Running home and community programs set by your therapist
Helping with equipment, prompts and setup so tasks are easier
Tracking how you are going and reporting back to your clinician
The maths that makes assistants worth it
Therapy works through repetition. A person who practises a program three times a week improves faster than one who practises it once a fortnight, and that is true regardless of how good the clinician is. The limit is almost never clinical knowledge. It is how far the budget stretches.
An Allied Health Assistant is charged at a substantially lower hourly rate than a therapist. So the same funding buys considerably more contact time. Your OT, physiotherapist or podiatrist sets the program, reviews progress and stays accountable for it, and the assistant delivers the frequent hands-on practice in between.
It is not a cheaper substitute for therapy and we would not present it as one. It is a way of getting the frequency that makes a therapy program actually work, without burning the whole plan in six sessions.
Our Therapy Budget Calculator lets you model this yourself: put in a budget, switch the discipline, and see how the number of sessions changes.How it works
Your clinician assesses and plans
Your OT, physio or podiatrist assesses you and designs a therapy program with clear goals.
Your assistant delivers it, regularly
Your Allied Health Assistant carries out that program with you, more often than clinician-only sessions usually allow.
Progress is reviewed together
Your clinician stays across your progress and adjusts the plan, so quality and safety stay overseen.
Why it makes a difference
More support for your plan
Regular hands-on help means skills get practised, not forgotten between visits.
Your funding goes further
Assistants are charged at a lower rate, so NDIS and aged care plans can stretch to more hours of support.
Consistent, and overseen
Always guided by your clinician's plan, so you get frequency without losing clinical oversight.
Frequently asked questions
What people and support coordinators ask most about assistant supports.
What is an Allied Health Assistant?
A trained support worker who delivers therapy programs under the direction and supervision of a qualified clinician. They are not therapists and they do not assess or diagnose. They carry out the plan your therapist has written.
Who supervises them?
The clinician who set the program. Your OT, physiotherapist or podiatrist stays responsible for the plan, reviews how it is tracking, and adjusts it. The assistant reports back after sessions.
Why are they cheaper?
Because the clinical reasoning has already been done. The assessment, the goal setting and the program design sit with your therapist. The assistant delivers the repetition, which does not require the same qualification.
Can I only have an assistant, without a therapist?
No. An assistant works to a program, so a clinician has to write and review one. If you have a current program from another provider, we can usually work from that.
What sort of things do they help with?
Practising transfers, mobility and exercise programs, daily living tasks, community access, using new equipment correctly, and building the routines a therapy plan depends on.
Does the NDIS fund this?
Assistant supports are a recognised line item and are generally funded under the same therapy budget, at a lower rate. We support self-managed and plan-managed participants.
Not sure if assistant support is right for you?
Talk to our team, or send a referral and we'll help work out the best mix of support for your goals.