Jenna Sargeant
Keyworker / Occupational Therapist
Occupational Therapist
BAppSc (OT)
Jenna Sargeant completed her Occupational Therapy training at The University of Sydney in 2007.
Jenna loves being a part of each child’s journey and helping them reach their full potential. Using a family-centred approach, and evidence-based practice she has assisted many children to overcome challenges in participating in play, self care and learning new skills. This approach sees the parents as the experts on their child and works with the parents to find solutions that best suit their child’s need within their individual family setting.
She has worked in multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary teams, in urban, remote, school, clinic and community settings. She was responsible for a variety of services to children and adults with a range of intellectual and physical disabilities. She has worked with individuals with autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, mental health conditions and challenging behaviours.
Jenna really enjoys working collaboratively with a person and their support system. She values the importance of play, attachment and being active outdoors. As a mother of three children she also understands the constant challenge to find balance in life. She loves spending time with her family while adventuring and learning more about the culture and country in Australia.
Jenna is currently available to provide telehealth sessions.
Qualified to assist in the following areas:
Keyworker / transdisciplinary practice
Keyworker training illustrated the importance of including the family as a central focus. This means conducting therapy sessions within the child’s natural environment as opposed to with a clinic setting. It also means building the capacity of the family to assist their own child, empowering them to feel confident in their own skills.
Physical Activity
Occupational Therapists work to assist physical skill development in order to achieve functional movement patterns. Motor skills include whole body movements, balance, using play equipment, participating in gentle exercise, playing games/sports, hand eye coordination, arm control, visual tracking, handwriting, reflexes, fluency and some aspects of self-care tasks.
I work with keyworkers to ensure motor skills are considered in all therapy routines.
Play
Play is an important part of everyday life not only for our physical health but also for mental wellbeing. It is often a great way for people to learn a new skill with less stress of pressure to master the required skill immediately.
Play is crucial for physical development, executive function, emotional regulation skills, social skills and communication development. When we use play as the therapy tool we are often able to achieve skill development, and also provide the family with a way to use these skills within their own daily routines.
Executive Function
I work with parents and carers to support their understanding of regulation before supporting the child to understand their own regulation skills. Executive function also includes memory, attention, concentration, planning, goal setting, following multiple-step instructions, and managing sensory input from the body.
Using a person-centred approach and collaborative problem-solving strategies, we work to assist the child and their primary carers to support their executive function skills and to improve function in everyday life.
I work with keyworkers to ensure executive function skills are considered in all therapy routines.
Self-Care
Occupational Therapists work to assist people to gain independence in their activities of daily living. Daily tasks such as toileting, dressing, personal hygiene, eating, meal preparation, exercising, using transportation and community access are important skills to successfully understand and use throughout life. This is another area where play as the therapy tool can often increase a child’s success within various self-care routines.
I work with keyworkers to ensure self-care skills are considered in all therapy routines.
Sleep
Sleep is another key element in daily life that we can support families with. Using collaborative problem-solving strategies, we assist families to understand the strategies that will increase their child’s feeling of safety and to implement effective sleep routines/practices.
Learning
Supporting primary carers to understand their child’s learning style and their specific needs. Working with the child’s education team to understand lagging skills and support adjustment to the learning environment to facilitate the child being able to learn in a meaningful way.
Current Availability
Jenna is currently available to provide telehealth sessions.