Meet Our Team - Osborne Park

The Next Challenge Team is passionate about working with children and giving them the best opportunity to succeed. Our therapists specialise in family centred practice, working with families to plan goals and services for all children.

All of our Speech Pathologists are Certified Practising members of Speech Pathology Australia.

Speech Pathology

Julie Hunt

Director / Principal Speech Pathologist 
Julie Hunt is a founding member of Next Challenge, with over fifteen years of clinical experience. Julie is passionate about working together with children and their families to facilitate the development of a child's communication skills, so they can participate and interact successfully in all aspects of their lives. Julie thrives on working within a multidisciplinary team, believing in an holistic approach to service delivery and intervention. And she loves the fact that she gets to laugh so much with so many little people every day! Julie is also dedicated to working together with the Team at Next Challenge and she is committed to supporting their professional development and learning, to provide them with a broad range of clinical, leadership and project management experience.  Julie is extremely proud of each and every one of her staff in their ability to make a positive change.

Michelle Quail

​Senior Staff and Operations Manager / Senior Speech Pathologist 
Michelle is a Senior Speech Pathologist who is passionate about helping children and their families. She really enjoys working in a vibrant and dynamic team and feels blessed to share in each child's developmental journey. Michelle provides support to the General Manager through a number of different roles and oversees the refinement of organisational processes and overall staff management. Michelle has worked as a Senior Lecturer at Curtin University and has 8 publications across a range of areas including childhood language and clinical education. Michelle is  passionate about improving the community's awareness of the profession, maintaining efficiency and staff job satisfaction at Next Challenge and providing the highest level of family-centred, holistic therapy to all children. Next Challenge has provided Michelle with the unique opportunity to work in a job she loves, in an organisation she admires.

Casey Magee

Senior Speech Pathologist
Casey is a Senior Speech Pathologist who provides innovative, family-centred support to children, families and schools. Casey works with children with a variety of speech, language and literacy difficulties as well as offering therapy and consultancy services to schools. Casey is a Hanen-Certified Speech Pathologist, specialising in family-focused early language intervention. She is also PROMPT trained, applying this approach to help children with speech production disorders. In addition to her clinical work at Next Challenge, Casey also supervises a number of therapists in the team. Casey also works part-time at Curtin University as a Clinical Coordinator in the Speech Pathology program. Casey loves the daily ‘challenges’ and looks forward to her continued partnership with Next Challenge’s families and schools. ​

Catherine Beck

Senior Speech Pathologist
Catherine is a Senior Speech Pathologist who strongly believes in the importance of helping children learn to communicate and interact with the world and people around them.  Catherine has a broad academic academic and clinical background, having gained experience in a variety of areas, including early intervention, school-aged speech and language, fluency, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and literacy. With previous professional experience as a children’s librarian, Catherine has a particular interest in supporting children as they develop literacy skills, and is passionate about the role that book-sharing can have in therapy with children of all ages and stages. As a mother of two young children herself, Catherine feels privileged to be able to assist families through the therapeutic process, and strongly values the relationships developed with the children and parents she sees.

Michelle Brankovic

Senior Speech Pathologist
​Michelle is a Senior Speech Pathologist who has many years of experience working with young children.  She has an interest in early language development and has worked with children who have a range of abilities, including children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.  Michelle is passionate about working with families to help them encourage their child's development, whilst being mindful of the many physical and emotional demands of being a parent.  Michelle is a Hanen-Certified Speech Pathologist, and has also completed PROMPT and PECS training.​

Jessie Sansalone (​Cresp)

 Senior Speech Pathologist (currently on parental leave)
Jessie is a speech pathologist who loves working alongside families to achieve their child's goals. Jessie has been a part of the team at Next Challenge since 2014, and has experience working with a wide variety of clients in a variety of contexts. Jessie often seeks out extra learning opportunities and is Hanen (More Than Words) and PECS trained. Coming from a broad academic background, Jessie supervises observation and final year speech pathology students. Jessie is strongly motivated by the belief that everyone has the right to communicate. As such, she has a special interest in helping children with disabilities and communication difficulties. She particularly enjoys working in close partnership with other allied health team members to best support her clients. Jessie prides herself on delivering evidence based, functional and fun therapy.  ​   

Asha Bodycoat

Senior Speech Pathologist  
Asha is a Speech Pathologist who loves working with children of all ages and their families. She loves being a part of Next Challenge’s passionate multidisciplinary team, and strongly believes that sharing in a child’s developmental journey is a privilege. Asha has worked with children in Australia and Canada with a variety of different speech and language needs, in both clinics and classrooms. She is also Hanen-Certified, Sounds~Write and PECS trained. Asha has experience in a wide variety of clinical areas, including fluency, literacy, mealtimes, Autism Spectrum Disorder and early years speech and language.

Zoe Morris

Senior Speech Pathologist 
Zoe is a passionate and enthusiastic Speech Pathologist who is committed to providing client-centered intervention. She grew up in a country town, Northam, where her love for working with children flourished through her passions for teaching dancing, and swimming. Zoe has since returned to her hometown providing services part time at Next Challenge and Northam Regional Physiotherapy. Zoe has developed a growing interest in the areas of: early intervention, severe speech and language delays, autism spectrum disorder, social skills, and play.  She has gained specific training in key word signing; alternative and augmentative communication; PROMPT (a technique to support motor speech difficulties); dyspraxia and literacy development. Additionally, she has had sound experience working within schools in the metropolitan and rural areas and is motivated to continue building partnerships in order to maximise students learning potentials.  Zoe attributes the success of her therapy to three core components: rapport, respect and integrity. She strives to provide a holistic treatment approach, to work towards meaningful and achievable goals.

Holly Tickner

Senior Speech Pathologist ​
Holly is a Senior Speech Pathologist who specialises in the area of baby, toddler and childhood feeding difficulties. This includes problems with breastfeeding, bottle feeding, eating solids, swallowing difficulties (dysphagia) and picky or fussy eaters. Holly has worked in the area of feeding and eating problems for close to 15 years.  She has provided services to babies, toddlers and children at Perth Children's Hospital (formally Princess Margaret Hospital), King Edward Memorial Hospital, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), and the Child Development Service.  Holly is passionate about supporting families to feel listened to and supported in practical ways, and prides herself on using evidence based science to achieve therapy goals.  She ensures that therapy goals are achievable for families and their busy lives, and always individualises her approach for every child she meets.

Sinead Brunning

Senior Speech Pathologist ​
Sinead is a Hanen-Certified speech pathologist who loves working collaboratively with families to help children reach their full potential. She has experience working in the disability sector and has a particular interest in Autism Spectrum Disorder having previously worked in ASD diagnosis. Sinead enjoys working in a team, with other therapists and caregivers, focusing on a child’s functional communication and participation in family and community activities. She also appreciates the importance of practical goals for families having grown up with foster siblings with disability as well as her work as a respite carer while at university.

Nikki Tanner

Senior Speech Pathologist ​
Nikki has experience working with children of all ages across many different areas of speech, language and feeding. Prior to joining Next Challenge, Nikki worked with children with complex speech and language difficulties and feeding and swallowing problems. She has also worked as a Senior Speech Pathologist in the UK with children with cleft lip and palate, helping them with their speech sounds, their language development and their feeding skills.
Nikki has a special interest in early speech and language, school age speech and language, literacy and feeding and swallowing difficulties. Nikki is currently undergoing training in Sounds-Write phonics program.
Nikki and her husband James have five children together. This makes for a rather hectic but fun home life! Things that make Nikki feel happy include spending time with her family, traveling, learning more about child development, a glass of champagne and a really great book.

Jessie Wetherall

Speech Pathologist ​
Jessie is a Speech Pathologist who loves working with children and their families, and greatly values the opportunity to work with and learn from the multidisciplinary team at Next Challenge. A former Primary School teacher, she  is passionate about fostering a love of language and literacy in children of all ages and enjoys adding to her ever-expanding collection of picture books to share with her clients. Jessie is also trained in the strongly evidence-based Sounds Write program for reading and writing. She strongly believes in the importance of developing positive and ongoing relationships with families and schools to ensure that her clients are supported in all areas of life to achieve their goals. Jessie enjoys the diversity, challenges and new experiences found in each day as a Speech Pathologist.   

Dayna Norcliffe

Speech Pathologist ​
Dayna is a Speech Pathologist who is passionate about supporting children and their families in engaging and interactive ways. She particularly enjoys collaborating with the multidisciplinary team at Next Challenge to provide unique and holistic family-centred services to improve a child's communication and participation. Dayna is a Hanen-Certified Speech Pathologist and is trained in the evidence-based Sounds~Write Synthetic Phonics Program for reading and writing. She has experience in a wide variety of clinical areas, including early language, literacy, feeding and disability. Dayna works in a range of settings including the clinic, classroom and the community and believes in the importance of building strong positive relationships with families and schools. Dayna loves the variety that each day brings and is grateful for the opportunity to support children to achieve their goals.

Stephanie Sullivan

Speech Pathologist
​Steph is a Speech Pathologist who loves supporting children to achieve their goals. Through family-centred practice, Steph develops positive relationships and provides individualised therapy. She has experience working with children of all ages and abilities in both Australia and Canada, and strongly believes that everyone has the right to communicate. Steph is Hanen-Certified, PECS trained, and has also completed further training in the Early Start Denver Model for young children with autism. Steph has experience across a variety of clinical areas, including early language development, Autism Spectrum Disorder, school-aged speech and language, literacy, and mealtimes. Steph loves working creatively with the team at Next Challenge, to provide evidence-based, fun, and functional therapy.

Amy Bain

Speech Pathologist
Amy is a passionate and enthusiastic Speech Pathologist who loves working alongside children and families to support them to achieve meaningful goals. The guiding principles of rapport, respect and care are a driving force in everyday practice. Amy has experience within the disability sector working with early intervention and school aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and has a growing interest in the areas of social skills, early language, speech sounds and literacy development. Amy enjoys working across environments and understands the importance of developing strong, positive relationships with schools and teachers. Amy has always held Next Challenge in high regard and feels privileged to work within a team that inspire her and to support families who bring such diverse, fun and challenging experiences to each day.  

Olivia Hill

Speech Pathologist

Occupational Therapy

Amy Hollins (Rudd)

Senior Occupational Therapist
Amy is a Senior Occupational Therapist passionate about creating more playful, healthy, positive and inclusive communities. She has broad experience across a variety of areas and particularly loves working with families to improve a child's ability to regulate their own sensory and emotional needs.  From volunteering her time to develop an inclusive playspace at Whiteman Park (Pia's Place) to working with local schools and councils to improve play spaces, Amy is driven by her understanding of the importance of play and loves creating positive environments.   As a passionate member of the Next Challenge team (since the end of 2005), she feels privileged to continue working flexible hours with an organisation she is very dedicated to. ​

Jessica Pretty (Rogerson)

Senior Occupational Therapist (currently on parental leave)
Jess is an occupational therapist who is passionate about supporting young people as they strive to reach their fullest potential. Her interest in working with children has stemmed from familial experience with physical and intellectual disability, and years of experience volunteering and working with children with and without disabilities. Jess graduated from Curtin University with first class honours, completing research specific to interventions for children with Autism alongside the Telethon Kids Institute. Her research has since been published in academic journals including Developmental Neurorehabilitation. Jess regularly acts as a clinical supervisor for occupational therapy students completing their placement with Next Challenge. Alongside her work at Next Challenge, Jess teaches allied health students at Curtin University and is the occupational therapist for Huntington’s WA. 

Monnica Marwick

Occupational Therapist (currently on parental leave)
Monnica is an occupational therapist who takes a holistic approach to therapy and working alongside children and their families to foster and promote independence. Monnica’s experience includes working with children with Autism and developmental delays. Previously working as an artist and a now mother to a young son, she credits all areas to having shaped her as a therapist who believes children get the most out of therapy when it is fun, creative and supportive.
As a member of Developmental Occupational Therapy (DOT), Monnica continues to develop her professional skills as a paediatric occupational therapist.

Sarah Spight

Occupational Therapist
Sarah graduated from Curtin University, and is passionate about empowering families to further their child’s independence and therefore participation in everyday life. Sarah strongly believes that all children should have equal opportunities in life and is committed to equipping families with the tools to support their children to access and embrace these opportunities. 
Having worked alongside people from different cultures both within Australia and Vietnam, Sarah has developed an understanding of the different adversities that children and their families may face in everyday life. Sarah hopes to further this knowledge through her volunteer work with CARAD, to enable her to provide more culturally sensitive and relevant therapy that empowers people to thrive in the face of these adversities.

Christine Leather

Occupational Therapist
Christine is an Occupational Therapist who takes a holistic approach to therapy with children and working with families in the community. Christine has had a diverse career with two degrees in Medical Science (completing an internship in Cardiology) and Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (with Honours), and more than 15 years experience in the hospital and in a community setting. Having three young children of her own, her motherhood journey has been a positive influence in the area of paediatrics and highlights the importance of family-centred services on a child's therapy outcomes. Christine is a member of Developmental Occupational Therapy focus group and continues to develop her professional skills in paediatrics. 

Tash Rubie

Occupational Therapist
Tash loves helping children of all ages and abilities take small steps to achieve big goals, to develop independence and achieve their full potential. Tash highly values family-centered practice and enjoys supporting and empowering parents and caregivers to set achievable goals for their child. Tash is a playful therapist who enjoys helping children succeed through play-based and strength-based intervention. Tash has a special interest in working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and is particularly experienced in working on motor-based goals such as handwriting. Tash has worked with children in Australia, Fiji and the United Kingdom in a range of settings. She loves having the opportunity to work as part of the Next Challenge team and the diversity that each day brings.

Kelly O'Brien

Occupational Therapist
Kelly is an occupational therapist who loves working with children and empowering their families to achieve meaningful goals. She values creating a positive, playful and engaging environment for children to build confidence in their skills through supported opportunities to succeed. Kelly has experience supporting children of all ages across a variety of areas including fine and gross motor development, sensory and emotional regulation, self-care, assistive technology, and social skills. Kelly has worked with children in different settings in Western Australia and Canada and this has fostered a keen interest in early intervention and play and nature-based intervention. Kelly feels privileged to work in a holistic, multi-disciplinary team at Next Challenge and appreciates the many opportunities she is provided to continue learning and developing her skills. ​

Julia Mugliston

Occupational Therapist

Physiotherapy

 Genevieve Duff

Senior Physiotherapist (currently on leave)
Genevieve Duff is a Senior Physiotherapist with 20 years experience in a broad range of clinical, leadership and project management roles. Gen has experience in a wide variety of clinical areas, having worked both with children and adults with physical, vision and intellectual impairments. Gen loves working in diverse and inclusive teams, who strive towards best practice and efficient models of service.  Gen is passionate about empowering families to lead and love their lives.
Outside of Next Challenge, Gen also works as a Consultant and Educator in Paralympic Sport, having been part of Australia’s representation at 3 previous Paralympic Games. Gen is passionate about translating her sport interests to encourage families to participate in and enjoy sport and physical activities together.  

Robert Luscombe

Physiotherapist
Robert is a Physiotherapist who is passionate about creating fun and functional activities to assist all children and families that come through the door.  Having taught babies and children to swim for the last 5 years, Robert has a keen interest in hydrotherapy.  Due to his sporting background, Robert has also has a passion for assisting children participate in sports with their peers.  Robert has also volunteered at a Babies home in Ukraine.  Here he worked specifically with children 0-4 years old and thoroughly enjoyed upskilling the staff to be able to provide the best environment for the children to develop to their full potential. 

Psychology

Coming soon!

Allied Health Assistant

Renay Wynyard

Allied Health Assistant
Renay has recently completed her Certificate IV in Allied Health Assistance in order to pursue her passion of working in healthcare. Renay’s warm, compassionate nature enables her to develop trusting relationships with the children she works with, as well as their families and the people around them. Renay works closely with Next Challenge staff and therapists to provide client-focused support to each individual, under the guidance and supervision of a qualified Allied Health Professional. Renay is enthusiastic, motivated and possesses a unique combination of health, administration and people skills. Renay receives a great sense of job satisfaction from supporting children to meet their therapy goals.

Client Services

Sally Grey

Client Services Manager
You will meet Sally at reception, welcoming and assisting our families. Sally is our Client Services Manager  and is passionate about working with children. She has a strong background in administration after  working for many years as the Manager's personal assistant in several large companies. She has now been part of the Next Challenge Team for over 13 years supporting our families, Directors and therapists in facilitating the smooth running of Next Challenge.​

​Vivienne Anderson 

Client Services Manager
​Viv is a dynamic and efficient member of our team. She joins Sally at reception, working to welcome and assist families, as well as provide valuable support to our ever growing team of therapists. Viv thrives on the busy nature of Next Challenge and enjoys getting to know all of our families. If you have a question regarding the NDIS, Viv is the person to ask!
​When she's not out the front helping Sally on reception, Viv can be found creating resources for our families and therapists.  ​

Alicia Ioppolo

Client Services
​Alicia works alongside Sally and Viv to provide a friendly welcome to the families that visit our clinic.  Alicia is passionate about working with children to help nurture their learning and build confidence in themselves. She is excited to contribute to children achieving their goals at Next Challenge. Alicia loves the diversity of the multidisciplinary clinic, alongside the culture and challenges that Next Challenge has to offer. She enjoys spending time with friends, getting cozied-up with a good book, playing with her cat, and ending the day outside with a glass of wine. 

​Jaime Hunt

Client Services
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