Starting your first role as an Occupational Therapist is a big transition. You should not have to arrive with all the answers. At Avina, our 12-month Graduate Program is designed to give you structure, people to turn to and the practical experience to become the clinician or practitioner you want to be.

Avina is a national allied health and behaviour support organisation, delivering community and clinic-based support to people across the lifespan, with 400+ clinicians across QLD, NSW, VIC and SA.

Everything We Do Is Guided By Our Values Progressive | Curious | Respectful | Collaborative | Informed | Purposeful.

Your Graduate Year at Avina Someone has your back Your first year as an Occupational Therapist is about developing your clinical identity and building confidence in your own practice.

When you start with us, your first weeks are about learning, observing, asking questions and gradually taking on more.

The program begins with a structured 9-week onboarding and caseload ramp-up, supported by:

- Shadowing with experienced clinicians
- Reverse shadowing and supported sessions as you transition into independent practice
- Regular discipline-specific clinical supervision
- Case consultation, report review and clinical feedback
- Working collaboratively within an MDT
- Peer learning and connection with other graduates
- Communities of Practice and broader career development opportunities

What You'll Learn Become the clinician you want to be Across your graduate year, you'll be exposed to a broad range of Occupational Therapy practice, learning alongside experienced clinicians, discipline peers and other graduates. You'll have opportunities to build your capability across a range of Occupational Therapy practice areas, including:

- Functional assessment and capacity building
- Daily living, participation and independence
- Sensory, motor and emotional regulation
- Assistive technology and equipment

Alongside your clinical caseload, you'll also build broader professional skills, including:




- NDIS documentation and report writing
- Clinical risk and safe practice

What You'll Be Doing Work that matters You'll deliver evidence-informed, person-centred Occupational Therapy services across community, clinic, home and school environments. As your capability grows, you'll take on greater ownership of a real caseload. The aim isn't to make you "productive" as quickly as possible, it's to help you become safe, thoughtful and confident in work that makes a real difference.

What You'll Bring

- Bachelor or Master of Occupational Therapy completed or nearing completion
- AHPRA registration or eligibility to obtain registration
- Interest in disability and community-based practice
- Curiosity, initiative, willingness to learn and openness to feedback
- Strong communication and organisational skills
- Driver's licence and access to a reliable vehicle
- NDIS Worker Screening Check and Working With Children Check, or willingness to obtain them

Meet Your Team - Port Pirie You'll be joining a small, close-knit regional team based out of our Port Pirie office. Caseloads here typically lean heavily paediatric, with a smaller adult component, and you'll work across the full lifespan, across home, school, clinic, community and SIL/SDA settings. Beyond the role, Port Pirie offers a genuinely different lifestyle to Adelaide, well-priced housing, a coastal position on the Spencer Gulf, and easy access to the Southern Flinders Ranges for hiking and the outdoors. Everything in town is a short drive away, and it's the kind of place where you settle into the community quickly.





Clinicians from our Adelaide-based teams also regularly travel out to Port Pirie, so you'll be well connected to the wider SA network, both in person and through Microsoft Teams.

Other Regional Opportunities South Australia

- Port Pirie

New South Wales

- Alstonville - Byron Bay's beaches, cafes and social scene, just 30 minutes down the road.
- Armidale - A charming university city in the New England High Country, with cool climate wines, heritage architecture and four distinct seasons, halfway between Sydney and Brisbane.
- Dubbo - City-sized amenities with country charm, a large community of young professionals, and endless weekend road trips.
- East Maitland - The ideal lifestyle balance, situated halfway between the wineries in the Hunter Valley and the beaches in Newcastle.
- Goulburn - Affordable regional living with easy access to Canberra's dining and cultural scene.
- Gosford (Central Coast) - Premium beachside living on your doorstep, with Sydney less than an hour away by train for weekend trips.
- Orange - A gourmet food and wine destination at the foot of a dormant volcano, home to Australia's only altitude-defined wine region.
- Port Macquarie - Koala capital of the east coast, where the rainforest meets the sea.

Queensland

- Townsville - A tropical North Queensland paradise offering 300 days of sunshine a year and a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.

Other Occupational Therapy graduate opportunities we're recruiting for can be found on our Indeed page: https://au.indeed.com/cmp/Avina/jobs If you're keen to build skills across a varied caseload, with real supervision and a team that actually has your back, we'd like to hear from you.

Please note in your application which of the above locations you'd be open to, even if it's not the one this ad is posted under, and we'll consider your application for your preferred region.

To apply, send your CV to [email protected] or click the apply button.

https://www.avinatherapy.com.au/

📌 Occupational Therapist | Graduate Program | Regional Opportunities (Melrose Park)
🏢 Avina
📍 Melrose Park