Therapy for Life - Allied Health Services

04/03/2026

Such a important win!!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-04/ndis-agency-loses-significant-legal-case-scooter-funding/106405304?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web&fbclid=IwdGRjcAQUvb5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEePmIiSacG3VK41NqB3MkM3RkTUFNaZU9F_EZYr0aNmpUfU7AUXG8rxyXmNEw_aem_9tPIz63olXxDlreXxM5r2A

The agency running the NDIS has lost a legal case experts say could have significant implications for how future funding decisions are made.

22/01/2026

We offer support late diagnosis we adults for ADHD and autism and Medicare rebates are available!!

Late diagnosis is a roller coaster but with a few shifts and changes supported by a professional with lived experience , it can and does get better !!

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18c1NwbEep/?mibextid=wwXIfr

22/01/2026

So true and put so well !!

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CoyWhBx6J/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Don’t freak out, but, autistic selective eating is ✨NOT always about sensory issues.✨

Yes, texture, smell, temperature, taste, and predictability matter…BUT, research also points to RIGIDITY as a major contributor to “picky eating”.

From the autistic perspective, the rule often isn’t
❌“I can’t eat this because it feels bad.”

It’s more like:
✅“I can’t eat this because I don’t eat this.”

Once a food is categorized as “not something I eat,” that rule can be surprisingly hard to break, even if the sensory experience itself wouldn’t be terrible.

I notice this every time I travel.
Almost every trip, I come home with a new food I’m suddenly willing to eat.

Sometimes it’s a food I’ve genuinely never been exposed to before,
(most recently, clam chowder).

Other times, it’s a food I stopped eating years ago…but while traveling, the usual rules get disrupted and the rigidity breaks.

Once that rule is broken I’m often willing to eat it again at home.

The sensory experience didn’t magically change. What changed was the mental rule around it.

So when we talk about autistic eating, it’s worth remembering that…

Sometimes the most effective support isn’t avoiding new foods or assuming every refusal is sensory-based.

Rather, thoughtful exposure (done respectfully), without pressure is what actually expands flexibility.

This definitely doesn’t mean that exposure works the same way for everyone.

But it does mean recognizing that for many autistic people, rigidity can be just as powerful a barrier as sensory discomfort.

15/01/2026

🧠 Executive functioning grows through use — not strategies alone. 🌱
Many adults with ADHD are told they just need better systems.

Planners.
Apps.
Reminders.
More discipline. 📱🗂️

And while tools can help, they’re not the whole picture.
The frontal lobes — the part of the brain involved in planning, starting tasks, organising, regulating attention, and follow-through — don’t develop through thinking alone.

They strengthen through doing.
Through real-world engagement that involves:
Making decisions
Adapting to change
Managing effort and attention
Moving through tasks in context

For many adults with ADHD, modern life actually reduces these opportunities.

Life becomes more sedentary, more digital, and more disconnected from the body.

What I see often in my work as an Occupational Therapist is that when support focuses only on strategies — without considering the environment, movement, and daily routines — people are left feeling like they’re still failing.

A holistic OT approach looks at how your brain, body, environment, and daily life interact — and how to build capacity in ways that actually fit you.

Not pushing.
Not forcing.
Not “trying harder.”

But supporting your nervous system and executive skills through practical, meaningful everyday activities.

If you’re a Teen or Adult ADHDer and feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or exhausted by systems that don’t seem to stick, OT support may be an option worth exploring 💛

📩 You’re welcome to get in touch to learn more about how Occupational Therapy can support adult ADHD.

Enquiries through the website or email

hello@therapy4lifeahs.com

https://therapy4lifeahs.com

15/01/2026

Modern life is very good at keeping us still and stuck!! 🪑📱

We sit.
We commute. 🚗
We scroll.
We think. 🧠

And our nervous systems adapt.

One of the parts of the brain most affected by this is the amygdala — the system involved in detecting salience, assessing risk, and learning what is safe.

The amygdala doesn’t just respond to danger.

It learns safety through experience. ✨

When adult life offers very little:
• varied movement 🤸‍♀️
• vestibular or proprioceptive input ⚖️
• manageable physical challenge 🧗

…the nervous system gets fewer chances to update its sense of safety.

Over time, this can show up as fatigue 😮‍💨, dysregulation, or a reduced sense of ease in the body.

Tolerable, predictable challenge allows the brain to register:
“That was unfamiliar — and I was safe.” 🌱

The body learns safety through experience, not explanation.

Occupational Therapy can help adults learn to move again in a safe and supported way so you can get back to life!!

14/01/2026

Adult brains still need sensory input

Over the next week, I’m sharing a short reflection series called Regulation Beyond Rest.

It was sparked by a recent camping trip — physically demanding, messy, and genuinely hard:

⛺ setting up tents
🥾 uneven ground
🎒 carrying gear
🏃‍♀️ chasing kids

What surprised me wasn’t the exhaustion — it was how settled my nervous system felt.

In my work with Neurodivergent adults, I see this often:
🛑 Rest is essential
🔁 But rest alone doesn’t always create repair

We talk about sensory regulation with kids all the time — movement, balance, proprioception. Adult nervous systems don’t outgrow those needs… we just stop building them into daily life.

Many adults are expected to regulate through thinking and pushing through, while living in under-moved bodies. Over time, that mismatch creates stress — and often shame.

Adult brains still need bottom-up input to feel safe and regulated 💛

If this resonates, Occupational Therapy can help explore this safely and practically.

Either visit our website

https://therapy4lifeahs.com/contact-us
Or email
hello@therapy4lifeahs.com

Medicare rebates avaialbe

" I support neurodivergent adults — especially those with ADHD — to make daily life feel more manageable through practical, body-based and regulation-focused strategies."

I’m a Mental Health Occupational Therapist with 20 years’ experience and a life of lived experience!!!

note above is
General information only. Not individual advice.

09/01/2026

To my amazing clients I’m heading out of range until Wednesday.

Please contact admin if you need anything urgent and look forward to seeing you when I get ready for a big 2026!!

26/12/2025

This is the approach I use when working with ND teens and adults in the clinic!!

It’s exciting to finally put it into a unique framework

I’m really excited to finally share something I’ve been quietly working on and refining 💛

Over time, I realised I was done teaching ADHD change as a checklist.

Because ADHD brains don’t move in straight lines.
They move in spirals.
You don’t fall off track.
You return — with more insight, more information, and (hopefully) a little less shame.

That’s why I’ve redesigned SHIFT.
Not as something you complete.
But as something you can come back to — especially when life gets loud, messy, or overwhelming.

🌀 SHIFT looks like this:
S — Self
Coming back to who you are, not who you’ve been trying to be.
H — Help
Opening to support that actually works for your nervous system.
I — Interoception
Gently returning to the body in a way that’s neurodivergent-affirming and trauma-informed.
F — Forward
Moving when alignment and capacity are there — not through force.
T — Time
Giving yourself grace. Pausing. Integrating. And returning when you need to.

This is regulation-first, neuroaffirming change.
No hustle. No ladders. No “just try harder.”
Just agency, choice, and movement that doesn’t cost your health.

✨ If you’re curious about working together, I offer relaxed, no-pressure fit calls to explore whether this approach feels right for you (and whether I’m the right person to support you).
No fixing. No forcing. Just a conversation.

https://www.aliceayliffe.com/theshift-mentoring
— Alice 💛

17/12/2025

To all my amazing clients
I’ve been a bit absent this week with a health issue and the crazy of the last week of school and last week of my dtrs primary school

I’m on leave on Friday and Mondat but I’m back now for the 23rd and 24th.

So if you are waiting for me to get back to you rest assured I’ll respond soon .

Thank you for your patience