An Allied Health Assistant (AHA) is a therapy aide who works in a team with therapists and families to deliver therapy programs for our clients. Our AHA staff either have a Certificate IV in Allied Health Assistance or are undergraduate Speech Pathology or Occupational Therapy students – working towards their degree and career in this field. Several of our current therapists began their professional careers as AHAs with us!
Using an AHA is a cost-effective way to deliver a therapy program, and is an easy way to arrange weekly or twice weekly sessions to work on your goals. Your therapist designs the program and trains the AHA and then reviews the program each term.
Delivering therapy in this way means you only need 3-4 hours with your therapist each term but can have an intensive weekly therapy program provided at school, kindergarten or home. This in turn means a therapy budget can offer 2-3x more sessions using an AHA and a therapist, rather than just using a therapist alone.
FAQ: Who is an AHA program suitable for?
– Clients who want a program with more opportunities to practice during the week
– Families wanting a regular service provided at school, kindergarten or home
– Clients / families who are managing a tight therapy budget
– Clients working on Speech Pathology or OT goals
FAQ: How do I get started?
Talk to your therapist about whether an AHA program will work for you. If appropriate they will submit a referral for AHA services to our team. One of our AHA’s will contact you to set up your program.
FAQ: How does the AHA program work?
Families, therapists and AHAs each have a different role when working in the AHA program.
