Brooke Barker

Background

About Brooke Barker

I’m a Kiwi Occupational Therapist based in Melbourne, Australia!Experience: • Brain injury rehabilitation• Wheelchair and seating• Standardised and functional assessments • Equipment assessment and provision • Home modifications • Paediatric occupational therapyOTs always have a story about the journey that lead them to the profession, so I thought I would share mine here:Growing up, I always knew I was bound for a career in working with people. As a child, I was inspired by watching my maternal grandmother work. She was a caregiver, working with young people with disabilities. Grandma was so loved, respected and influential in her role. She was a problem solver, a doer, and perhaps an OT at heart. In my final year of high school, I was representing New Zealand in lacrosse (coincidentally, in Melbourne), when I received a head knock during the game, leaving me with a TBI. In my final year of high school, I felt stripped of the things that formulated my identity at the time - I could no longer be an athlete, an academic, a leader. So who was I? Despite the probable grief I caused my OT at the time, I have always had an innate drive for success (and a bit of a stubborn streak), and I went on to achieve an excellence endorsement in NCEA level three, and was granted the Auckland University of Technology Vice-Chancellor’s Significant Student Scholarship. This is where I went on to gain a Bachelor of Health Science (Occupational Therapy).I feel so fortunate for this journey that has lead me to be an OT, and I think this Māori proverb summarises things perfectly:He aha te mea nui? Māku e kii atu, he tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata.What is the most important thing in the world? Well, let me tell you, it is the people, it is the people, it is the people.