Mary Ryan

Background

About Mary Ryan

I am a registered Occupational Therapist with a background in physical rehabilitation and community health. After a career leading customer service teams, project and volunteer coordination in public and private organisations, I entered the Occupation Therapy profession because it aligns with my deeply held belief in the right of all people to be able to engage in their daily and community lives in ways that are necessary and meaningful for them as a unique individual. In early 2023, I opened Authentic Self Occupational Therapy to respond to the need for effective, strengths-based support for adults and young people that identify as neurodivergent (specifically autistic and ADHD/VAST) and those who do not and are experiencing long-term difficulties with feeling overwhelmed, self-identity, executive functioning and relationships, impacting their capacity to move forward in life as their unique self. Authentic Self OT centres positive self-identity, wellbeing and self-determination to support people to live a satisfying, authentic life. I am in the final stages of training to become a licenced Davis Concepts for Life and Autism Approach program facilitator. Davis programs honour and celebrate neurodiversity as the natural variation in human brains and were designed by Ron Davis, a gifted autistic man who understood that people experience, think and learn differently. Drawing from his lived experience he developed a method to help people unlock their potential to be and express who they are and want to be. My approach is warm, affirming and compassionate with a sense of fun. I thrive on learning about and from my clients as we work together to build participation in the life of your choosing. I live in Melbourne, Victoria, with my family including the newest addition, Rosie, the pen chewing pup. I value time with my people, being in nature and as a Melbournian, eating out of course!