Meet Ellen - Occupational Therapist & Supervisor

I’m Ellen Jolly, an AHPRA registered Occupational Therapist based in Adelaide and the founder of The Supervision Studio. My background is in paediatric and youth-focused occupational therapy across private practice, NDIS, and school-based settings over the last 12+ years. I founded and currently lead a multidisciplinary allied health service of 25+ staff supporting children, young people and families. My work has also included supporting OT students through placements, working with universities in clinical education contexts, developing professional development workshops, and consulting with schools around inclusive practice and whole-school approaches.

Alongside my clinical work, I’ve spent 8+ years in team leadership, service development and the day-to-day realities of running a practice. That means I understand not only the therapy itself, but the systems, pressures and decisions that sit around it - caseloads, documentation, families, schools, funding, risk, team dynamics, student learning, service expectations and clinician wellbeing.

My approach is also shaped by lived experience. As a neurodivergent clinician, and through lived experience of disability in my family, I understand that support systems can feel empowering, confusing, exhausting and deeply personal - often all at once. This perspective informs the way I think about supervision: clinically sound, but also humane, realistic and respectful of the people within the systems.

Why I created The Supervision Studio

I created The Supervision Studio because I keep meeting professionals in paediatric practice who are thoughtful, capable and committed, but often quite isolated in their work.

They are carrying complex caseloads, making critical decisions, writing reports with real consequences, navigating family dynamics, collaborating with schools and working within NDIS systems - often without enough protected space to think it all through.

I’ve noticed a shift in the sector where supervision is not always prioritised or protected. It can become something squeezed in, moved around, rushed through, or treated as a checklist rather than an intentional space dedicated to the supervisee, their clinical reasoning and their professional growth.

The Supervision Studio exists to offer that space.

Two women talking in a professional consultation setting.

Explore Supervision Services

What supervision with me is like
Supervision with me is practical, reflective, and grounded. I believe supervision should support your development, not just help you get through the week. Supervision should focus on being deliberate about your growth - naming your strengths, the skills you want to build, setting goals you actually return to, and making your professional development intentional rather than incidental.

I’m not interested in vague reassurance, over-complicated frameworks or generic coaching. My aim is for you to leave supervision clearer than when you came in - clearer in your reasoning, clearer in your decisions, and clearer about what is yours to hold.

Sometimes we may talk through an assessment, report, intervention plan, NDIS goal, systemic challenges or school recommendation. Sometimes we may unpack a family dynamic, a team issue, a boundary concern, a difficult decision, or the feeling that you are carrying too much. Often, it is a combination of many.

I see supervision as a place where clinical reasoning, reflective practice and professional identity come together. It is not just about solving the immediate problem. It is also about helping you build the confidence, judgement and clarity to approach the next one.

What I believe about the work

I’m neurodiversity-affirming and trauma-informed in how I think about practice. I’m client-centred and ultimately believe it always comes back to occupation, function and participation.

I’m also realistic about the pressures clinicians are working within - time, caseloads, expectations, paperwork, emotional load and the constant need to make sound decisions in imperfect systems.

So I aim to keep supervision honest, practical and connected to the realities of the job. Reflective, but not vague. Supportive, but not fluffy. Thoughtful, but still useful.

My training and professional learning

My own professional learning has focused on areas that support reflective, practical and developmentally informed paediatric OT practice including professional supervision training, clinical education, neurodevelopment, sensory processing, trauma-informed and neurodiversity-affirming practice, SOS Feeding, school-based OT, inclusive practice, parent capacity building, documentation, report writing, leadership and mentoring.

These areas shape the way I supervise: practical, reflective, clinically grounded and connected to the real contexts therapists are working in.

Woman smiling while writing in a notebook at a desk

The Details

I’m registered with the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia through AHPRA and provide supervision for Occupational Therapists and other health professionals working with children, young people and families.

If you would like to explore whether supervision with The Supervision Studio is the right fit, you are welcome to get in touch by organising a no-obligation 15 minute chat or by emailing me.