Giving back

After rediscovering the value of the APA, New South Wales Branch President Ian Starkey stepped forward as a volunteer – contributing his time, experience and voice to help strengthen the physiotherapy profession.

For several years early in his career, New South Wales Branch President Ian Starkey APAM was not an APA member. 

Working in the New South Wales public health system, Ian felt well supported through internal supervision and education and allowed his membership to lapse.

 It was only later, after attending an APA evening lecture, that he was reminded of the role the association plays – not only in professional development but in strengthening the profession. 

‘I went along and I thought, “Oh my God. I did not know what I’ve been missing.”’

The presentation itself was valuable but the chance to connect with physiotherapists outside of his own workplace stood out. 

In public health, he explains, clinicians can easily become professionally siloed within their hospital or local health district. 

The APA offered opportunities to connect with the wider profession and share knowledge more broadly.

Those connections, Ian says, are not incidental – they shape how physiotherapists think, practise and influence the system around them. 

Exposure to different approaches and experiences sharpened his own perspective and, over time, positioned him to contribute more confidently beyond his immediate clinical environment. 

‘They say it’s not what you know; it’s who you know. But as far as I’m concerned, who you know influences what you know.’

Rejoining the association soon led him to volunteer. ‘I got to a point where I just felt like I wanted to give back to my community.’ 

Ian Starkey.

Around the same time, he also took on volunteer roles in his local rugby club and church. Volunteering with the APA became his way of contributing professionally.

Today, Ian is head of department for physiotherapy at Blacktown and Mount Druitt Hospitals in Western Sydney Local Health District and in his second year as president of the New South Wales branch of the APA. 

His path into physiotherapy began with an early interest in the physical structure of the human body. 

After narrowly missing entry straight from school, he began in occupational therapy before transferring into physiotherapy at the University of Sydney. 

‘My interest in the human body was far more the physical side of things – the muscles, the bones, the lungs.’ 

After graduating, he entered the public health system.

Ian’s volunteer involvement began with the New South Wales Branch Council, where he has served for more than a decade, including four years as vice-chair before stepping into the presidency. 

Through those roles he has seen how volunteering can amplify the profession’s voice beyond individual workplaces. 

One example came late last year when he and colleagues met with the New South Wales Minister for Health to discuss preventive health priorities. 

‘To be sitting in a room with the Minister for Health, who is saying, “Yeah, you’re right; this is a massive problem and you can help us” and literally listening to you, was quite powerful.’

For Ian, moments like that highlight why physiotherapy needs a seat at the table when health policy decisions are made. 

The profession has a strong evidence base and an important role in areas such as preventive health, he says, but it needs a voice in those discussions.

The New South Wales Branch Council has also been exploring ways to encourage more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander high school students to pursue physiotherapy, part of a broader effort to strengthen the future workforce.

The challenge, he says, is not only supporting students through university but ensuring that more are entering courses in the first place – an issue requiring earlier engagement and clearer pathways into the profession.

Volunteering, Ian says, also broadens perspective. 

‘You need to get outside the bubble. You need to get outside the hospital. You need to get outside the district. 

'You need to network. You need to make contact with others who are going to grow your career and your knowledge.’

For Ian, volunteering ultimately comes back to contributing. 'This is just another way to contribute beyond clinically caring for patients.’ 

He is clear about what the APA gains when members step forward. ‘What does the profession gain? Strength.’

Connections that count

Victorian physiotherapist Michael Dermansky says networking with peers drives his volunteering but its real value lies in contributing to the profession and building relationships that shape careers and opportunities.

For Michael Dermansky APAM, volunteering with the APA is about people: building the kinds of connections that strengthen the profession. 

Networking with peers has been his main reason for stepping into committees and events. But those connections are not about visibility or personal gain. They start with contribution. 

‘You start by giving and the receiving will come but it starts with giving first.’

That philosophy has shaped his long involvement with the APA and the opportunities that followed.

Michael, senior physiotherapist and managing director of MD Health in Kew East, began his practice in 2002. 

Today he leads multiple sites while continuing to practise clinically. 

His qualifications span physiotherapy, nutrition and business, including a Master of Business Administration completed while running the growing practice.

As a new graduate, however, he wasn’t thinking about business ownership or expansion. He simply wanted to become a better clinician. 

‘I went to an APA event the first week or two after I graduated. At the time, it was all about knowledge acquisition. I wanted to learn more.’ 

The networking benefits came later – and unexpectedly.

Michael Dermansky.

At an early APA course, he struck up a conversation with strength and conditioning coach Chris Dennis, who was then the assistant strength and conditioning coach at Geelong Football Club. 

That exchange led to an invitation to screen 44 players across two days during a preseason program.

‘I thought, “Oh boy, I’ve never done this before and I’ve got two days. Okay – we’ll give it a crack.”’

The work grew from there. Screening became ongoing involvement. 

Core stability protocols developed during that period are still used in Michael’s clinics more than 20 years later. 

‘I came there to get the knowledge of that course. I ended up with a network and an opportunity that I never expected at all.’ 

The experience crystallised the value of being present.

‘You don’t know who you’re going to meet and what it’s going to look like. If you’re not there, you can’t be part of it.’

About 12 years ago, Michael volunteered for the Victorian branch of the APA Business national group. The role required time and energy, with no financial return. 

‘I didn’t know where it would lead.’ 

What it led to was another pivotal professional relationship. Through the group, he met a colleague who would later sell him a clinic, forming the foundation for MD Health’s second site. 

‘If I wasn’t in the room, that opportunity would never have been there. But I didn’t know the opportunity would be there when I first presented myself.’

While networking is his primary motivation for volunteering, he is clear that it must be grounded in purpose.

‘The “why” can’t be selfish reasons. The short-term whys about what you can gain out of it – they never work. It has to
be a lot longer term.’ 

For Michael, that long-term ‘why’ is the same one that drew him into physiotherapy. 

‘Really simple. I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives.’

That desire continues to shape how he practises. 

He speaks of patients whose independence and quality of life improved through sustained, structured physiotherapy programs delivered by his team. 

‘There’s not many professions where we can say that’s the kind of impact you have on people’s lives.’

Networking through the APA, Michael says, strengthens that impact. 

It expands knowledge, exposes clinicians to new ideas and creates conversations that can shape careers and services in ways impossible to predict. 

When he speaks to final-year students about APA membership, his message is direct. ‘You never know the conversation you’ll have, the person you’ll meet, the opportunity that’s going to arise. If you’re not there, they can’t tap you on the shoulder.’

Volunteering is part of how the profession grows, he says, through shared knowledge, professional relationships and a willingness to contribute first. 

‘You volunteer, you have conversations, because then you form relationships, professional relationships, that you don’t expect and you don’t know where that’s going to go.’

Personal fulfilment

After 40 years with the APA, Dr Lynn Jensen still volunteers for growth and development as well as giving back.

For Western Australian Dr Lynn Jensen APAM, volunteering with the APA has never been about titles or recognition but the personal fulfilment that comes from helping others. 

‘For me, it’s much more the personal stuff about feeling like I’ve made a contribution, that I’m not a passenger all the time.

'Sometimes you must be a passenger – that’s fine. But you don’t want to be a passenger all the time.’

Her belief in helping and contributing rather than sitting back has shaped four decades of involvement with the APA. 

A member since 1985, Lynn has served in numerous volunteer roles, including the Western Australian chair and national chair of the APA Paediatric group and the Western Australian branch president. 

Alongside that involvement, she built a career working with children with disability across community, disability and tertiary settings in Western Australia, later spending more than two decades teaching physiotherapy students before retiring last year from Perth Children’s Hospital.

However, volunteering was never simply an addition to her professional life. 

‘I wanted to understand leadership and why and how the APA made decisions. For me it was about learning how leadership works and how the organisation functions.’ 

Committee work gave her insight into how the APA operates, from advocacy and governance to the financial realities behind organisational decisions. 

Lynn Jensen.

‘If you’re not embedded in the association in some way, you don’t understand the budget. You don’t hear the discussions around we can do this, but we can’t do that.’

Volunteering also became an education in leadership, Lynn says. 

Early in her committee years, she worked alongside experienced physiotherapists who became mentors and sounding-boards.

‘What do you think about this? This is what’s happened. How should I manage this?’ she recalls asking colleagues she trusted. 

‘I was really lucky. There were some very experienced people around, such as Ian Cooper, Professor Joan Cole and Katie Mickel, who gave me strategies for how to work with people and encourage others to step up.’

Over time, the focus shifted from learning leadership to supporting the next generation. 

Mentoring younger physiotherapists, through formal APA mentoring programs, committee work and decades of supervising students, has become one of the most rewarding aspects of her involvement.

‘I think mentoring the next generation is very important. For me it’s been the learning along the way – being a mentor and wanting to know more information.’

Since retiring from hospital practice, she says, having more time has made it easier to contribute and stay connected to the profession. 

That commitment recently drew her back to the Western Australian paediatric committee after branch leadership asked if she would become involved again. 

Part of that involvement is also thinking about the future of the committee. ‘Who’s the next person who’s going to step up?’

Advocacy for the profession is another reason Lynn continues volunteering. 

Across the course of her career, she has seen increasing pressure on physiotherapy’s scope of practice from other health professions. 

‘You need to fight for your profession. 

'Don’t let it shrink just because you’re not assertive enough to say, “This is my skill. This is what I can offer the patient.”’

When she talks to younger physiotherapists about volunteering, she is pragmatic. 

Committee involvement can strengthen a CV but only if there is genuine engagement. 

The real value lies in what comes with the experience, such as organising events, understanding budgets and governance, and working collaboratively with colleagues across the profession.

‘When you go for a job interview, you’ve got all this other stuff you can talk about. You can explain what you learned from being part of the group.’

Underlying her decades of volunteer work is instinct. 

‘Inherently I’m a volunteer. It’s just in my nature to say, something needs to be done – I’ll do it. 

'I volunteer for lots of things; it’s part of my personality.’ 

For four decades, that instinct has shaped Lynn’s involvement with the APA – strengthening the profession, mentoring younger physiotherapists and helping ensure that someone is always ready to step forward.

Advocacy for recognition of the profession

Nicole Pates has been involved with the Paediatric national group for almost 15 years. Last year her advocacy efforts went into overdrive in response to the NDIS cuts.

Underneath paediatric physiotherapist Nicole Pates MACP’s volunteer work for the APA is a driving need to ensure that paediatric physiotherapy is recognised, not just by the profession and the people it helps, but by the wider community and the funding bodies who pay for it.

For almost 15 years, Nicole has been volunteering with the APA as a member of the Paediatric national group, currently on her second – and final – term as national chair, and will move to an ex officio role in 2027. 

She’s sad to be leaving but says it’s time to give someone else a go. 

‘Last year was a big advocacy year and I’m excited to hand over the reins and support someone else because it’s a beautiful challenge.’

Nicole has been deeply involved in advocacy work, especially in the past 18 months as the APA took on the NDIS and the federal government over the funding of paediatric physiotherapy services, including the Thriving Kids initiative.

‘I felt that paediatric physiotherapy was so undervalued and I wanted to bring everyone together and elevate our worth within disability and early intervention because kids need to move to play and movement brings about opportunities to socialise and talk. 

'It’s such a foundational building block, whether it’s helping kids with disabilities into upright supported postures or helping little babies get into sitting or move to standing. 

'It builds social skills, engagement, participation and inclusion.’

Nicole says that many people in the wider community don’t understand the breadth and scope of the profession. 

‘When people think of a physio, they think of a musculoskeletal physio with adults in private practice or someone taping an ankle in a sporting environment. 

'They don’t see neuro physio rehabbing after brain injury or infant physio with supporting motor development or respiratory supporting airway clearance. 

'They have no idea that physios will be helping kids clear their lungs or doing continence assessments. 

Nicole Pates.

'I think if we can get better at showing that, it will raise our standing and awareness both nationally and internationally. 

'Paediatric physios in Australia are world leaders – in respiratory and cerebral palsy research and in connective tissue disorders, just to name a few – but while that’s very well known in the research field, we need to make the connection with the media and our funding bodies so that other people know what we do.’

Nicole’s work for the APA has led to other opportunities within the paediatric space including through Digital Child’s Healthy Child project, the Paediatric Working Group of the International Consortium on Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders, and the Juvenile Arthritis Foundation Australia. 

She was involved with the National roadmap to improve the health and mental health of autistic people 2025–2035 published last year by the Autism Cooperative Research Centre.

‘I’ve made some fantastic connections through the Thriving Kids Advisory Group – it’s good for partnerships and relationships, putting names to faces and being able to reach out with questions or opportunities.’

Originally a sports physiotherapist, working part-time at the West Coast Eagles, Nicole starting seeing more and more children in her private clinic and paediatrics quickly became her passion. 

She reached out to Professor Lynn Jensen, then the chair of the Western Australian chapter of the Paediatric group, and Lynn encouraged her to join the committee.

Nicole went on to complete a postgraduate certificate in paediatric physiotherapy, followed by a master’s degree.

By this time, Nicole had taken a job at the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children (now Perth Children’s Hospital), working in the interdisciplinary pain service and covering other departments and clinics when she could. 

Nicole has spent the past eight years growing her multidisciplinary paediatric private practice, Western Kids Health.

Nicole is keen to encourage the next generation of paediatric physiotherapists to get involved in the national committee and state chapters but says it’s the active involvement that opens doors. 

She acknowledges the balancing act that comes with saying yes. ‘I’ve had to get better at saying no over the years, which is hard because I love what we do and I love being able to share that with other people. 

But be prepared to be active if you join a committee. Jump in, meet people and make the most of it. Life is what you make it.’

Opportunities for leadership development

Anusha Budehal has been a member of various APA committees and councils since she was a student and finds it a useful way to build her skills in communication and leadership.

For new graduate Anusha Budehal APAM, volunteering for the APA as a physiotherapy student was a very deliberate step in a personal strategy to develop leadership and communication skills. 

After completing a biomedical undergraduate degree and working with a physiotherapist on her honours project, she went on to study the Doctor of Physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne. 

It was there that Anusha started attending the APA’s student events, joining the Victorian APA student committee in her second year.

‘When I decided to become a physio, I felt it was important to try to develop practical communication and professional skills not always gained through theory alone. 

'I think as a physio you need the ability to communicate well and to take on leadership roles, especially when you work in a multidisciplinary team or public hospital setting. 

'I wanted to build up my leadership skills too because eventually I want to work towards a non-clinical role.’

When the opportunity to chair the APA’s Victorian student committee came up, Anusha took it. 

She also joined the Victorian Paediatric group as a student member and after graduating was nominated for a full committee position. She’s currently the new graduate representative on the Victorian Branch Council.

Anusha says joining committees has taught her a lot, giving her skills and confidence that have transferred to her roles as an entry-level physiotherapist. 

‘As a grade 1 physio on rotation, initially you get supervision but after a few weeks you have to do things like communicate with family members and make decisions on your own. 

'Developing those management and communication skills has helped me transition more smoothly into a graduate role.

‘It has strengthened my confidence in communicating clearly and effectively with a wide range of people. 

'When you take on leadership roles, you start to understand that everyone’s working style is different and the way they like to be communicated with is also different. 

Anusha Budehal.

'Having that early exposure as a student makes it easier to identify and learn those skills.’

Another outcome has been finding some clarity on potential career pathways as a physiotherapist. 

Anusha currently works for Barwon Health, the public health provider network in Geelong, and hopes to stay in the public hospital system for a while before looking for additional opportunities, perhaps in research and education. 

To that end, she is working with the Victorian Branch Council to bring in new PD courses, webinars and sessions targeting new
graduates across Victoria. 

‘I’m representing new grads and looking at how we can benefit them in terms of upskilling and what sort of additional education or courses they might need alongside their clinical work.’

She’s also keen to help other new graduates understand the variety of career opportunities within physiotherapy.

Last year she took part in the APA’s national conference in Adelaide, as a panel member discussing Physiotherapy, Shaping our future together: next generation white paper, and that experience opened her eyes to the depth and breadth of physiotherapy in Australia. ‘Sometimes new grads feel like once they get into private practice they can’t switch over to a hospital or vice versa. 

'They don’t know the many options out there and the flexibility you can have with this career. 

'So I’m planning events where we can try to network with senior clinicians or physios from other fields.’

Anusha says she intends to keep working with the APA as long as she can, for the leadership skills she is picking up and the networking with other physiotherapists. 

She says it’s something that more students and new graduates should consider doing. 

‘It means I get to know what’s happening outside of work and to develop my other skills because otherwise clinical work can become routine and hospital-focused, whereas involvement with the APA opens up broader professional pathways. 

'It’s a good opportunity to build valuable skills that will put you one foot ahead when you’re a graduate.’

Put a little in and get much more back

Over the five decades she has been practising as a physiotherapist, Maree Webber has always found time to give back to the APA.

Maree Webber FACP’s involvement with the APA began early in her career, as a physiotherapist in the Royal Hobart Hospital in the early 1970s. 

She had moved there after graduating from the University of Queensland, looking for a place where she could get experience in many different areas of physiotherapy.

‘At that point, the Royal Hobart Hospital had about 15 physios. 

'It was an eclectic physio department with physios from all over the world and there was a very regular rotation with an on-call and weekend system. I thought I’d try it for 12 months and see what happened.’

She worked there for the next 18 years, settling into paediatric physiotherapy. 

At the time, Tasmania’s small cohort of physiotherapists was led by Margaret Ward and Beryl Haynes (president of the APA’s Tasmanian Branch Council for many years), who set up a library of physiotherapy journals and texts and organised regular professional development sessions including an annual symposium – which still happens today.

‘Tasmania had no physio school so we were pretty isolated but we had an absolute powerhouse in senior physios. 

'People like Beryl Haynes and Margaret Ward were extraordinary. It was the culture of the physio department at that time. 

'We would stay after work for half an hour to fold up newsletters and put them in envelopes – that sort of thing. 

'There has been a rich culture of volunteering among Tassie physios over the years, with so many putting up their hands to assist, one example being the national conference held in Hobart in 1997, where every conference task was done by the volunteer group.’

Maree Webber.

Maree was part of the symposium organising team and for a number of years she looked after the physiotherapy library. 

‘The Tas Physio Library still exists in Scott Willis’ rooms in Ulverstone. 

'I’m sure nobody has looked at it for more than 15 years but it’s got all the old early history of the physio books there.’

In the mid-1980s and early 1990s, Maree took a break from full-time physiotherapy to raise her children and found herself working in an occupational health practice in Hobart. 

That led to a master’s in ergonomics and from there to titling and specialisation in occupational health, an area Maree still practises – and teaches – in today. 

She’s been involved with the APA Occupational Health national group for many years, serving as chair of the Tasmanian chapter for four terms (she finished her last term in 2024), as the Tasmanian representative on the national committee and as a member of the Occupational Health Professional Practice Standards Committee. 

She’s also been a member of the Tasmanian Branch Council for three terms, including two years as president at what Maree describes as ‘a difficult time when the Tasmanian branch local office was closed by the APA and Tasmania came under Vic/Tas management. 

'So much local knowledge and everyday contact with Tas APA members through that local network was lost during this time, so volunteering helped maintain those networks.’ 

Sadly, she says, the once vibrant and active Tasmanian Occupational Health chapter has dwindled in recent years, with several members retiring and others moving on to different areas of practice.

Maree was also involved in the APA’s national conference organising committees for many years. 

‘That led to the most incredible liaison with fantastic occupational health physios around Australia. And some of us have done this for several conferences.’

Maree sees volunteering as giving back to the profession that has shaped her life. 

‘It’s been the most incredible career to have had. I’ve never once thought I wanted to do something different.’ 

As she has explained to her friends on more than one occasion, ‘You might put a little in but you get so much more back.’

Her philosophy has always been to do what she can, when she can. 

‘I’m as busy as anyone. You may not always find an hour in your day but there’s time to do little chunks of things. 

'It doesn’t have to be headline stuff and PhD level. It can be simple little things that make a difference.’

As for what volunteering for the APA gives her, Maree is straightforward – she appreciates the profession and feels a sense of solidarity with her fellow members. 

‘It’s a feeling of belonging, a feeling of unity. 

'It’s understanding what drives the profession and being able to contact so many wonderful professional people who have become friends. It’s a huge go-to security blanket for me.’

She encourages physiotherapists at all stages of their careers to give it a go. 

‘Just put your hand up; you’ll be welcomed. Contact your APA branch office and say, “I’m willing to do something; I’m not quite sure what; what’s on offer?” And then pick something that’s not too overwhelming. 

'They might say, “We need somebody to organise Ride to Work Day” or “We need somebody to talk to a group of students about a day in the life of a physio.”’

In Maree’s experience, people leave their egos behind to work on committees, focused on getting the job done. 

‘I don’t find it to be a hierarchical thing. The people at the top of their fields in physio are the easiest to communicate with and most willing to share.’

If you are interested in volunteering with the APA, email info@australian.physio for more details.