OT Simone Dudley Receives Shine Award 2020

The Shine Awards, presented by The Weekly Times and Harvey Norman, celebrate women of rural Australia making real differences in their communities, illustrating breadth and depth of leadership, ingenuity and compassion. This year OTA member Simone Dudley, a grain and beef producer and occupational therapist from the Riverina region of NSW, has won the Shine Award for “Belief”. 

Five years ago Sue Cameron and Simone founded Therapy Connect, a multidisciplinary telehealth practice with a mission to connect remote clients to much needed quality services where geography would be no barrier to access. Today Therapy Connect delivers a range of allied health services with a fast growing multidisciplinary team, all 100% via telehealth.

For her vision to improve health outcomes for rural clients and the determination to make it happen, Simone Dudley is the winner of the Shine Award. Well done Simone!

“I am so completely surprised and thrilled to have won the "belief" category for our work in developing our telehealth service. The OT profession has been so integral to my rural life and I am especially excited that geographic location is no longer a limitation for therapists and clients alike. Now with internet connectivity, anything is possible”.