✨ Staff Spotlight: Bec McCauley ✨

This month’s Staff Spotlight features the wonderful Rebecca (Bec) McAuley—Senior Rehabilitation Consultant, Occupational Therapist, and all-round advocate for doing rehab well. With more than 10 years’ experience and a background working both within organisations and alongside them, Bec brings a down-to-earth, holistic lens to everything she does. Whether she’s supporting a client, coaching a manager, or mentoring a team member, Bec leads with kindness, honesty, and a strong belief that knowledge and choice are key to recovery.

With your background as an Occupational Therapist and working as a Senior Rehabilitation Consultant, how has that journey shaped the way you support clients and colleagues?

I’ve been working in the occupational rehabilitation sector for over 10 years now, supporting workers returning to the workplace after time of, injury or illness (mental health and physical health), and supporting workers with their health and wellbeing whilst at work. During my time in the occupational rehabilitation sector, I’ve come to learn the importance of taking into consideration the workers’ whole world – how they’re feeling as a person, their environment/s (including social) and their occupation/s. I’ve had the opportunity to work as an in-house injury management advisor and senior health partner for large organisations in the aviation sector and the higher education sector. These experiences have allowed me to understand the inner workings of these sectors which was fascinating. I also was able to learn and appreciate what our customers need from us, being an engager of external providers. I’m a firm believer in making sure everyone who is receiving consulting services from myself is kept up to date, and communication is supportive and transparent. I like workers to consider their options and choices in the return-to-work process, as a sense of autonomy and control is so important when you are faced with an injury or illness that’s impacting your participation at work. and I love providing workers and their workplaces with education and knowledge that will help them in the return-to-work journey. Knowledge is power.

What parts of your role do you find most rewarding, particularly when working with clients facing complex or long‑term challenges?

Seeing client’s progress is always rewarding for me. Whether that be getting back to work, feeling better in their overall health or wellbeing, or feeling like they have more control of their future and can make active choices towards their goals. I also love providing coaching and support to managers. Managers play an integral role in supporting a worker with an injury or illness in the workplace. I also enjoy assessing the physical environment of a workplace and providing modifications or equipment to support the worker in being independent and safe at work.

As a Senior Rehabilitation Consultant in the Brisbane team, how do you approach supporting and mentoring others while still growing in your own practice?

Holding space for our upcoming consultants and allowing them time to speak through their cases to you to figure out their next steps is something I found invaluable when I was learning, so I think it’s important to give that support back to our newer consultants in the team. I’m always impressed at how committed our newer team members are to provide quality service provision, with having the client’s best interests at heart. I then like to provide our newer team members with reflections and experiences that I have had in the past that are like the cases that my team members are on. For my own professional development, I have been thoroughly enjoying taking on my manager support and employer support coaching work. During my time as an in-house senior health partner in the higher education sector, I was able to provide the managers with regular coaching and support to help them support their workers that were managing injuries or illnesses, and I was able to witness how this coaching positively impacting the manager and the worker.

Is there a particular value or principle that guides the way you work with clients, and how does that show up in your day‑to‑day work?

Some core values of mine include kindness, humour, communication and honesty. I endeavour to live by these values in my day-to-day work.

What’s something you’ve learned through your career so far that has changed the way you think about recovery, work, or success?

Always treat people with kindness, be transparent, provide regular updates to all parties involved and provide people with knowledge and choices.

When you’re not at work, how do you like to reset or recharge, and what helps you maintain balance alongside a busy role?

Family time with my husband, daughter and dog somewhere outside in nature recharges my batteries. I’m learning to play guitar now (albeit slowly) and regular exercise through Pilates and walking are all activities that keep my body and mind happy and balanced. I’m also really into making my own matcha lattes at home now, nice and early in the morning before the day kicks off, when this sun is just starting to rise.