Our Team
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Administration
Jenni Embleton
Managing Director
Jenni studied Speech Pathology at the University of Queensland and has worked with young children for over 20 years. She has worked as a Speech Pathologist in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors in Canberra, Dubbo, London, and Sri Lanka. Jenni has always loved working with children with developmental delays, autism, and feeding difficulties. She currently focuses her clinical time on early feeding skills.
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Jenni started Early Bird Therapy in 2013 with the aim of building a multidisciplinary team that truly understands and responds to the needs of families. She currently spends most of her time working to build the skills of everyone in the Early Bird Therapy team and ensuring everything runs smoothly.
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Jenni enjoys spending time with her husband and young family, and dreaming up new plans to renovate their house.
Chloe Cina-Holder
Administration Assistant
Chloe's mission at Early Bird Therapy is to make your bookings run as smoothly as possible. She has a wealth of experience working in customer service and loves catching up with all of our visitors every week. She especially enjoys seeing the progress that each child is making in therapy.
Outside of work, Chloe is a proud owner of a rambunctious labradoodle, however this girl also loves to shop! All her outfits say it all, she’s the girl that has both the skill and the style!
Hollie Thompson
Administration Assistant
​Hollie only finished school in 2024 and has always had a passion for helping people. Hollie has coached many netball teams, taken part in school support programs and supported many people through past customer service roles. Her goal was to support people when she finished school, and she feels Early Bird Therapy is the perfect place to do so.
When Hollie is not at Early Bird Therapy, she enjoys getting out and going on adventures with family and friends. On these adventures she often goes camping and four-wheel driving, as well as being on the water either fishing or waterskiing.
Hollie loves all the people she has been surrounded by and met so far and can’t wait to get to know the Early Bird Nest further!
Speech Pathology
Claudia Whitcombe
Senior Speech Pathologist
Claudia is a dynamic Speech Pathologist who excels at working with children with complex communication needs. She enjoys working with children across a range of ages. Claudia has a Bachelor of Health Science (Speech Pathology) from Curtin University and moved to Canberra from Perth in 2016.
Claudia has a natural ability to make children feel at ease and particularly enjoys helping more reluctant children to come out of their shell. Claudia has special interests in Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) and challenging behaviour.
An interesting fact about Claudia is she loves socks! Not any pair, but odd ones! If she can have a new, random set of odd socks on, it makes every day fun and quirky. She’s the therapist who likes just going with the flow!
Hannah White
Speech Pathologist
Hannah has a Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Honours). She is also a member of Speech Pathology Australia and a Certified Practicing Speech Pathologist.
To further develop her skill set, Hannah has completed a range of courses, such as Hanen ‘More Than Words, Meaningful Speech and Sounds Write. Hannah’s dedication and effort are always evident in her work. She continuously strives to gain further knowledge to bring out the best strategies and outcomes for the children she sees.
In terms of Hannah’s interests, she loves working with autistic children, speech sound disorders, childhood apraxia of speech and gestalt language processing. She is passionate about the process of collaborating with families and schools to embrace each child’s unique personality and strengths. She believes every child should have the best support and environment to express themselves.
In Hannah’s spare time, she loves getting creative! From being imaginative and fun in her therapy sessions, she also has the talent for embroidery and crocheting. She once embroidered 20 symbolic patches on a costume for a concert!
Positive Behaviour Support
Taylor Pitson
Senior Positive Behaviour Support Practitioner
Taylor is a dedicated Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) practitioner, specialising in early intervention for children aged 0–7.
Taylor has Bachelor of Science in Psychology (Honours) from the University of Canberra and is currently completing her final year of a Master of Professional Psychology at ANU to gain general registration as a psychologist.
Taylor’s clinical interests include severe and complex behaviour presentations, AuDHD, early learning skills, and neurodiversity-affirming trauma-informed practice. She is highly skilled in designing and implementing behaviour intervention programs using Positive Behaviour Support, Collaborative & Proactive Solutions, and Social Role Valorisation. Taylor is passionate about inclusion-based practices, and believes that the most effective way to teach a child is by fostering meaningful connections.
Taylor has a gift for talking to children in a way that makes them feel valued, safe, understood, and excited to learn.
Ashley Sanders
Positive Behaviour Support Practitioner
Ashley holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Canberra and is on track to complete her Master of Professional Psychology at the Australian National University (ANU) by late 2025.
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As an AuDHDer (autistic and ADHD), Ashley blends her personal lived experience with a range of therapeutic techniques that are trauma-informed, neurodiversity-affirming, and strengths-based. Her approach is strongly influenced by her psychology idols, Ross Greene and Sandhya Menon, whose work has shaped both her therapeutic style and the way she builds meaningful connections with clients and their families. Currently working toward general registration as a psychologist, Ashley aims to provide person-centered counselling and diagnostic services to children and their families in the future.
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Ashley is driven to help children work through challenges in a safe and supportive environment. Her favourite part is seeing children grow and build their confidence as they make progress with their therapy goals.
While Ashley is a Canberra girl now, she once lived in a small country town with a population of only 2700! She is now on a mission to convince her family to move too.
Amy Deller
Senior Occupational Therapist
Occupational Therapy
Amy has a Master of Occupational Therapy from the University of Canberra as well as an Honours degree in Kinesiology from the University of Victoria in Canada. Amy has worked in education, not for profit and private settings and loves supporting all children to maximise their independence and participation in the activities they value. Her special interests include toileting, handwriting, sensory processing and supporting transitions to school.
Amy is a mum to two little girls and one chocolate labrador and loves to read, bake and complete puzzles on the odd occasion she manages to find some free time.
Giselle Ryan
Occupational Therapist
Giselle completed her Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (with Honours) from The University of Queensland in 2023.
Giselle is extremely passionate about neurodiversity affirming practice and working with children in a strengths-based approach. She loves everything about Occupational Therapy, however her specific areas of interest are supporting children in developing skills in emotional regulation, interoceptive awareness, coaching parents in co-regulation skills, as well as supporting children in their development of play in their own settings.
Giselle’s favourite thing about her job is getting to meet so many different children and be part of their developmental journeys. She states, “I am also so lucky to meet so many funny characters!” She also has a special interest in Autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Outside of work, Giselle loves running, reading any book under the sun, and writing stories. Giselle is not from Canberra so when she can, she tries to get back to the beach and her family in Brisbane.
Elliot Inglis
Occupational Therapist
Elliot finished his Bachelor of Occupational Therapy from the University of Canberra in 2024.
Occupational therapy can look different for every child and with Elliot’s passion for neuro affirming practice, he is keen on utilising a play-based approach so every child can have fun and enjoy their therapy no matter what their goals are. Elliot also enjoys collaborating with families and schooling teams so he can help provide the best support for the children he works with. His goal is to embrace the strengths of neurodivergent individuals and make them feel unstoppable!
Since becoming an occupational therapist, Elliot’s favourite part is all the wonderful connections he gets to build with the children and families.
A fun fact about Elliot is he does not just have one degree, he has two! Before studying occupational therapy, Elliot finished a degree in audio production. In his spear time, he enjoys playing his guitar.
Physiotherapy
Position Vacant
Counselling
Coming Soon
Therapy Assistant
Isabella Trotter
Allied Health Assistant
Isabella, also known as Izzy, is currently undergoing a Bachelor of Speech Pathology at the Australian Catholic University in Canberra.
She is passionate about making therapy fun and neuro-affirming and loves learning everything there is to know about ADHD and ASD.
When it comes to helping people, Izzy has experience in both support work and as an allied health assistant. With her admiration for the allied health industry, she adores everything about her job at Early Bird Therapy, especially celebrating her clients and learning from them all. She believes every child should be loved and appreciated no matter what their differences are.
In her free time, Izzy loves hanging out with her boisterous Border Collie puppy and practicing circus! Her favourite trick is a one-handed cartwheel in a German wheel.
Nyssa Milligan
Allied Health Assistant
Nyssa holds a Bachelor of Music from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and is currently studying for a Graduate Diploma in Counselling at the University of Canberra.
Nyssa began her professional career as a musician, puppeteer, and clown. The power of joy and laughter in therapeutic spaces inspired Nyssa to work towards becoming a paediatric Counsellor. With prior experience as a disability support worker and allied health assistant, Nyssa is passionate about using creative practices in therapy settings to help consumers achieve their therapy goals.
Nyssa dreams of owning a miniature pony farm when she grows up. And yes, she has watched way too much Saddle Club!
Charli McAuliffe
Allied Health Assistant
Charli is currently studying a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy at the University of Canberra. She was one of Early Bird’s Administration Assistants however has transitioned into an Allied Health Assistant in 2025. She can’t wait to build on the relationships she has made with our families and children as she ventures into allied health world.
Charli loves new challenges and hopes to get involved as much as possible! She looks forward to learning more skills to grow her knowledge, not only for herself, but for the children she will work with. While you may not see Charli as often, she will still be on our socials, so keep your eye out as she always has a new post on the way.
If Charli is not at work, she is out being active or hanging out with family and friends. She also loves martial arts and has earned a 1st Dan black belt in karate!