Our Founder, Linda Rylands

 

About

Linda Rylands is a well respected health practitioner with over 20 years experience in community work, wellbeing & occupational therapy. Linda’s passion for guiding people to better mental health has led her to work in a diversity of mental health sectors, including disability, multicultural communities and holistic healing. After completing further studies in Anthropology and Political Science in 2015, Linda founded Diversity OT. Her anthropology studies have taken her to Guatemala and South Africa to deepen her critical perspective and practice in human rights, social and occupational justice.

The heart mission of Diversity OT, is to offer OT services, inclusive of diverse world-views, to address cultural, linguistic or political barriers and gaps in global health services. In Australia, She blends her multiple skill set with the aim of inclusivity of diverse world views of health, healing and recovery. 

Linda takes an approach that is holistic, occupation-based, practical and meaningful to the individual’s values, which accelerates the process of achievement of personal goals and aligned lifestyle. 

She is also a trauma-sensitive yoga teacher and therapist who empowers her clients to identify patterns of abuse and strategies to build self-esteem, confidence and positive relationships. She works specifically with women to explore empowerment, practical stress management, self-care and life skills development. 

Linda specialises in mental health occupational therapy with adults from diverse language and cultural backgrounds, and has worked with groups across the world. Her approach allows the inclusion of multiple explanatory models of health and identifies subtle forms of systemic disempowerment faced by her clients. 

She believes adults who have the supportive, empathetic and compassionate space to explore their true personal goals and build their confidence to listen to their inner knowing and truth can accelerate their healing journey to live more joyful, free, abundant and connected lives. 

Her practical and holistic approach facilitates creative strategies to overcome clients’ perceived barriers to create shifts in life previously thought impossible. Linda has a gift to be able to identify a path to clarity and fulfilment, no matter how complex the initial life circumstances. 

Linda allows a non-judgemental and peaceful space for people’s truth and narrative to emerge at a natural pace. Allowing space for people to find true authenticity behind the mask of social expectation and conditioning allows people to align their life with their values, which creates a strong foundation for a life worth living. It allows exploration of strengths, including human qualities such as compassion, empathy, resilience and sharing.

After graduating as an occupational therapist in 2002 and working in various mental health settings in Australia and globally, Linda continued to explore the subtleties of diverse explanatory models of what it means to be healthy and well. She has explored various natural healing modalities over 20 years of personal and professional exploration. 

Her latest area of research is exploring the global world of energetic medicine, pranic nourishment and plant based food into deeper healing, detox and sustainable lifestyle. She is also exploring the impact of lifestyle including food, exercise, meditation and thought patterns on the mental health of individuals and communities. 

She uses a strengths, humanistic, compassionate and resilience approach to support and encourage clients to recognise their personal goals and values, leading to building self-confidence, their sense of self and support their wellbeing and enjoyment of life. 

Linda feels inspired to walk alongside people in their healing journey to realise their innate joy and limitless potential. 

More background . . .

Linda provided innovative OT services at the start of NDIS roll out in 2017 - 2018. In 2019 she worked both in urban (Melbourne) and remote Australian communities in Northern Territory, offering culturally responsive mental health OT Functional assessments, reports and services.

In 2020 she broadened her services to offer online mental health support for people all over the world, especially responding to global crisis where many people’s usual social roles and routines were disrupted and were dealing with enforced and complex social isolation. Her online platform now allows universal access for people to benefit from her practical, compassionate and holistic approach.

In 2021 Linda continued her yoga studies in India. She started working on an innovative participatory research project in Auroville, India, documenting a community development process aimed to improve individual quality of life through energy cultivation techniques. In 2022 she travelled through Europe to explore intentional communities and ‘ecovillage’ as a solution to addressing global mental health issues and social isolation.

Historically, as an influential leader in occupational therapy and multicultural health, in 2018 Linda co-presented a baby massage therapy program for mothers from refugee backgrounds at The World Federation of Occupational Therapy Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. She has also worked supporting OT curriculum development and as a mentor for OT graduate students and is passionate about supporting knowledge development in the profession.

Personally, Linda is a big advocate and lover of world dance and is an intrepid global explorer of global healing modalities and healthy lifestyles.

BA OT. UQ. 2002. BA Arts Anthropology/Political Science. UQ. 2015. Australia. Yoga Life Training (Oki-do) 2016 Australia. Satyashakti Sivananda Yoga 2021. India. Trauma-informed yoga training 2021.

Our Mission

Our mission is to provide quality wellbeing consulting to individuals, communities and organisations globally. It is our responsibility to respond to the needs of each person in their own unique community and cultural context. Our services nurture, strengthen and support the well-being, meaning and quality of life of people. Our long term aim is to establish a network of global villages based on values of sharing, nature consciousness, kindness, wellbeing and rewilding /regenerative practices.

Our Values

Connectedness. Our clients feel a sense of belonging, connectedness and benefit from a large community of support.

Trust is essential. We make every effort to create a safe and caring space, where people can be authentic and explore what is meaningful and vital in their lives.

Compassion. We believe in genuine care and support carried out with sensitivity and delicacy.

Inclusion and Justice. With respect and sensitivity we advocate addressing systemic barriers in mental health services and being inclusive of diverse cultural, language, gender and political backgrounds. To improve accessibility we use online technologies to offer a service globally and to remote areas.

Human Dignity. It is our responsibility to uphold and champion respect for human dignity, freedom and choice. We believe in the power, courage and resilience of humanity in overcoming social, political and cultural barriers for connectedness, participation and freedom for all.

Responsive and Accountable. We engage in a partnership approach and redesign what we do on an ongoing basis according to feedback from people with a lived experience of mental health.


Projects and Research

Social, Occupational & Environmental Justice

We are politically engaged and inclusive of indigenous world views, diverse healing modalities, and advocate for decolonisation, sustainability and ecological restoration & rewilding. Our aim is to support people on their journey in creating nourishing relationships and daily habits in their community and natural context. Diversity OT services are unique, as they combine occupational therapy with cultural anthropology and social justice frameworks and collaborate in a global network of specialists in these fields.

Benefits to clients and partners include improved quality of life, connection, deeper sense of humanity, creativity, freedom, autonomy and empowerment in their lives. We specialise in working in women’s health including relationships, lifestyle and self-care skills in the context of ongoing gender inequalities.

Diversity OT support global social & occupational justice and human rights projects, feel free to ask us how.

What people say about Linda’s approach:

Linda’s approach is more practical solution focused which felt more proactive to previous

counselling i have received, Linda helped to guide me through life's challenges and keep track of the progress of my goals. Sometimes when we have so much going on in our minds it can be hard to feel grounded so these tools have are very helpful. Linda made me feel comfortable, safe and it felt like more organic and nurturing to previous counselling.I am so grateful for the support, space and guidance that Linda has offered me over the past year, I have made some significant changes in my life such as resining from a toxic job , studying healing profession, Choosing Growth, rather than Comfort & fear of uncertainty. Honouring and respecting self and setting boundaries. Thank you so much Linda!

- Female Client, Australia

 

“She is great at problem solving and creating a road map. She is able to break down big problems into bite sized steps so that it is easier to break the stuckness…The amount of openness and acceptance that she brings into the therapeutic relationship is significant. She has compassion, empathy and integrity.”

- Female Client, 45, Melbourne

“I think her talent is in seeing beyond limitations. Linda is patient, caring, kind, calm and has a welcoming energy. I felt she created a safe place for me to speak my mind, she’s an excellent listener too.”

- Male Client, 37

 

“Linda is very in touch with female power and her approach to empower the feminine with sensitivity and delicacy was much appreciated. I felt like we worked together to uncover things I had hidden, it was very much a collaborative relationship, very nurturing and supportive.”

- Female Client, 29

 

“Linda is easy to get along with. I felt good speaking to her, her technique is very enriching and organic in an unforced way. She’s different to other counsellors.”

- Male Client, 34

"This project is so different to anything we’ve heard before. A need was identified in the community, and acted upon so fittingly. The environment supports the journey, and your passion and curiosity to explore different healing modalities takes a lot of courage and bravery.”

- OT Student, University of Namibia

 

"This links to OT as this not only focuses on physical health, but on mental health as well. The environment is also taken into consideration (with the barriers and supports). The individual is viewed holistically, as a whole.”

- OT Student, University of Namibia

 

Her approach is with kindness and patient understanding. She has a creative spirit that is contagious. She is respectful towards others and a high magnitude of patience towards others.”

- Female Client, 28, Melbourne