Kirsten Prest
Kirsten qualified with a BSc in Occupational Therapy at the University of Cape Town. She went on to work in a rural hospital in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, where the vast majority of her caseload was children with cerebral palsy. During this year, she helped to run a Carer to Carer programme which focused on empowering caregivers of children with cerebral palsy to run supportive and educational groups for other mothers and caregivers in the community. Kirsten then went on to work in Cape Town at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital Cerebral Palsy clinic and Toy Library for children with Down Syndrome. She also worked in an Occupational Therapy private practice based in a mainstream primary school.
Kirsten has been in the UK since March 2017 and has been working as a Children’s Occupational Therapist in an NHS community setting. She has been working with children with varying needs such as Physical and Neurological Impairments, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sensory Processing Difficulties, Developmental Co-ordination Disorder, Developmental Delay and Learning Difficulties. She has worked across special schools and mainstream schools. She has very good experience in specialist seating, equipment and housing adaptations.
Kirsten is currently enrolled in a Masters in Evidence-Based Healthcare at the University of Oxford. She plans on conducting research in the area of early intervention and children with cerebral palsy. She has completed her Sensory Integration level 1 training and is trained in Interactive Metronome and Therapeutic Listening.
Kirsten is passionate about seeing the potential in all children, and supporting parents through their journeys. She is excited to be a part of Kiki’s Clinic, to continue learning, and growing the OT profession!