An increasing need for allied health services for children in the Greater Springfield region has seen Early Start Australia expand their business to a new location.

Early Start Australia practice principal and occupational therapist Carissa Carrillo said in March they would move to a bigger space to accommodate an expanding team of professionals and services to the community.

“We currently share our office space with a psychology clinic and have just two treatment spaces.  In our new space we have purpose-built spaces with at least nine treatment rooms including a gym space and early intervention room,” Ms Carrillo said.

“We have continued to service the Greater Springfield area since 2017.  In this time, we have offered occupational therapy and speech pathology services.

“Greater Springfield is one of the fastest growing communities in Australia and we need to expand our services to keep up with demand. Currently, we have almost 80 children on our waiting list for Occupational Therapy and nearly 40 children for Speech Pathology, and that’s in Springfield alone,” Early Start Australia Springfield Practice Principal Carissa Bernal Carrillo said.

“We have also identified the need for our clients to be able to see other disciplines like physiotherapy, dietetics and psychology and think there is a benefit of being able to offer this from one location.”

Ms Carrillo said it’s vital that young families can access essential healthcare support services without having to travel to Brisbane.

“We work with children with developmental delays, genetic disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, language delays and other neurological disabilities and mental health diagnoses.  We work with clients who are privately paying, under Medicare and we are also a registered NDIS provider,” she said.

“We work with our clients on therapies for social, behavioural and learning issues, supporting school readiness, social skills, gross and fine motor skills development and emotional and sensory regulation.”

Ms Carrillo said the Greater Springfield area was continuing to rapidly expand and become its own “mini city”.

“With this comes the need for access to quality services including health care,” she said.

“It’s important for our families to be able to access the allied health services they need in the one location, close to home and with a team that understands their local community.

“As a local I feel proud to be a part of the growth of the local area and to be able to offer this service to the families without the need for extensive travel or going to multiple clinics.”

Springfield City Group Assistant Commercial Manager Alex Cameron said the expansion of Early Start Australia in Springfield Central was testament to the growth the business experienced since entering Greater Springfield.

“Their service tailored to children and young families is a great offering to our community, and their new state of the art fit out and location has set them up well to cater for growing demand in this sector,” Mr Cameron said.