About Zoe
Zoë Brewer, BSc(Hons) OT, MRCOT
I always think it is unfair that as professionals we ask you for many personal details and you get very little information or reassurance about our credentials as a person or therapists. So here is information about me.
Summary
I am a passionate advocate for the profession and for my clients. Since graduating from Oxford Brookes University (UK) in 2000 with an Honours degree in Occupational Therapy and an award for best dissertation in the year group, I have worked in the UK, Hong Kong, mainland China and now in Germany. Alongside raising 3 children, I have a wide experience to draw from and value integrity, clarity, creativity and authenticity in my practice.
On a personal note
I love to travel, explore and connect with people from around the world. I was raised in a British family and my father's job took us to live in Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Nigeria, Syria, and Bahrain. After university I worked in the NHS in England for 8 years before going abroad again to live and work in Hong Kong and China. I returned to settle in the UK in 2015, working in the NHS for two years and then established a private practice. In 2019 I moved to Germany where we now live and work.
Personal - Professional...
When disability and difference show up in your own family it drives you, enhances and expands your perspective and brings a balance to theoretical knowledge. For this i am extremely grateful.
I have worked with my clients in:
- hospitals, clinics, schools, private homes, day centres, rehabilitation centres, secure units and out in the community (in playgrounds and even in pubs and pool halls!).
I worked in:
- Orthotics and Orthopaedics, Community Rehabilitation In-patient Team, Surgical Rotation, Amputees and Terminal Illness, Medical wards and Accident and Emergency (ER).
- Adults experiencing with dual diagnoses of mental health and learning differences.
- Neurology - Stroke (CVA), Parkinson Disease.
- Then moved to Paediatrics...
Off we went abroad...
My family then began to grow and we moved abroad to Hong Kong. During this time I worked briefly in an international school to cover a maternity break, assisted in a local HK government school, ran the Brownies and established my own private practice working with children experiencing developmental delay, handwriting difficulties, fine and gross motor problems, Autism Spectrum Condition, visual and ocular dysfunction and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
In The People's Republic of China I worked in another international school. Here the cultural challenges and communication were of particular importance. As I was the only OT in a city of 9 million people, my services were in great demand. In school I frequently worked with undiagnosed children and their families seeking to give them the right help and advice. In school I had the privilege of working in collaboration with some outstanding teachers and with children who had ASC/Aspergers, ADHD/ADD and several children with "transition" related challenges (following moving countries). I consulted for the Headmaster and did training sessions with teaching staff to support them. I did lots of work with children on social skills in this role.
I also got involved in local charities, supported a local rural school and met with doctors at the city's General Hospital to help them understand the role of Occupational Therapy, our presence internationally as a profession, and to understand other therapies in their rapidly evolving services. What an exciting time to be in China! Such an honour to be there and memories I treasure both personally and professionally.
Back to Europe again...
In 2015 I joined a NHS paediatric OT team in Bristol where I worked for 2 years and then moved to Germany. In 2019 (during Covid) I started training intensively in
Masgutova Neuro-sensory-motor Reflex Integration (MNRI) and this forms another foundation for my current practice as an OT.
I work with conditions such as:
- ADHD
- Sensory processing problems
- Handwriting difficulties
- Emotional Dysregulation
- Executive Function
- Developmental delay
- ASC/ASD
- Developmental coordination disorder
- Perceptual problems
and
- difficulties in any area of function affecting home or school.
I serve customers globally from my base here.
I look forward to meeting you!
