Julie Condon

Clinic Owner

 Certified Hand Therapist (USA)

Accredited Hand Therapist*

Occupational Therapist

Post Grad Dip Advanced Hand Therapy (Monash)

 AKA: Daisy’s Mum

I grew up on a cattle station in Far North QLD and still spend as much time as possible on the family property. I knew from a young age that I wanted to be in the medical profession to help people. I graduated with a Bachelor of Occupational Therapy from James Cook University in 2008. I have worked at The Canberra Hospital and The Townsville Hospital before moving into private practice hand therapy. I most recently worked in private practice in Brisbane where I was fortunate enough to work alongside some fantastic hand therapists and the leaders in Hand Surgery in Australia. I moved home to be closer to my family and I really wanted to give back to my home community. 

I found out that hand therapy was a specialty when I was in grade 12. I knew straight up that this was the path for me. I have always been interested in health and I have always been acutely aware of the value of people’s hands. This stems from my childhood when I sustained an electrical burn to my left hand that was so severe it amputated my left ring finger. I wasn’t lucky enough to have hand therapy myself during that time; but I was even more lucky as my mum took on the role of hand therapist. She used her intuition and never allowed my injury to hold me back. Because of this I have full use of my left hand - I can ride horses and touch type ;). The choice to become a hand therapist dictated my career choices and I have never regretted it.

I became a Full Member of the AHTA (now Accredited Hand Therapist) in 2013. This is a rigorous process that involves many hours of clinical experience alongside specific dedicated learning into all things arms and hands. I am still proud to hold this title.

I achieved the highest international recognition of skills in hand therapy in 2015 when I became a Certified Hand Therapist. This is awarded by the Hand Therapy Certification Commission in USA. When I found out about the award I was actually at a horse sale with my family - you cant take the country out of the girl haha. To be one of only around 100 Certified Hand Therapists in Australia is pretty special and something I am very proud of.

When I decided to open my own business I had a very clear vision of the client experience I wanted to provide. I had worked with some amazing clinicians in some amazing clinics but I felt that I wanted to offer something a bit different. I found that when my clients would come to see me they would be anxious. Most of them didn’t know that hand therapy existed until they had their injury and their doctor referred them. When they would come for their first appointment they would be in pain and very anxious. This bothered me a lot. It is bad enough to have a hand injury - the least we can do as health professionals is make the treatment as nice as possible.

Something I am very conscious of is the impact a hand injury has on the whole person. When people come to see us it is not because of the pain. People are tough, they live with pain. What makes them come to see us is that the pain or the injury is now affecting their every day life. Your hands make you who you are. Everything that makes you you comes from how you use your hands. If you are a mother - you use your hands to care for your kids. If you are the breadwinner - you use your hands at work. If you are independent - you use your hands for everything from going to the toilet to driving. This is why a hand injury can be so detrimental to every aspect of your life. It is uniquely challenging because of this and I wanted to create a treatment environment that honoured this challenge.

I had a vision where clients would not be anxious by their treatment. A place that would feel like home - a clinic that felt safe from the very first time you stepped through the door. I wanted the treatment to feel good and for the clients to be excited when they got better - but also a little sad to be moving on from their new community. This is where our philosophy comes from. It makes coming to work so fun for us in the clinic and I believe it helps our clients get the best possible outcomes.

*as awarded by the Australian Hand Therapy Association & The Hand Therapy Certification Commission.