2025 DTA Symposium

Registration opens, Tea & Coffee
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Ian McLachlan Room

Master of Music Therapy Students Performance
Performers: Lucy Pfeifer, Emily Hartwell and Samantha Timcke, University of Melbourne

Live music throughout the day, thanks to the Australian Music Therapy Association.

Welcome to Country
9:10 AM - 9:20 AM

Jack Kanya Kudnuitya Buckskin

MC - Welcome
9:20 AM - 9:30 AM

MC: Hayley Lewis

Plenary 1: Setting the Scene

The following selection of speakers will set the scene for the day to establish the importance of this inaugural symposium.

National Dementia Action Plan (NDAP)
9:30 AM - 9:50 AM

Speaker: Marianne Madden, Department of Health and Aged Care

A presentation to outline the NDAP, its intent and how allied health professionals will be instrumental in its implementation and successful translation into practice.

Official Welcome
9:50 AM - 10:10 AM

Speaker: Isabelle Meyer, Executive Director, Dementia Training Australia

Dementia Training Australia, Executive Director, Isabelle Meyer, will officially welcome the delegates to this inaugural symposium.

UNITED: Allies in Care
10:10 AM - 10:30 AM

Speaker: Vicki Barry, Care Partner, Young Onset Dementia Advocate, Network Orchestrator

After 12 years of being a single mum, marriage brought renewed hope and dreams of an easier life ahead. Life was good for a while and then it changed. Using the acronym UNITED to frame her presentation, Vicki will share her personal experiences supporting her partner Michael to live the best life possible with Alzheimer’s disease, working with a range of allied health professionals to achieve this.

Morning Tea Break
10:30 AM - 11:00 AM

Refreshments and Exhibitor Viewing

Plenary 2: Allied Health Working Together Through the Care Continuum.

This section will showcase examples of allied health working together across the care continuum and conclude with a panel discussion.

Fall Prevention for Community-Dwelling Older People Living With Dementia: An Exercise and Home Hazard Reduction RCT
11:00 AM - 11:15 AM

Speaker: Dr Morag Taylor Senior Lecturer, Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine & Health, UNSW, Conjoint Senior Research Fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia, Falls, Balance and Injury Research Centre

The iFOCIS RCT aimed to determine the fall prevention efficacy of two allied health interventions: a home hazard reduction and home-based exercise program, in community-dwelling older people living with dementia. Three hundred and nine people participated in the 12-month trial with a multidisciplinary team leading the study. The primary outcome was rate of falls. Results and learnings will be presented.

Delivering a ‘Better Way To Care’ in Hospitals for People With Dementia
11:15 AM - 11:30 AM

Speaker: Ellie Newman Dementia Lead and Head of Physiotherapy, Armadale Kalamunda Hospital, East Metropolitan Health Service, WA

This presentation will showcase various quality improvement initiatives led by allied health staff in Australia’s first Metropolitan Health Service to be recognised as working towards being dementia friendly.

Kicking Mealtime Goals Using a Multidisciplinary Approach: The Role of Allied Health in Maggie Beer’s Big Mission
11:30 AM - 11:45 AM

Speaker: Elizabeth Oliver Occupational Therapist, Curtin University

Maggie Beer's Big Mission is a social experiment designed to enhance the mealtime experience for older adults living in residential care. Join Occupational Therapist and Project Leader, Elizabeth Oliver, as she describes how changes to meals and dining experiences can have transformational effects and reciprocal benefits for residents, staff, and the culture of care. Elizabeth will demonstrate how an embedded model of allied health that encompasses a multi-tiered system of supports can foster culture change and enhance quality of care.

Supporting Transitions of Care: Dementia Friendly Ambulance Services
11:45 AM - 12:00 PM

Speaker: Lindsay Bent ASM OStJ Churchill Fellow Clinical Lead, Communications Centres Specialist Operations and Coordination Ambulance Victoria

Australian ambulance services are acutely aware of the impact dementia has on an individual and their carers but has made little progress to directly address this issue. This presentation will provide an overview of learnings through a Winston Churchill Fellowship, how ambulance trusts in the UK have worked towards becoming more dementia friendly, the key drivers for change and the learnings for allied health professionals.

“Huddle Up” Panel Discussion
12:00 PM - 12:30 PM

Previous Speakers

Previous speakers will come together to discuss the presentations from the morning and reaffirm the role of allied health in achieving safe and high-quality care for people living with dementia, including supporting successful transitions of care across the care continuum.

Lunch
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM

Lunch provided with opportunity to participate in Tai Chi activity.

Plenary 3: Models of Care and Practical Support

These sessions will build on the morning and showcase other areas of work where allied health can make a difference for people living with dementia, including the areas of risk reduction.

Beyond Age: Understanding Childhood Dementia and Its Unique Challenges.
1:30 PM - 1:50 PM

Speaker: Megan Maack, CEO of Childhood Dementia Initiative

While dementia is typically associated with aging, a growing understanding of childhood dementia is reshaping our approach to caring for impacted children. This talk will explore the unique challenges and care needs of children affected by dementia, offering allied health professionals’ crucial insights into this often-overlooked group of conditions. Learn how your expertise can make a vital difference in supporting these children and their families.

Stepping Up for the Team: Advocating for Communication and Connection in Dementia Care
1:50 PM - 2:05 PM

Speaker: Associate Professor Jade Cartwright, School of Health Sciences, University of Tasmania

This presentation will empower allied health professionals, with a particular focus on speech pathology, to address the communication needs of people with dementia and their families, emphasising the importance of giving voice, fostering cohesive teamwork, and building connections.

Educational and Public Health Approaches to Dementia Risk Reduction
2:05 PM - 2:20 PM

Speaker: Professor James Vickers, University of Tasmania and Director of the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre

There has been significant progress in knowledge about the potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia, however, public understanding of dementia risk is limited. This presentation will review educational and public health approaches to reducing dementia risk in the community, highlighting areas that fit within the scope of practice of allied health practitioners.

Understanding and Reducing Dementia Risk: Translating Research into Allied Health Practice
2:20 PM - 2:35 PM

Speaker: Professor Blossom Stephan, Chair in Dementia (Curtin University and Dementia Australia) and Director of the Dementia Centre of Excellence

Discover how epidemiological research findings have been translated into dementia risk assessment models for use in clinical practice, including evidence-based prevention strategies targeting the key modifiable risk factors for dementia. A practical framework for implementing risk reduction interventions across allied health practice, focusing on lifestyle, social, and health risk factors will also be presented.

Afternoon Tea Break
2:35 PM - 2:50 PM

Refreshments and Exhibitor Viewing

Plenary 4: New Horizons

These sessions will focus on future opportunities for allied health professionals and implementation considerations.

Connecting People, Connecting Support. A Ten-Year Story of Transforming the Allied Health Professions’ Contribution to Supporting People Living With Dementia
2:50 PM - 3:05 PM

Speaker: Professor Elaine Hunter, National Allied Health Professions Consultant, Alzheimer Scotland Visiting Professor, Edinburgh Napier University

Connecting People, Connecting Support (Alzheimer Scotland 2017, 2020, 2024) is an evidence based allied health professional (AHP) dementia policy in Scotland that outlines how AHPs can support people living with dementia and their families with 4 ambitions to transform practice and integral to Scotland’s Dementia Strategy. To integrate national policy to local practice for the benefit of people with dementia and their supporters, a co-ordinated implementation model was developed. The presentation will share context, a whole-system tailored-delivery model that integrates rehabilitation into the AHP offer, progress to date, key enablers for change, implementation gaps and our priorities for the next 24 months. The presentation will consider if an allied health professional policy in dementia could be transferable to meet the needs of people with lived experience in Australia.

Multicomponent Allied Health Interventions for People With Dementia
3:05 PM - 3:20 PM

Speaker: Associate Professor Nathan D’Cunha, Dementia and Cognition Theme Lead, Centre for Ageing Research and Translation, University of Canberra

There is increasing evidence that multicomponent interventions help people with dementia live well after diagnosis and provide essential support to their care partners. One example in the ACT is the allied health led Sustainable Personalised Interventions for Cognitive, Care, and Engagement (SPICE) program based at the University of Canberra Hospital. SPICE is a combination of evidence-based interventions which includes group and individual components over ten weeks. This presentation will describe the program, its benefits, and challenges to implementation.

The Right to Rehabilitation for People Living With Dementia: Tackling Stigma and Implementing Evidence-Based Interventions
3:20 PM - 3:35 PM

Speaker: Professor Michele Callisaya, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania and National Centre for Healthy Ageing, Monash University

The presentations will outline Dementia rehabilitation as a human right, the barriers in accessing rehabilitation and solutions co-designed in this project to improve access.

Rehabilitation and Reablement for People Living With Dementia: How Can We Do It In Practice?
3:35 PM - 3:50 PM

Speaker: Dr Claire O’Connor, School of Psychology, UNSW; Neuroscience Research Australia; HammondCare

Allied health professionals and other stakeholders with an interest in rehabilitation and reablement in dementia have recently participated in a national survey process. Outcomes from this process will be presented, including discussion around the identified enablers and barriers to implementing these allied health interventions in practice, and the strategies developed to support effective implementation.

Wrap Up and Thanks
3:50 PM - 4:00 PM

Speaker: Isabelle Meyer, Executive Director, Dementia Training Australia

Isabelle will wrap up the day and open networking drinks.

Conference Close
4:00 PM

Networking Function
4:15 PM - 6:15 PM

David Hookes Room

Program