OUR TEAM
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS
“Where ever you go, go with all your heart!” – Caley McElwain’s motto for life.
Caley connects whole heartedly with people and values each person that walks into her life, whether it be family, friends, colleagues or clients. She has always shown a keen interest and curiosity in working with children and people of all ages. At the age of 16, she started teaching and coaching soccer camps. Soccer has been a large part of Caley’s life – she played varsity soccer, trained with the National Training Centre and played on various women’s major league teams.
Her passion for movement and connecting with people lead her to complete an undergraduate degree of Physical Education with a concentration of Adapted Physical Activity. She went on to complete her Master’s of Science in Occupational Therapy from the University of Alberta.
For the past 7 years Caley has worked in Early Childhood Services for Sturgeon Public School Division as an Occupational Therapist. She consults, coaches and collaborates with teachers, educational assistants and families to increase children’s capacity to be as independent as possible in their school and home environments. Caley has recently started to sprinkle her creativity with families and children around varying communities with Functional Physical Therapy. It’s the children and students Caley works with on a daily basis that brings her joy!
Other joyful interests/activities include: traveling, food and coffee, learning, moving, and sharing moments and memories with family and friends.
Nicole is an Occupational Therapist and also offers Doula Services. She’s a wife to a wonderfully supportive husband and mother to three young girls who she adores. She lives on an acreage just outside of St. Albert and enjoys being outdoors and camping all around Alberta during the summer months.
In 2008, she graduated from the University of Alberta Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine with a degree in Occupational Therapy and has absolutely loved her journey working with children in home and school-based settings over the last 12 years. She took some time off work to stay home with her two oldest daughters and four years later, she had her third daughter. It was having three babies that fuelled her passion for supporting laboring mothers so she decided to become a birth doula in June of 2019.
In addition to providing emotional, physical, and mental support to mothers, she loves providing that to the children and families she works with as a therapist. She is passionate about supporting children on their journey of growing and learning about themselves and has worked with many pediatric clients with various diagnoses over the years. She loves empowering them to achieve their full potential using a loving, nurturing, and engaging approach.
Nicole often pursues opportunities to further her knowledge by taking additional courses and seeking mentors to guide her in the holistic, client-centered, collaboration foundational principles of her practice.
Merrilea has been practicing as an Occupational Therapist for over 25 years, since graduating from the University of Alberta. She has spent much of her career working with adults, but in the last seven years she has discovered the wonderful world of paediatrics! Her practice has taken her from public health to preschool programs in three Edmonton area school divisions, and now to private practice with FUNctional Physical Therapy.
She has a natural love of kids and a practical approach to helping families and loves to see kiddos thrive and learn through play. She believes and important part of occupational therapy is empowering parents with tools and strategies to help their kiddos along the journey of independence. Whether she is working on self-help skills, motor skills, or just helping a child be calm and confident as they meet new challenges, her reward is seeing kids grow towards their full potential.
Merrilea joined the FUNctional Physical Therapy team in 2020, and loves being part of this amazing team of like-minded colleagues.
When she’s not working, Merrilea might be volunteering with her church community, enjoying the outdoors, reading a good book, or cooking for her hungry teens.
HOW ABOUT YOU?
We are always looking to expand our team.
Are you a fun therapist, psychologist, developmental aid, assistant or facilitator?