Meet Ella

Ella MacLean

Regulation begins in the body and the nervous system. Everything I do grows from that one idea.

I am a Registered Occupational Therapist focusing on regulation and developmental foundations, with a distinctive, evidence based sensory motor approach that supports people to grow through safety, connection and movement. I have built my practice around a structured model of care, with a clear beginning and endpoint, that equips parents and schools to carry the change forward rather than relying on therapy that continues indefinitely without a plan. With a background in clinical Pilates, training in sensory and reflex integration, and deep experience across home, school and hospital settings, I bring a highly attuned, whole person lens to every session, grounded in how the nervous system develops and changes.

I am recognised for clear communication with families and schools, and for a strong understanding of classroom processes, tasks and expectations. Alongside that sits the clinical reasoning that identifies what sits beneath behaviour, helping build the internal foundations of strength, regulation and confidence a person needs to feel capable and engaged in their life.

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One Integrated Approach

Four strands, woven into one lens

Rather than separate services, my work draws several strands together around a single nervous system focus, so the support meets the whole person, not just the surface.

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Reflex & sensory integration

Supporting the developmental foundations the body builds upon, through repetition and movement.

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Nervous system regulation

Working with safety and the body first, so regulation, attention and confidence can follow.

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Underneath the behaviour

Understanding behaviour as communication, and meeting the unmet need that sits beneath it.

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Evidence based psychotherapy

Training in CBT and DBT, supporting identity, processing and emotional growth.

Experience & Training

Clinical depth, applied with precision

Alongside this practice, I facilitate therapeutic groups at a leading mental health hospital, which keeps my work grounded in current, evidence based clinical practice.

That clinical grounding sits beside a developmental, body based understanding of regulation, a combination that lets me support both how a person thinks and how their nervous system carries what they are moving through.

Registered Occupational Therapist
Group facilitator, leading mental health hospital
Trained in both psychotherapy approaches and body based, nervous system informed approaches
Background in clinical Pilates and therapeutic movement
Trauma informed, relational approach

Clinical Scope

Who I work with

Presentations I work with

Neurodevelopmental

ADHD, AuDHD, Autism, PDA, Developmental Delay, Global Developmental Delay

Sensory and motor

Sensory Processing Difficulties, Dyspraxia and DCD, Cerebral Palsy, Prematurity Related Delays

Learning and communication

Learning Difficulties, Selective Mutism

Emotional and regulatory

Anxiety, Emotional Regulation Difficulties, Adjustment Difficulties, Burnout

Challenges I often support

Body and movement

Coordination and praxis, fine and gross motor skills, visual motor skills, difficulty staying still

Sensory processing

Sensory seeking, sensory avoiding, and the regulation that sits underneath both

Regulation and behaviour

Emotional dysregulation, behaviour that is hard to understand, difficulty with transitions, task avoidance, low motivation

School and daily life

Attention and focus, executive functioning, school readiness, meeting curriculum expectations, toileting, sense of self

Why This Work Matters To Me

I understand this from the inside

Having received my own late diagnosis of ADHD, alongside a deeper understanding of my own sensory preferences, I know first hand the work of learning to understand yourself again. It is part of why I hold this work with such care, and why, with the children I see, that care runs deeper still.

Whether I am sitting with a child or a parent, safety, attunement and clinical understanding sit at the centre of every session I offer.

I work collaboratively with families, educators and school communities across Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, from Vaucluse through to Maroubra, providing thoughtful, individualised support that helps children build strong foundations for learning, participation and confidence at school.

The Integrate & Regulate model

What shapes every program

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Concentrated

Frequency and repetition, because that is how the body consolidates

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A clear path

You always know what we are doing, why, and what comes next

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Parents empowered

Families and schools equipped with knowledge to carry change forward

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Clinically grounded

A considered model, grounded in neuroscience and the nervous system