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Scott is one of two directors of the Merivale Hand Clinic. Scott joined the clinic in 2007 following a 20 year career working in the field of Sports Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation.

Scott’s roles at the clinic include business development, practice management and development of information systems. Scott's focus over the coming years will be directed towards managing the increased demand for hand therapy services that are already noticeable following the rebuild of Christchurch. This will require ensuring good geographical coverage of our services across Christchurch and North Canterbury so clinicians can deliver these services to patients close to where they live and work.

Abby completed her Physiotherapy degree in 2008 at Otago University. She started working in hand therapy and completed her post graduate qualifications in 2010. Then travelling to the UK to work in London Abby gained experience in busy hand therapy centres within private and NHS hospitals. Abby has been a director since 2016 when she returned from the UK. She currently works at our Moorhouse Hand Clinic with cameo appearances at other clinics when required!

Jenny graduated as a physiotherapist in 1975 in Dunedin. She worked overseas for several years in both England and Denmark, before returning to work at Burwood Hospital where she joined the newly developed hand therapy team. Jenny was a founding member of the New Zealand Association of Hand Therapists. She worked full time at Burwood as a senior Hand Therapist until she had her first child. At that time she joined Sue in her private practice.

Jenny continues to work at the Merivale Hand Clinic as the Clinical Manager and a senior Hand Therapist. Jenny helps with the supervision and training of our therapists and treating complex cases. Areas of interest include wrist and finger fractures.

Nicky graduated from the Dunedin School of Physiotherapy in 1978. After graduating she gained extensive general experience in respiratory, stroke and neurological rehabilitation. Nicky spent one year working in England, on return to New Zealand she worked as Section Head of the Assessment and Rehabilitation Unit at The Princess Margaret Hospital in Christchurch.

Nicky has been involved in hand therapy since 1988 on a part time basis while her family of three children were growing up. She joined the team at the Merivale Hand Clinic on a permanent basis in 2000 and in 2003 she qualified as a Registered Hand Therapist. She has an interest in splinting for hypertonicity.

Amelia graduated from the Otago School of Physiotherapy in 2014, and spent 2 and a half years working at Greymouth hospital working in both inpatient and outpatient physiotherapy roles. In 2017 she left New Zealand to travel and live overseas. Initially, Amelia worked as a locum in the UK both in hand therapy and musculoskeletal physiotherapy, until getting a permanent position at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hand therapy department in London for 3 years. This experience provided Amelia with exposure to a variety of hand injuries and treatment options while working within a large dynamic and forward thinking hand therapy team. As a result, Amelia developed a special interest and skills in the rehabilitation of post trauma and surgical hand conditions.

Amelia works across both the Merivale and Kaiapoi hand clinics. She will be completing the postgraduate Hand and Upper Limb course in 2022 as part of gaining her New Zealand Hand Therapy registration. Out of work Amelia enjoys spending time with family and friends as well as hiking, skiing, running, cycling and yoga.

Katie graduated with a Bachelor of Health Science (Physiotherapy) in 2018, receiving the Top Clinical Student award. Katie became particularly interested in hand therapy, as she loved the complexity involved in managing injuries and conditions affecting the forearm and hand and the creativity required when prescribing rehabilitation programs to return people to work and sport. Katie completed the postgraduate hand and upper limb course to become a registered Hand Therapist in 2021.

Outside of work, Katie enjoys running, tennis, spending time with family and friends and travel. Katie is currently working between the Kaiapoi and Merivale clinics.

Elizna graduated as an Occupational Therapist in 2000 from the University of Stellenbosch. She then lived and worked in the UK to travel and gain experience before returning to Cape Town, South Africa in 2007. As a locum therapist in London Elizna started her training in hand therapy and fell in love with this area of expertise. Back in Cape Town she joined a well-established hand and upper limb clinic and after 2 years started her own private practice which she successfully ran for eleven years. Elizna has been part of the team at the Merivale Hand Clinic since 2019 and become a New Zealand Registered Hand Therapist. Elizna is married and has two young children and when not working she enjoys exploring the beauty of New Zealand with the family, camping and scuba diving.

Emily is a registered hand therapist, who graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Physiotherapy) in 2007. Emily joined the Merivale Hand Clinic team in 2018 when she moved from Canberra  to Christchurch with her partner and two young children. In Australia Emily worked for 8 years in both hospital and private practice settings developing expertise in the area of post-surgical rehabilitation and the management of wrist pain.

Emily enjoys the variety of people she meets as a hand therapist and is passionate about helping people return to the activities they love to do. Emily also has an interest in working with people with chronic pain.

When not at work Emily enjoys being a mum, skiing, cycling and generally keeping active and being outdoors.

Jane is originally from Malaysia. She graduated from the Otago School of Physiotherapy in 2014. Since graduating she has been working in the musculoskeletal and sports rehabilitation fields.  Jane has always had a keen interest in hand therapy and is a registered hand therapist. Jane has a special interest in the treatment of elbow injuries. She is well trained in level 1 dry needling. Jane is multilingual and speaks fluent English, Mandarin and Malay.

Melissa graduated from the Auckland University of Technology with a Bachelor of Health Science (Occupational Therapy) in 2010. Since graduating she has moved back to Christchurch and has gained experience in the fields of palliative care, and orthopaedic rehabilitation. Melissa completed Auckland University of Technology’s Post Graduate Hand and Upper Limb Therapy paper in 2012, and gained full Registration in 2014.

Johanna graduated from the Auckland Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Health Science (Physiotherapy) in 1998. Johanna first started work at the Merivale Hand Clinic in 2005 and gained full registration in 2010.  An ex-road cyclist, Johanna has raced throughout the United States and Europe with the NZ national team and with professional trade teams. She has also been a competitive runner, winning a Masters national title in cross country running.  Johanna now mostly runs around after her children, and works between hand therapy clinics.  Her interests include the latest in research and innovation in Hand Therapy.

Tjun joined the Merivale Hand Clinic in 2005. She completed a Bachelor of Physiotherapy from Otago University in 1995 and became a fully registered Hand Therapist in 2007.  Before joining the Merivale Hand Clinic, Tjun worked in hospitals in both Christchurch and in the UK, specifically in Orthopaedics. She loves working in Hand Therapy as it appeals to her functional approach to rehabilitation.

Tjun is married with 3 school aged children, and outside of working enjoys walking, touch rugby, biking, baking and spending time with friends and family.  

Leigh has been working with the Merivale Hand Clinic team since 2007 and gained Hand Therapy Registration in 2009.

Leigh has always held an interest in hand injuries and rehabilitation after graduating as an Occupational Therapist from Queen's College, Glasgow in 1991. Since then she has gained experience in a variety of areas including Rheumatology, Orthopaedics and Paediatrics, all of which have included some element of hand therapy.

Leigh is based in the Kaiapoi Hand Clinic and covers all aspects of hand therapy including post surgical rehabilitation for the North Canterbury region.