Lauren Holyoake qualified as a Physiotherapist in 2018 with a BSc (Hons) in Physiotherapy from the University of Huddersfield. She was keen to pursue a career in Paediatrics through her experiences on student placements but also through swimming coaching in which Lauren spent several years working with a variety of children to coach, teach and officiate swimming. Lauren has a passion for swimming from her work as a swimming coach but also as a competitive swimmer herself. Lauren continues to share her love of swimming through hydrotherapy sessions with Little Hiccups.
Lauren went straight into a Paediatric job following graduation from University and worked with the Leeds Community Team for 18 months, before joining the Mid Yorkshire as a Specialist Children’s Physiotherapist. Lauren works in a variety of different settings including mainstream schools, specialist schools, out-patient clinics at the hospital, orthotic clinics, children and families own homes and clinic settings. Lauren also has experience in leading aquatic and rebound blocks along with intensive land-based blocks. More recently, Lauren has been involved in the delivery of post-op rehabilitation for patients following Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) surgery along with multiple orthopaedic surgeries.
Lauren continues to work with children aged 0-19 years and understands the key elements of development throughout the key stages of a child’s life. Lauren’s experiences provide her with knowledge of a variety of conditions including:
Cerebral Palsy, Cystic Fibrosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Spina Bifida, Down’s Syndrome, Developmental Delay and other Genetic/Chromosomal abnormalities.
Lauren works within a large multi-disciplinary team (MDT) to ensure that a holistic and effective approach is provided towards patient care.
The MDT includes Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Paediatricians, Orthotists, Nursing Teams and Social workers. Lauren has lots of experience of working with a variety of specialist and non-specialist equipment including walking frames, standing frames and sleep systems.
Lauren is keen to work with families and patients to understand their goals and aspirations in order to tailor physiotherapy sessions and programmes to meet these needs. Lauren takes time to get to know the families and patients in order to ensure that the goals are realistic and measurable, but most importantly focussed around the child’s personal interests in order to make therapy fun and exciting.
