Menu
Menu

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Find work
    • Find work
    • MAX Connect
    MAX Employment Services
  • Improve your skills
    • Improve your skills
    • Find a course
    • Study with us
    • Learning resources
      • Living in Australia
      • Learning English
      • Using computers
    Training courses
  • Health and disability
    • Health and disability
    • Health assessments
      • Do you need an assessment?
      • Refer someone for a disability assessment
    • Manage your disability at work
    • Group health programs
    • NDIS and Disability Employment Services
    • Long-term disability
    • Therapy Services
    • School leavers and students
    • Injury or Illness
    Support services
  • Help and advice
    • Help and advice
      • Getting started
      • Resumes and cover letters
      • Improve your skills
      • Health and wellbeing
      • Applications and interviews
      • Job searching tools
      • Starting work
      • Ongoing support
    • Frequently asked questions
    • Your rights and privacy
    • Help with Centrelink
    • Useful contacts
    • Feedback and complaints
    Get the support you want
  • Employer services
    • Employer services
    • National partnerships
    • Find candidates
    • How we support employers
      • Financial support
      • Employee Assistance Program
      • Pre-Employment Medicals (Injurynet)
    • Employ someone with disability
      • Benefits of diversity
      • Types of disabilities
    • Offer work experience
      • Join the PaTH program
      • Offer a traineeship
      • Be a work for the dole host
    • Our work with employers
    Find great staff
  • What we do
    • What we do
    • MAX Employment
      • jobactive
      • Workforce Australia
      • Employability Skills Training
      • Disability Employment Services
      • NDIS School Leaver Employment Supports
      • Parents Next
      • Jobs Victoria
    • MAX Support
      • Adult Migrant English Program
      • Skills for Education and Employment
      • Youth jobs PaTH
      • Vocational Training
      • Child Welfare Assessments
      • Disability Assessments
      • National Panel of Assessors
      • Program for Students with Disability
      • Therapy Services
    • MAX Community
      • Housing Employment Program
      • School Based Trainee Program
      • Prison-based services
      • Employer Services
    Our services and programs
  • About us
    • About us
    • Careers with MAX
    • Our customer promise
    • Our partners
    • MAXIMUS Worldwide
    • Our impact
    • Our leadership team
    • MAX Foundation
    Learn about MAX

Header Navigation Secondary Menu

  • News
  • Careers with MAX
  • Locations
  • Contact
  • Feedback and complaints

Language menu

  • ngôn ngữ tiếng Việt
  • اللغة العربية
  • پښتو ژبه
  • دری
  • 中文 Zhōngwén
  • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ
  • हिन्दी भाषा
  • 中文
  • Wikang Filipino
  • زبان فارسي
  • Language Support
Aa

MAX Connect

Social Icons

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Youtube

Talk to our team

MAX solutions

MAX Solutions.

X

Services

  • Disability Employment Services
  • Assessments Australia
  • jobactive
  • Workforce Australia
  • Employability Skills Training

Training Courses

  • Adult Migrant English Program
  • Skills for Education and Employment
  • PaTH Employabililty Skills Training

Articles

  • Getting Started
  • Resumes and Cover Letters
  • Health and Wellbeing

General

  • Careers
  • Find an office
  • Feedback and Complaints
  • FAQs
MAXsolutions
  • English
    Choose a language:
    • ngôn ngữ tiếng Việt
    • اللغة العربية
    • پښتو ژبه
    • دری
    • 中文 Zhōngwén
    • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ
    • हिन्दी भाषा
    • 中文
    • Wikang Filipino
    • زبان فارسي
    • Language Support
  • Aa
  • MAXconnect
Search
Locations Contact

Breadcrumb

Home
  • Home
  • Career snapshot: allied health assistance
  • Career snapshot: allied health assistance

    Published by MAXSolutions on February 18 2021
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • Linked in
    career snapshot: career in allied health assistance
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • Linked in

    career in allied health assistance

    If you enjoy providing excellent customer service, have an interest in health and great communication skills, a career in allied health may be right for you.

    What is allied health assistance?

    There are around 195,000 allied health professionals in Australia (AHPA) and many of these are supported by those who have chosen a career in allied health assistance. 

    Allied health is the overarching name for a diverse field of occupations providing essential health care services for people of all ages.

    Allied health professionals include psychologists, speech pathologists, audiologists, chiropractors and osteopaths, massage therapists, physiotherapists, dieticians, podiatrists, occupational therapists, music therapists and optometrists. 

    Working alongside and supporting allied health professionals in a variety of ways, you will often find Allied Health Assistants - or those who have chosen a career in allied health assistance.

    What does an Allied Health Assistant do?

    A career in allied health assistance varies from occupation to occupation and practice to practice but these are some of the things you can expect to do while working in the role:

    • Provide direct support for allied health professionals
    • Communicate between health professionals, patients, families and other health and support workers

    • Follow treatment plans and provide treatment support for therapeutic interventions 

    • Prepare and coordinate assessment and treatment plans for patients 

    • Monitor and evaluate patient treatments

    • Make and maintain patient bookings

    • Organise and file patient reports and other documentation

    • Provide other administrative and office support to health care professionals.

    For those parts of the role that require more specific health and treatment knowledge, depending on your experience, you may find yourself working under the direct, indirect or remote supervision of an allied health professional.

    Where do Allied Health Assistants work?

    Just as the range of allied health professionals you might support in the role varies, so too does the location of your work. Some examples of places you might find yourself working in this role include:

    • Public or private hospital 

    • Medical centre

    • Community centre

    • Within a practice offering a singular allied health service (for example a physiotherapist practice or at an optometrist)

    • Within a practice offering a range of allied health services 

    • Pharmacy 

    • School

    • Aged care facility 

    • From home (providing virtual support services)

    • On the road (travelling with a practitioner, visiting homes, schools, aged care facilities etc

    For those parts of the role that require more specific health and treatment knowledge, depending on your experience, you may find yourself working under the direct, indirect or remote supervision of an allied health professional.

    Why consider a career in allied health assistance?

    1.   It is a growing industry
    Health care and social assistance as a broad industry is growing, and expected to continue growing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and Australia’s ageing population (National Skills Commission). 

    As the industry grows so too does the need for qualified assistants to support allied health professionals and their patients. 

    The Australian Government’s JobOutlook expects the future growth of a variety of allied health professions to be either strong or very strong.

    • Very strong: audiology and speech pathology, optometry and physiotherapy 
    • Strong: complementary health therapy, medical imaging, massage therapy, nutrition and podiatry (JobOutlook). 

    2.   There are opportunities for flexible working arrangements
    Within this industry flexible working arrangements are common.  

    Many allied health professionals work part time, in fact 46% of all health care and social assistance workers are employed part time (National Skills Commission). 

    Further many practitioners travel to meet clients in their homes and require remote support services meaning working from home may be an option.

    This kind of flexibility makes a career as an Allied Health Assistant a smart career choice for people who need to manage their paid work around other responsibilities. 

    3.   You can follow your healthcare passion 
    As discussed above, the range of healthcare areas that allied health covers is vast. 

    From head to toe, allied health professionals support patients to achieve optimum health. 

     

    Allied health professions

    Click on the purple circles below to learn more about some of the different allied health professions in Australia. A career in allied health assistance may lead you to work alongside allied health professionals in these areas.  

     


     

    Is a career as an Allied Health Assistant right for you?

    Let’s take a look at whether a career as an Allied Health Assistant is right for you. 

    If you have the character traits and skills listed below, you are more likely to find a career in allied health fulfilling.


    Good communication and teamwork skills
    Those who choose a career in allied health assistance are constantly communicating with health care professionals, patients, families and other health organisations and businesses such as medical equipment suppliers. 

    Being able to communicate clearly and reliably relay information is important. So too is the ability to communicate with compassion, respect and efficiency. 

    As part of this, being able to work well as part of a team is very important. Patients are often seeing multiple healthcare professionals and being able to work within your own team along with the wider healthcare and support teams of each patient is a great skill to have. 

    Willingness to be flexible and adaptable
    A lot of allied health professionals work in small teams. This can mean that as an Allied Health Assistant, you’re called on for anything from answering phones and restocking to the stationery to providing invaluable support in the treatment room. 

    Oftentimes assistants are called on to provide a wide range of administrative and treatment supports in a single day.

    This means if you have a flexible and adaptable personality, you’re more likely to fit in and enjoy this kind of varied environment.

    Good customer service skills
    In line with good communication skills, having an aptitude for customer service and a person-centred approach to patients is important in this kind of role. 

    If providing good customer service is something you enjoy, you’ll likely get satisfaction from a career in allied health assistance and you’re more likely to succeed long term. 

    Basic computer skills
    Like many roles, a career in allied health assistance will require a basic to moderate level of computer literacy. Data entry, clinical management, ongoing learning and development and workplace updates will require computer use.

     

    What qualifications and experience do you need for a career in allied health assistance?

    Organisations hiring allied health asistants are typically looking for people who have completed a Certificate III in Allied Health Assistance or an equivalent/higher qualification.

    If you’re looking to join this diverse and growing workforce, find out more about the Certificate III qualification.

    Here at MAX, we offer this accredited course, delivered online full time (12 months) or part time (24 months) through our RTO (0667).

    Find out more about the qualification that can launch your career in allied health assistance. 

    • HLT33015 Certificate III Allied Health Assistance

    Core units cover things like recognising healthy body systems, how to interpret and apply medical terminology, how to work with diverse people and communicate in health services. 

    All students are required to undertake 80 hours of work placement to complete the qualification. This provides a fantastic opportunity for hands on experience prior to graduation. 

    Contact us today on 1800 603 503 to discuss.

    Apply Now for HLT33015 Certificate III Allied Health Assistance

    Talk to our training team

     

    What qualifications and experience do you need for a career in allied health assistance?

    What professions are considered to be allied health?

    The full list of professions in the allied health field as listed by Allied Health Professions Australia are as follows: 

    -    Audiology 
    Audiologists are experts in hearing, hearing loss, balance disorders and issues such as tinnitus. Audiologists evaluate, diagnose and treat patients from infants through to the elderly and help improve their ability to hear and communicate. 

    -    Chiropractic
    Chiropractors examine and treat back pain and disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Treatments typically include joint manipulation and massage.

    -    Dietetics 
    Dietitians provide patients with guidance on food, nutrition and diet to help reduce the symptoms of disease and support people through maintaining good health. Often patients with health conditions including heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, food allergies and other gastro-intestinal diseases are supported by dietitians. 

    -    Exercise physiology
    Exercise physiologists use their extensive knowledge of the human body and the benefits of exercise to support patients with exercise therapies designed to help patients with a range of health issues, injuries or limitations with physical function. 

    -    Music therapy
    Music therapists use music to support patients with disability, mental illness and even pain. Using music to tap into non-verbal processes, improve health, wellbeing and help patients achieve their goals. 

    -    Occupational therapy
    Occupational therapists (OT) support people who have a health concern, injury or disability that prevents them from doing things they would like to in their home and/or work life. OTs help people to achieve their goals through a variety of therapies, environmental modifications, education and other rehabilitation techniques. 
    -    Optometry 
    Optometrists diagnose and treat a range of eye conditions and vision problems. Optometrists are trained to prescribe glasses and contact lenses.

    -    Orthoptics
    Orthoptists specialise in the diagnosis and treatment of eye health conditions such as glaucoma and cataracts, while also exclusively specialising in treating eye movement concerns such as strabismus (turned eye), ambluopia (lazy eye) and diplopia (double vision).

    -    Orthotics/prosthetics
    Orthotists/prosthetists support patients overcome physical and functional limitations with orthoses (splints and braces) and prostheses (artificial limbs). 

    -    Osteopathy
    Osteopaths treat a wide range of musculoskeletal conditions with manual therapy. Osteopaths have a particular understanding of spinal and joint manipulation. 

    -    Physiotherapy
    Physiotherapists work with people of all ages to treat a range of musculoskeletal conditions including injuries with the aim to reduce pain, increase mobility, function and well-being.

    -    Podiatry
    Podiatrists treat feet and lower limbs with the aim of reducing pain and improving overall health and wellbeing. 

    -    Psychology
    Psychologists seek to interpret, diagnose and treat people experiencing a range of mental, emotional and behavioural disorders. As experts in human behaviour, psychologists aim to help people to overcome issues such as anxiety, depression and trauma and life through talk therapy, guidance, support, strategies and other evidence-based treatments.

    -    Social work
    Social workers provide practical and social support to people in times of crisis, or difficult situations such as homelessness, addiction, abuse or bereavement. Social workers connect people with other supports such as secure housing, information, socio-emotional supports and counselling.

    -    Speech pathology
    Speech pathologists support people who have difficulty with certain communication skills such as speaking, understanding language or stuttering. They can also support those who have difficulty swallowing food and drink safely.
    Other allied health professions include:
    -    Sonography
    -    Genetic counselling
    -    Medical radiations
    -    Arts therapy 
    -    Rehabilitation counselling

     

    Tags
    • Course
    • Employment
    • Informational
    • Looking for work
    • MAX Employment
    • Training
    • Vocation
    • Log in or register to post comments
    Category
    Job searching tools

    Most popular help and advice

    Jobs for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Jobs for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Published by MAXSolutions on March 22 2021
     

    What To Say and Not To Say in a Job Interview

    What To Say and Not To Say in a Job Interview

    Published by MAXSolutions on January 5 2021
     

    Expert Cold Calling Tips To Get An Interview

    Expert Cold Calling Tips To Get An Interview

    Published by MAXSolutions on December 7 2020
     

    5 ways to sell yourself in a job interview

    5 ways to sell yourself in a job interview

    Published by MAXSolutions on April 27 2020
     
    More articles
    Was this article useful?
    Why did you choose Yes?
    Why did you choose No?

    Found this useful?

    Copied to clipboard
    Share this article

    Contact us

    • Have a question?

      Chat Now

      Find quick answers about employment services.

    • Customer Enquiries

      1800 603 503

      If you are a new or existing customer or have an enquiry about a service, contact our Customer Servicing Team

    • Need support?

      1800 807 505

      Talk to someone in our health team.

        

      If you need urgent help or are in an emergency, please dial 000.

      Alternatively please call:

      Lifeline: 13 11 14

      Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636

      Respect Domestic Family Violence Service: 1800 737 732

       

    Send us an email:

    • General enquiry
    • Register for Disability Employment Services
    • Register for a service
    • Feedback and complaints

    Published by MAXSolutions on July 19 2018

    Published by MAXSolutions on July 19 2018

    Published by MAXSolutions on July 19 2018

    Published by MAXSolutions on July 19 2018

    Please fill in the contact form below or   Complete a survey

    Categories Lists

    Getting started
    Applications and interviews
    Resumes and cover letters
    Health and wellbeing
    Improve your skills
    Job searching tools
    Starting work
    Ongoing support
    COVID-19

    Recent posts

    Jobs for people with bipolar disorder
    Best Jobs for people with ADHD
    Career snapshot: Jobs in sales
    How to find local jobs
    Career snapshot: technology jobs

    Monthly archive

    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021

    Pagination

    • Page 1
    • Next page Next

    Most popular help and advice

    Jobs for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Jobs for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Published by MAXSolutions on March 22 2021
     

    What To Say and Not To Say in a Job Interview

    What To Say and Not To Say in a Job Interview

    Published by MAXSolutions on January 5 2021
     

    Expert Cold Calling Tips To Get An Interview

    Expert Cold Calling Tips To Get An Interview

    Published by MAXSolutions on December 7 2020
     

    5 ways to sell yourself in a job interview

    5 ways to sell yourself in a job interview

    Published by MAXSolutions on April 27 2020
     
    More articles
    • Find a MAX office near you

      Office

      Our locations

       
    • Register with us

      Edit

      Register now

       
    • Talk to someone now

      Call

      Contact us

       
    • Let us know how we're doing

      Feedback

      Feedback

       
    Providing employment, disability and training services

    Providing employment, disability and training services in suburban and regional areas across Australia including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Darwin, Adelaide, Hobart, Perth, Canberra.

    Providing employment, disability and training services

    iso

    Ensuring your safety and support

    If you need help or support, our offices are a safe environment.

    Contact us

    Language menu

    • ngôn ngữ tiếng Việt
    • اللغة العربية
    • پښتو ژبه
    • دری
    • 中文 Zhōngwén
    • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ
    • हिन्दी भाषा
    • 中文
    • Wikang Filipino
    • زبان فارسي
    • Language Support

    Footer

    • Home
    • Privacy
    • Terms of use
    • Quality
    • Contact
    • Locations
    • Sitemap
    • MAXConnect

    Social Icons

    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Youtube

    © Copyright 2022 MAX Solutions. All rights reserved Registered Training Organisation: 0667

    Ask a question