MOve and Grow Physiotherapy
Our Mission
Move & Grow Physiotherapy provides flexible, family-oriented, evidence-based physiotherapy services to people living with disability and their support networks in the Townsville and Burdekin regions.
Our care is client-centred. Our relationship with our clients and their families are fore in the provision of our services. We believe mutual respect and trust creates the open, safe and caring environment that is necessary to achieve real and measurable results for our clients that make a quantifiable difference in their lives.
Our Vision
Our vision is for a community in which people lead their best lives. At Move & Grow Physiotherapy we aim to:
- Challenge ourselves to provide the unique and appropriate solutions to our client’s individual needs
- Encourage and promote the health of our community
- Increase our capacity to provide services to more people
- Support the development of new therapists and students
- Extend our capacity to help others in need across the world
Meet Our Team
Lucy Robinson
Lucy Robinson is the owner and principle physiotherapist at Move and Grow Physiotherapy.
After graduating from James Cook University, Lucy worked to develop the physiotherapy service within Disability Services, first in Cairns, then Townsville. Paediatric physiotherapy had not been available in these locations previously, so setting up the service was a significant learning curve! Lucy has always had a special interest in all aspects of child development and enjoys working with families to reach their goals in unique situations.
In 2014, Lucy spent nine months in Vietnam and Cambodia volunteering as a physiotherapist to support and teach parents and staff at a free drop-in physiotherapy centre for children with a disability. She also worked with carers and children with disabilities in orphanages in Vietnam and a physiotherapy clinic seeing both children and adults in Cambodia. Move and Grow Physiotherapy continues to support the drop-in centre in Vietnam by collecting and sending equipment and resources no longer needed by Australian families to Vietnam.
Lucy is committed to ongoing learning and professional development to maintain a high level of up to date knowledge and skills to best support your family. Since graduating, Lucy has completed courses on paediatric physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, Neurodevelopmental Therapy (Bobath), yoga for kids, postural splinting, breath control and animal assisted therapy. Lucy is keen to use a variety of skills and treatments to tailor therapy sessions to each individual while keeping appointments for kids as play based and fun as possible!
Abby Frankland joined our team in late 2020 as an Allied Health Assistant before graduating Physiotherapy from James Cook University and moving into her permanent Physiotherapist position in 2021.
Abby has a passion for all things Physiotherapy and a keen interest in paediatrics. With a kind and individualised approach to each case, Abby dedicates time to establishing relationships and ensuring a client and family centred approach and loves the variety of clients she sees at Move and Grow. Abby’s special interest include early intervention for developmental delays in infants and young children, hydrotherapy, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), ADHD, social inclusion in sport and group activities and advocacy for individuals with disabilities and their families. In addition, Abby is enthusiastic about expanding her knowledge and continues to complete further courses in the Paediatric space.
In Abby’s spare time, she enjoys playing netball, exploring our beautiful Townsville region, and spending quality time with her family and friends.
Abigail (Abby) Frankland
Elliarna (Elli) Mitchell
Elliarna joined our team as an Allied Health Assistant in 2023 and transitioned to Physiotherapist to in 2024, after graduating from James Cook University. Elli has a passion for making a genuine difference in people’s lives and an amazing understanding of working with children.
With experience as a support worker for NDIS participants and clinic placements in Paediatric Physiotherapy, Elli comes with a wealth of diverse skills and attributes. She has a welcoming warm nature, able to build rapport and communicate with all ages. She is open to experience and able to adapt to a child’s changing needs, tailoring play based therapy to be engaging and enjoyable, while also therapeutic.
In her spare time, Elli enjoys the outdoors, especially boating, fishing and camping. She is bubbly by nature and has a contagious positive enthusiasm for wanting the best for children and their families.
Kathryn holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Physiotherapy, along with Certificates III and IV in Fitness. She is also a qualified Pilates, boxing, and kickboxing instructor, bringing a strong movement based foundation to her work. Kathryn is also currently pursuing higher degree research in adolescent and paediatric pelvic health physiotherapy, exploring non invasive approaches to treating incontinence and pelvic floor dysfunction, particularly focusing on how these conditions affect everything from movement to breathing and posture.
Kathryn is passionate about helping children feel at home in their bodies. She loves supporting children to build interoception (awareness of internal body signals) and develop functional movements that translate into everyday life to help increase participation at home, school, and in the community.
She has a special interest in working with neurodiverse children and those with genetic conditions such as Ehlers Danlos Syndromes and joint hypermobility disorders. Her approach is gentle, playful, trauma informed, and child led. She always meets each child where they are and works collaboratively to build trust and confidence. Kathryn places a strong focus on helping children achieve meaningful goals that matter to them and their families, whether that is managing continence, participating in school or sport, or simply feeling more in control of their bodies. She works closely with families to ensure therapy strategies are practical, empowering, and easily integrated into everyday life.
As a lifelong learner, Kathryn is always expanding her knowledge (and usually has a few quirky facts to share). She is also a proud single mum of two, and you might see her kids hanging out at the back of the clinic from time to time. Kathryn also knows all about Pokémon thanks to her son.
In her spare time, Kathryn enjoys going to Pilates, seeing plenty of live music, and she is always on the hunt for recommendations of good coffee shops to try.
Kathryn Foster
Melissa Robinson
Melissa takes care of our accounts and office administration on a part-time basis.
Melissa has a Bachelor of Business and extensive experience spanning business administration and management, human resources and systems improvement. Her current main role is raising her two young sons, who happen to be Lucy’s nephews.
Melissa is a valuable addition to our practice management; supporting the team to meet our client’s needs, ensuring the clinic is run efficiently and assisting in our commitment to provide high quality care.
Chilli & Toro
Chilli (brown and TRIpawd), Toro (black and fluffy) and Sadie (golden puppy in training) are our resident Therapy Dogs.
Our dogs and their handlers (Lucy and Abby) have to complete an animal assisted therapy course to become certified as an therapy animal team. .
Research has shown that dogs to help reduce stress and lower self reported pain scores, making Therapy Dogs a useful addition to help motivate, soothe and reward clients.
The doggos enjoy meeting new people and getting pats. They are always happy to pop in at the end of the session and congratulate you on your hard work!
