Rate My Professor Samantha Ashby

Dr Samantha Ashby is an Associate Professor in Occupational Therapy within the School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She holds a PhD in Occupational Therapy from the University of Newcastle, with a dissertation on the theoretical knowledge used and valued by occupational therapists in mental health practice. Her other qualifications include a Research Masters in Occupational Therapy from the University of Sydney, examining the impact of chronic low back pain on occupational engagement in long-term unemployed individuals; a Post-Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning from Coventry University; a BSc (Hons) in Remedial Health Sciences from Coventry University; and a Diploma in Occupational Therapy from the London School of Occupational Therapy. Ashby's research specializations encompass strategies to enhance professional resilience in the mental health workforce, occupation-based practice in mental health, translation of theoretical knowledge into occupational therapy curricula and clinical settings, the influence of practice education on professional identity, and the interplay between theory and practice impacting occupation-based practice, resilience, and retention. She investigates the efficacy of occupation-focused models including the Canadian Model of Occupational Performance and Engagement, Kawa Model, and Model of Human Occupation, alongside creative therapies in mental health, enriched environments for stroke rehabilitation, and educational innovations such as simulation and technology in occupational therapy training.

Ashby's professional trajectory includes extensive clinical and academic roles. She started as an Occupational Therapist in North Staffordshire NHS, UK (1987-1991), served as Senior Professional Advisor and Case Manager at Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service, Australia (1991-1995), managing the Long-term Unemployed Work Hardening Program, and held senior therapist positions in UK hospitals (1996) and Hunter New England Health mental health services (2005-2007). Academically, she was Senior Lecturer at Coventry University (1997-2003). At the University of Newcastle since 2007, she advanced to Associate Professor, was Program Convenor for the Bachelor of Occupational Therapy (Honours) (2016-2022), and has been Head of Discipline for Occupational Therapy since 2022. Key publications feature 'An Investigation of the Professional Resilience Strategies Used by Experienced Occupational Therapists' (2024), 'The prognostic reasoning by physiotherapists of musculoskeletal disorders: A phenomenological exploratory study' (2024), 'Sensory experiences that impact tics: young person and parent perspectives' (2025), 'Clinicians feeling safe to be vulnerable is fundamental to optimising suicide risk assessment education' (2025), and 'Consumer perspectives on arts-in-recovery: A community art programme for people living with mental illness' (2026). She has supervised honours and masters theses on stroke therapy, professional identity, weight management, and mental health practice.