RURAL ALLIED HEALTH MENTORSHIP PROGRAM CREATES OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS AND PRACTICE Gen Health Hamilton accepting students from University campuses across Victoria and South Australia
With
Melanie Roll, Physiotherapist & Director
Gen Health Hamilton, Victoria
Ruby Sulicich, Physiotherapist &
Former Gen Health Hamilton Mentorship Program participant
Gen Health Hamilton, Victoria
AUSTRALIAN HEALTH JOURNAL SEGMENT
Filmed in Hamilton, Victoria | August 2025
Gen Health Hamilton was established in 2015 in regional and rural Victoria. The practice offers a range of services including physiotherapy, podiatry, occupational therapy, exercise science, and group classes such as clinical reformer therapy and clinical Pilates in Hamilton, which has a population of around 10,000. The clinic also serves a wider community within 100 kilometre, reaching rural residents and local industries.
Melanie Roll, a director and physiotherapist at Gen Health, is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of allied health professionals. Gen Health’s support begins with a work experience program for local secondary school students, where they can observe a variety of health services and participate in an annual careers night to explore allied health career pathways.
Upon moving to tertiary education, students are offered placements through a five-week program designed to transition them from observation to supervised practice and ultimately to seeing their own patients. In their final study year, they can apply for the mentorship program, which aids the transition into private practice.
One of these students, now a physiotherapist at Gen Health is Ruby Sulicich, who participated in the Gen Health Mentorship Program. Ms Sulicich shares her experience in the program when she spoke with Australian Health Journal.
For new graduates, Gen Health has created a thorough 12-month program focused on professional development, mentoring, and hands-on learning. Ms Roll spoke to Australian Health Journal on how this pathway has, to date, successfully onboarded seven employees.
The mentorship program also addresses the common concern among university students about the lack of confidence when starting private practice careers. It includes monthly interactive webinars covering clinical management and career preparedness.
Feedback indicates that mentorship students feel significantly more confident about entering the workforce as graduate physiotherapists or podiatrists. This initiative not only fosters student growth but also helps Gen Health attract new talent, showcasing the rewards of a career in rural private practice.
Source: Written by AUDIENCED from transcript
Filming credit: The Social Connection
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Pharmacy led men’s urological health
Men’s urological needs refer to the medical and surgical conditions that affect the male urinary tract system and reproductive organs.
A urologist can address these concerns, however a pharmacy-led model of care developed by Brad Butt, called Mens Health Downunder has offered an alternative to certain urological needs of the male adult population over the past 10 years.
Australian Health Journal met with Brad to hear about his journey, Mens Health Downunder and the impact the pharmacy-led model of care has had on patient’s urological as well as mental health.
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LIVED EXPERIENCE: severe aortic valve stenosis (aortic stenosis)
A Batemans Bay grandfather who dismissed months of breathlessness and fatigue as “just getting older” is now preparing to travel to Singapore to meet the technicians who hand-stitched the heart valve that helped save his life.
In April 2026, retired logistics courier, Geoff Lewis, 75, collapsed in front of his daughter and grandchildren while on holiday in Thailand, after months of symptoms he had ignored. The collapse would lead to a diagnosis of severe aortic stenosis and urgent treatment back home.
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Raising awareness, engagement and inclusion of Allied Health
Anita Hobson-Powell holds the position of Chief Allied Health Officer for the Australian Government within the Department of Health and Aged Care. With a background as an exercise physiologist and extensive experience leading allied health professional associations*, she has been entrusted with three main priorities. First, she aims to raise awareness about the significance of allied health professionals and their role in the healthcare system. This involves ensuring that decision makers and individuals engaging with health services understand the contributions of allied health professionals.
