Who We Are

Staff

Matt Lancaster FACP

Specialist Sports Physiotherapist
Awarded by the Australian College of Physiotherapists in 2015

Matt has been a physiotherapist for 25 years and in 2015 became Tasmania’s first ACP Specialist
Sports Physiotherapist.

He has attended three Olympic Games as an athletics physiotherapist and has vast experience in rehabilitating running, lower limb and general sporting injuries. He also has a strong interest in helping people with low back pain and those experiencing persistent pain.

Matt established Participate Tasmania in late 2019 and in addition to his clinical consulting, serves as the
Participate Tasmania CEO and Public Officer.

Susie Watson

Senior Physiotherapist

Susie commenced her physiotherapy career in NSW more than 15 years ago, combining work with the demands of training as an elite white water kayaker. Her passion for adventure lead to a relocation to Tasmania, where she can now frequently be found charging down the state’s many mountain bike trails.

Her physiotherapy journey has lead Susie to consider the body very much in its entirety, looking for the biomechanical and postural factors that contribute to injury and ongoing pain.

Susie utilises hour long appointments to assess the whole body and undertake treatments and movement retraining that help resolve long standing issues and promote resilience into the future. This approach is particularly suited to longer standing problems.

Lachlan Mortimer

Senior Physiotherapist

Lachlan has 14 years experience as a physiotherapist, working in private practice and public hospitals. He currently shares his time between Participate Tasmania and the Royal Hobart Hospital Emergency Department, where he is recognised for his clinical expertise in helping patients with dizziness and vertigo, including a teaching role within the Emergency Department medical training program.

Within Participate Tasmania, he maintains a top down clinical focus, helping people experiencing dizziness, vertigo and balance problems.

Lachlan is a recent board member of the Physiotherapy Registration Board of Australia and is a past Tasmanian Women’s cricket team physiotherapist.

Bec Marshall

Senior Physiotherapist

Bec is a well known and highly regarded local physiotherapist who has more than twenty years experience working in private practice and elite sporting environments. She has also worked extensively interstate and overseas, including roles with the Victorian Institute of Sport and supporting Team Scotland at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and the Great Britain Team at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Bec has a strong interest in helping people with low back and pelvic pain and particularly those with longer term, persistent pain. A keen mountain biker and bushwalker, she also has a natural empathy with endurance and multi-sport athletes of all levels and enjoys supporting them achieve their goals.

Des O’Shaughnessy

Senior Physiotherapist

Member of the Australian College of Physiotherapy

Australian Physiotherapy Association Titled Pain Physiotherapist

Des has 25 years experience as a physiotherapist, in public and private clinics in Sydney, London, Alice Springs and Hobart. Des has developed a particular focus to give relief and support to people who have been living with ongoing pain. He has used this expertise to be involved in the mentoring of other physiotherapists around the country.

Des performs thorough assessments and skilled examinations, taking into consideration how a person moves, their background and their lifestyle. By spending time holistically determining where people’s bodies can become more efficient, he helps people understand what treatments in the clinic will help and what people can do at home.

Megan Willing

Senior Physiotherapist

Member of the Australian College of Physiotherapy

Australian Physiotherapy Association Titled Pain Physiotherapist

Megan has been a physiotherapist since 1988 and completed the Masters of Science in Medicine, Pain Management in 2013. She has worked with people with a wide range of musculoskeletal conditions, as well as focusing on helping people with complex, long term pain.

She has worked with the Persistent Pain Service, Royal Hobart Hospital, Federal Street Pain Clinic and Insight Pain Clinic. Megan continues to build on her extensive training and experience in pain management.

Megan aims to listen, understand and work with you so you can move towards improving and managing your pain and your life with pain.

Gaye Rutherford

Accredited Practising Dietitian & Accredited Sports Dietitian

Gaye has practiced professionally for over 20 years, commencing her career in a busy Melbourne hospital before returning to her home state of Tasmania where she has since worked with a range of organisations and individuals. She consults to the Tasmanian Institute of Sport and was excited to work with the Australian Paralympic Team on the ground in Tokyo at the 2021 Paralympics.

Whilst providing dietetics services across a broad client base, Gaye’s areas of interest are sports nutrition (at all levels from recreational to elite), gut health (including managing Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Inflammatory Bowel Disease), and the challenges of disordered eating. Gaye is a Credentialed Eating Disorder Dietitian through the Australia and New Zealand Academy for Easting Disorders.