Karenza Harding

Senior Mental Health Occupational Therapist (BScOT)

About

Karenza is an experienced senior mental health occupational therapist with over 14 years of clinical experience. Karenza graduated from Curtin University in 2011. She embraces the unique individuality of every person, celebrates diversity, and supports exploration of identity. Her approach is neurodiversity-affirming, trauma-informed, strengths-focused, collaborative, holistic and evidence-based. Karenza meets all clients with an empathetic and nurturing attitude. She acknowledges the complexities of life for individuals and families.

Karenza has provided mental health occupational therapy services in homes, private clinics, government and private hospitals across Perth, WA. She has also tutored at Curtin University and contributed as a guest lecturer in occupational rights and justice. She has delivered training and education for therapy teams, hospitals, universities, schools and community groups, as well as providing consultation to government departments.

Her work is grounded in disability justice, feminist, intersectional and systemic frameworks, with a focus on collaborative and neurodiversity-affirming care. She is committed to ongoing learning and to continually developing her practice alongside emerging affirming research and lived experience.

CONTACT ➜

Therapeutic approaches

Approaches are always adapted to the individual, with consideration of needs and preferences:

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

  • Trauma-Focused ACT

  • Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT)

  • Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

  • CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I)

  • Solution-focused approaches

Areas of interest

  • Pervasive Drive for Autonomy (PDA)

  • Sleep and sleep health

  • Rest

  • Mental health - anxiety, depression, OCD, voice hearing & perceptual differences, PTSD, C-PTSD, suicidal thoughts & self-harm, emotional regulation

  • Chronic illness - POTS, ME/CFS, long-COVID, EDS, epilepsy, FND etc

  • Disability Justice

  • Neurodiversity Paradigm

  • Occupational justice and occupational rights

  • School advocacy, inclusion and disability rights

  • And many more!

Professional Memberships & Endorsements

  • Registered with AHPRA (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency)

  • Member, Occupational Therapy Australia

  • Member, Australasian Sleep Association

  • LOAPAC endorsed - League of Autistic Psychologists and Affirming Colleagues