A little bit about us....

The Banana Tree Practice was set up in 2010 by Ruth and Melanie in order to provide an timely, effective and accessible private Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy service, providing integrated therapy for children in and around Cambridgeshire. 

Melanie Jones - Children's Physiotherapist

Melanie graduated as a Physiotherapist in 1990 from St Thomas's Hospital School of Physiotherapy in London and has 28 years experience both within the NHS and private practice. She has worked in large teaching hospitals, Child Development Centres and in community and school settings. Over the years, she has gained a wealth of experience in all areas of paediatric physiotherapy, having worked with children with a variety of conditions in many different environments alongside a multi disciplinary team.
She continues her professional development by attending regular postgraduate training, including courses on Bobath Therapy, Sensory Intergration Therapy, Hypermobility and DCD/Dyspraxia. She is a member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) and registered with the HCPC (Health and Care  Professions Council) and APCP(Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapists). Melanie has recently qualified as a Sensory Integration Practitioner.

Melanie has three lively teenage children who keep her on her toes and give her a valuable insight into the busy lives families lead today. This helps to provide realistic expectations of what is achievable for families at home on a daily basis in terms of treatment and therapy programmes. 
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Melanie loves working with children and their families, whether it be a short treatment block or time spent over many years as the child grows and develops. Being part of the progress children make and watching them achieve their goals, big or small is the best part of the job!

Ruth Le May - Children's Occupational Therapist​

Ruth qualified as an Occupational Therapist from the University of Ulster in 1992. Since then, she has practiced in a variety of health care settings before specialising in paediatrics in 1998. Ruth's passion for working with children was as a result of working in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, in a busy rural hospital as a volunteer Occupational Therapist. On return to Northern Ireland, Ruth sought out opportunity to work in the area of Paediatrics and moved to England in 1998 in order to pursue this interest.

Having worked within the NHS for most of her career to date, in June 2010, Ruth set up a private practice, The Banana Tree Practice, with a Physiotherapy colleague, to provide assessment and quality treatment interventions for children with a wide variety of clinical needs. Ruth left the NHS, where she worked as a Highly specialist OT, in September 2014, in order to work solely as a private Occupational Therapist within The Banana Tree Practice.​
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Ruth maintains her professional development through attending courses, networking with other Therapists and reading current articles related to Occupational Therapy practice. Ruth is a member of a number of professional bodies which includes: Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT), British Association of Occupational Therapists (BAOT), Royal College of Occupational Therapists Specialist Section - Independent Practice (RCOTSS-IP), Royal College of Occupational Therapists Specialist Section - Children, Young People and Families  (RCOTSS-CYPF) and the Sensory Integration Network UK and Ireland.
 
Ruth is qualified as an Advanced Sensory Integration Practitioner. She is also fully qualified in using the Therapeutic Listening Programme (Vital Links) and in using the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP Approach) in treatment interventions.
 
Ruth is also a taxi service for her own two children and in her spare time (which is very little) she is an avid reader, the latter leading to not enough sleep, especially when the book is a good one!
 
 
 
 






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