Fresh from winning the Outstanding New Business at the 2025 NSW Business Awards, Deniliquin-based business DeniSPOT has expanded into Finley.
Like its Deni counterpart, FinleySPOT will offer award-winning speech pathology, occupational therapy, early childhood intervention, school-based services and group programs for local children and families.
The business was established in Deniliquin by Lucy Horne about 18 months ago, and also services the Hay region.
The aim is to ensure rural families can access dynamic, high-quality allied-health services closer to home.
Mrs Horne, who is a speech pathologist and special education teacher, said FinleySPOT’s growing team includes local and returning clinicians committed to rural children and families.
This includes speech pathologist Laura Kerlin and occupational therapist Anna Atkinson, who work out of the Finley clinic at 2 Coree St.
“Laura is a speech pathologist specialising in early childhood from 0 to 7 years, but has a broad scope. She and Anna are both based in Finley.
“We’ve had such a good response to FinleySPOT already and programs are filling up.
“We’re commencing OT intensive and have holiday programs coming up.”
Mrs Horne said expanding to Finley means NDIS plans are being used for therapy, not for travel.
“As a mum who has navigated therapy for my own child, I know how hard it can be in the bush and I thought ‘this has got to change’.
“We provide evidence-based therapy with qualifications, including a masters in speech pathology, a masters in special education and to be a certified practising speech pathologist.”
“We’ve also got a really good relationship with the primary schools. We visit the schools and some do personal development with individual students.
“We give a fresh set of eyes to help the children, and we understand teachers sometimes have classes of up to 28 kids to look after.
“This can mean unrealistic expectations are placed on teachers, which we have seen having been at the coal face.
“We’re all about getting in early and building a child’s communication skills, which can raise and strengthen everything else.
“We also provide access for neurodivergent to level three autistic with different methods of communication, including augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), sign language, key word sign and other device communication.”
Mrs Horne said opening the Finley clinic is also about “giving back” to the community she and husband Matt grew up in.
“We’ve both upskilled, which has meant we are able to give back to and invest in the community,” she said.
Bookings are now open for the Finley Bounce Occupational Therapy holiday program, which will be held each Wednesday in January at FinleySPOT starting January 7.
To book this program, or to learn about other services, email admin@denispot.com, go to denispot.com or check out DeniSPOT on Facebook or Instagram.
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