
Michelle O’Sullivan
Senior Occupational Therapist
Mental Health OT (BAMH Endorsed)
ypermobility is ‘my thing’. It’s where my knowledge, experience and training combine. It’s where I feel I help clients best.
Having graduated from The University of Sydney in 1st place and almost immediately jumping on a plane to live in rural Africa, I didn’t realise hypermobility was my thing until I started working in Paediatrics once back in Australia. In practice, I saw joint hypermobility and it made sense to me. I could visualise it, explain it, teach it.
So, I let it become my thing back in 2010 when I started my first private practice, HypermobilOT on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. I saw kids and adults with hypermobility conditions of all sorts, ranging from a few hypermobile joints through to severe connective tissue disorders like Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Marfan Syndrome & Loeys-Dietz Syndrome. People came from all over the country. People were recognising it too. Hypermobility was my thing.
In 2016 I launched an online hypermobility platform, Hypermobility Connect, to provide a space where people living with hypermobility could access relevant and safe information, as well as connect with other people living a similar experience. It has taken off with a blog, Facebook Group, and the birth of the Hypermobility Health Professionals Network (hhpn).
It doesn’t end with the diagnosis, it’s just one step on the journey

Also in 2016, I was asked to speak at the launch of Genetic Disorders Awareness Week at NSW Parliament House which was an honour, and a great opportunity to get hypermobility on the radar of some important people in NSW Health. Having spoken previously at the Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2012 and the inaugural Ehlers-Danlos & Hypermobility Syndromes Conference in Australia in 2014, speaking in front a big crowd was becoming more comfortable!
Returning to face to face clinical work in 2018, I’m busy seeing clients, writing a book, eCourses, running Hypermobility Connect & it’s various offshoots and continuing to promote My Bendy Body: Living with Hypermobility in 3 (soon to be 4) different languages.
So, as you can see…. Hypermobility is my thing.
p.s. I do have a life outside of hypermobility. You’ll often find me with a camera in hand, snapping the beauty of this country or sitting in a cafe with a soy hot chocolate or a pot of tea, chatting with friends.

Professional Memberships
I’m a Registered Occupational Therapist with the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) as well as a member of:
- Occupational Therapy Australia
- Australian Rheumatological Association (Non-Medical)
- Genetic Alliance Australia
- Arthritis & Osteporosis NSW
- Osteogenesis Imperfecta Society of Australia

Other Professional Roles
- OT Australia: NDIS Taskforce, 2021
- OT Australia: National Reference Group: NDIS & Disability
- International Consortium on the Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders, Allied Health Working Group
