Helen Whait

Helen Whait is a business speaker, franchising expert, and award-winning leader in allied health. She completed a Bachelor of Applied Science in Occupational Therapy (OT) from the University of South Australia at the end of 1992 and has had a successful 30-year career in occupational therapy. Helen is passionate about occupational therapy and is a strong advocate for the profession.

Helen founded ActivOT in 2007 to balance her family life and her career as an occupational therapist. In 2012, Helen franchised, making ActivOT the first Occupational Therapy franchise in the world. This innovative move challenged the status quo of not only occupational service delivery but also franchising. Now, with over 65 franchisees serving 10,000+ clients across five Australian states, ActivOT was named one of Australia’s Most Innovative Companies by the Australian Financial Review in 2024.

Helen has been widely recognised for her forward-thinking leadership, across the franchising, allied health and business sectors. Her most recent accolades include:

• Finalist, Outstanding Leadership Awards, Community Leader of the Year Category 2024
• Finalist, Franchise Council of Australia Awards, Franchise Industry Leadership Category 2024
• Finalist, Allied Health Awards, Occupational Therapist of the Year Category 2024
• Finalist, Allied Health Awards, Leadership & Management Excellence Category 2024

Helen is an outspoken and respected advocate for the occupational therapy profession and is an active member of Occupational Therapy Australia (OTA). She is also the South Australian representative on the Occupational Therapy Australia, Department of Veteran Affairs National Reference Group. Through these roles, Helen aims to have a positive impact on government policy development.

Being involved at the grassroots level of occupational therapy service provision, Helen is able to provide insight into government programs and how they work for clients (or fail, as the case may be). She’s written and contributed to numerous submissions and discussion papers as well as policy statements, particularly in relation to veteran care. In supporting OT Australia, Helen and the ActivOT team are able to achieve much better outcomes for both occupational therapists and their clients.

Through her own experience franchising ActivOT, she has seized the opportunity to support other founders to scale their businesses. She has a strong vision for a future where growth through franchising is no longer an afterthought, but a sustainable and adaptive way of doing business.

In March 2025, Helen hosted the Scale Smarter Summit which brought together experts in accounting, franchise law and trademark law to provide female founders with insights into how to scale their businesses through franchising. Helen is passionate about sharing the benefits of franchising with other founders, strengthening the reputation and long-term success of the franchise industry and shaping frameworks for sustainable workplace models into the future.

Helen has contributed to many publications such as Body & Soul, MamaMia and Women’s Agenda to speak to the benefits of franchising, as well as to advocate for more flexible working models within the allied health industry and how her past has helped to shape her thriving business today.