Bridging Occupational Therapy, Pediatric Function & Holistic Child and Teen Sleep
Meet Justine Ratelle, a licensed occupational therapist whose multidisciplinary career spans pediatrics, feeding therapy, musculoskeletal rehabilitation, hand therapy, functional rehabilitation, driver rehabilitation, and healthcare leadership.
Based in Quebec, Canada, Justine practices as an Occupational Therapist with CTPS Ergothérapie within the PhysioExtra network, where her clinical work reflects an extensive background in rehabilitation and functional health. Her areas of practice include functional and occupational capacity, chronic pain, musculoskeletal conditions, hand and upper-extremity rehabilitation, orthotics, ergonomics, and driving assessment and adaptation.
A graduate of the University of Montréal and member of the Ordre des Ergothérapeutes du Québec, Justine has also pursued advanced professional education, including a Graduate Certificate in Driving Rehabilitation from McGill University.
Beyond her clinical work, Justine serves as a Director and Ambassador without Borders with Caisse Desjardins du Réseau de la santé, where she brings the perspective of an occupational therapist and healthcare professional into a broader leadership role.
Today, Justine is adding another dimension to this already diverse professional foundation through her participation in the International Parenting & Health Institute’s Holistic Children & Teen Sleep Coach Certification Program.
Her journey creates a meaningful intersection between occupational therapy, pediatric function, feeding, rehabilitation, development, and holistic sleep—all connected by a larger question:
What helps children and adolescents function, regulate, participate, and thrive in everyday life?
A Foundation in Occupational Therapy
Justine’s professional foundation begins with occupational therapy, a field inherently concerned with helping individuals participate more fully in the activities and routines that make up everyday life.
She completed her occupational therapy education at the University of Montréal and is a member of the Ordre des Ergothérapeutes du Québec.
Throughout her career, Justine has developed experience across a remarkably broad range of occupational therapy practice.
Her professional profile includes work involving:
- functional and occupational capacity
- chronic pain
- musculoskeletal conditions
- hand and upper-extremity rehabilitation
- orthotics
- ergonomics
- return-to-work rehabilitation
- driving assessment and adaptation
- pediatrics
- feeding therapy
This breadth of experience gives Justine a perspective that extends beyond a single symptom, diagnosis, or stage of life.
Instead, her professional work considers how health, physical function, environment, routines, individual abilities, and everyday demands interact to influence quality of life.
Clinical Practice With CTPS Ergothérapie & PhysioExtra
An important part of Justine’s current professional identity is her clinical work with CTPS Ergothérapie within the PhysioExtra network in Quebec.
PhysioExtra identifies Justine as an occupational therapist with expertise encompassing functional and occupational capacity, musculoskeletal conditions, chronic pain, hand and upper-extremity disorders, orthotics, ergonomics, and driving assessment and vehicle adaptation.
Her professional development has also included advanced education in areas such as hand therapy, ergonomics, return-to-work rehabilitation, and driver rehabilitation.
She holds a Graduate Certificate in Driving Rehabilitation from McGill University, further demonstrating the multidisciplinary nature of her rehabilitation background.
Although these areas may initially appear quite different from sleep, there is an important common thread:
daily function.
How we sleep can influence how we function during the day.
And what happens throughout the day, physically, emotionally, developmentally, environmentally, and behaviorally—can also influence how we sleep.
That relationship becomes especially interesting when viewed through the lens of occupational therapy.
Pediatrics and Feeding Therapy
Justine’s professional work also extends into pediatrics and feeding therapy.
Caisse Desjardins du Réseau de la santé describes her as an occupational therapist working in musculoskeletal rehabilitation, hand therapy, and pediatrics, as well as a driver rehabilitation and feeding therapy specialist.
These pediatric and feeding dimensions create a particularly meaningful bridge to her expanding education in children and teen sleep.
Children do not experience sleep separately from the rest of their lives.
Their sleep exists within an interconnected developmental system that includes eating, movement, sensory experiences, emotional regulation, relationships, learning, physical comfort, daily routines, health, environment, and family life.
Likewise, insufficient or disrupted sleep can influence how a child feels and functions throughout the day.
This is one reason a multidisciplinary perspective can be so valuable when professionals are supporting children and families.
An Earlier Connection to the World of Sleep
Interestingly, Justine’s current study of child and adolescent sleep is not her first professional connection to the field.
In a public professional statement discussing her background in healthcare, Justine shared that before beginning her career in occupational therapy, she had worked in several health-related settings, including a sleep clinic.
Years later, sleep has returned to her professional journey from a very different perspective.
Today, rather than encountering sleep solely within a clinical setting, Justine is expanding her understanding of how sleep can intersect with development, function, regulation, family life, and the everyday experiences of children and adolescents.
It creates an interesting full-circle element in her professional story.
Expanding Into Holistic Children & Teen Sleep
Justine is currently participating in the International Parenting & Health Institute’s Holistic Children & Teen Sleep Coach Certification Program.
This education adds another lens to an already whole-person profession.
Sleep challenges in childhood and adolescence do not necessarily arise from one isolated factor.
Depending on the individual child and circumstances, sleep may intersect with areas such as:
development, physical health, sensory experiences, emotional well-being, nutrition, movement, environment, family dynamics, routines, lifestyle, technology, school demands, and circadian biology.
This does not mean that one professional should attempt to address every possible contributor.
Quite the opposite.
A holistic approach also means understanding professional scope, recognizing when something may require further evaluation, and collaborating or referring to appropriately qualified healthcare or mental-health professionals when necessary.
For someone already trained in occupational therapy, this broader way of thinking has natural parallels.
Understanding the Child Beyond the Sleep Challenge
A child struggling at bedtime may also be experiencing difficulty with transitions.
A child waking frequently may have other physical, environmental, developmental, or emotional factors worth exploring.
A teenager struggling to fall asleep may simultaneously be navigating changing circadian rhythms, school pressure, technology use, relationships, increasing independence, emotional stress, or lifestyle demands.
Rather than beginning with:
“How do we stop this sleep behavior?”
a broader assessment asks:
“What else is happening in this child’s life?”
That shift can change the entire conversation.
For Justine, it also complements a professional background already centered on understanding how individuals interact with their bodies, environments, routines, and everyday demands.
Extending the Lens Into Adolescence
Adolescence deserves particular attention because supporting a teenager’s sleep is fundamentally different from supporting infant or early-childhood sleep.
Biological shifts in circadian timing occur alongside enormous changes in independence, identity, social relationships, academics, technology use, physical development, emotional experiences, and family dynamics.
A teenager’s sleep cannot always be understood simply by looking at bedtime.
It may require understanding the 24-hour experience of the young person.
That concept aligns naturally with occupational therapy, where daily routines, participation, environment, function, and quality of life are already central considerations.
Through her continuing sleep education, Justine is developing another perspective through which she can understand the interconnected experiences of children and adolescents.
Healthcare Leadership Beyond Clinical Practice
Justine’s contributions to healthcare also extend beyond direct clinical work.
She serves as a Director and Ambassador without Borders with Caisse Desjardins du Réseau de la santé.
The organization identifies her professional background as encompassing occupational therapy in musculoskeletal rehabilitation, hand therapy and pediatrics, together with specialization in driver rehabilitation and feeding therapy.
Her leadership role adds another dimension to her professional identity.
She is not only working directly within rehabilitation and pediatric care but also participating within a broader network serving professionals throughout Quebec’s healthcare community.
This combination of clinical practice, continuing education, and healthcare leadership makes Justine’s professional journey particularly multidimensional.
Connecting Function, Development and Sleep
At first glance, Justine’s career may appear to encompass many separate specialties:
Occupational therapy.
Musculoskeletal rehabilitation.
Hand therapy.
Driver rehabilitation.
Pediatrics.
Feeding therapy.
Healthcare leadership.
And now, holistic child and teen sleep.
But underneath these areas is a remarkably consistent theme:
human function and quality of life.
How does a person move through their day?
How do they participate in the activities that matter to them?
What physical, developmental, sensory, environmental, emotional, or lifestyle factors may be influencing that participation?
And what support might help?
Sleep belongs within that larger conversation.
As Justine continues through IPHI’s Holistic Children & Teen Sleep Coach Certification Program, she is adding another perspective to an already multidisciplinary understanding of health—one that recognizes sleep as an important part of how children and adolescents develop, learn, regulate, recover, participate, and thrive.
Professional Profile
Name: Justine Ratelle
Location: Quebec, Canada
Profession: Occupational Therapist
Clinical Practice:
CTPS Ergothérapie / PhysioExtra
Education:
Occupational Therapy — University of Montréal
Graduate Certificate in Driving Rehabilitation — McGill University
Professional Membership:
Ordre des Ergothérapeutes du Québec
Professional Areas of Practice:
Pediatrics
Feeding Therapy
Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation
Hand & Upper-Extremity Therapy
Driver Rehabilitation
Functional & Occupational Capacity
Chronic Pain
Ergonomics
Orthotics
Return-to-Work Rehabilitation
Healthcare Leadership:
Director & Ambassador without Borders
Caisse Desjardins du Réseau de la santé
Current IPHI Professional Education:
Holistic Children & Teen Sleep Coach Certification Program
Professional Focus:
Bringing together occupational therapy, pediatric function, rehabilitation, development, feeding, and a growing understanding of holistic sleep to support health, participation, and quality of life across childhood and adolescence.
Celebrating Justine Ratelle
The International Parenting & Health Institute is pleased to recognize Justine Ratelle as part of our Professional Spotlight series and international professional community.
Justine’s career demonstrates the value of continuing to learn across disciplines while maintaining a strong professional foundation.
From her clinical work with CTPS Ergothérapie / PhysioExtra to her expertise in pediatrics, feeding therapy, musculoskeletal and hand rehabilitation, and driver rehabilitation—and her leadership with Caisse Desjardins du Réseau de la santé—Justine brings an unusually broad understanding of function and quality of life to her continuing study of sleep.
Her participation in IPHI’s Holistic Children & Teen Sleep Coach Certification Program represents another evolution of that professional journey, expanding the lens through which she can consider the health and everyday experiences of children and adolescents.
We are proud to have Justine participating in the IPHI professional community and look forward to seeing how her growing knowledge of holistic child and teen sleep complements her established work in occupational therapy and pediatric care.
