Creating a space where everyone feels welcome isn’t just good for business – it’s a powerful way to build community. 

Last year’s Disability Inclusion Business Award winner is a local physiotherapy clinic doing just that. 

With nominations now open for the 2025 Local Business Awards, we caught up with Lachlan Bruce from Allura Health to hear more about their approach and what winning the award has meant to them. If you know a local business that goes the extra mile in disability inclusion, nominate them today. 

Tell us about Allura Health 

We founded Allura Health on the idea of inclusivity and providing a service for all ages and all abilities. Our clients can come from sports – professional athletes or mums and dads with injuries to those who have illnesses and disabilities that impact them on a day-to-day basis. At Allura Health, it’s not just about doing your therapies, it’s about being in a big community where everyone feels like they belong. 

What kinds of services do you provide people with disability?

We work with individual clients to help achieve their goals. Some of the services we offer include physiotherapy and hydrotherapy with programs to help with mobility, strength and range of motion. 

Why is it so important to you and Allura Health to have an inclusive environment?

For us, it’s not just about therapies, it’s about community. When we include each individual person into a group setting, people are more likely to commit to their exercises and see better results. 

We’ve got clients from 2 to 96 years old – from those who have had a stroke or genetic disorders to those who have disk bulges or sprained their ankle. 

So including everyone into a program means you might have an elite athlete come in one minute and then an elite Paralympic athlete the next. We see clients who are in wheelchairs get into the pool and interact with others without feeling like they’re isolated into a specific group or treated differently due to their disability.

It’s very cool to see everyone interact and be part of the community within the centre. 

How is the centre accessible?

We’re fortunate that the guys at Aquaculture Swim built the facility so it was completely accessible. We have access to ramps, hoists, wheelchairs and accessible change rooms – it’s brilliant our clients can access this kind of facility locally instead of having to travel out of the Northern Beaches.  

How did it feel for Allura Health to win the Disability Inclusion Business Award?

It was a bit of surprise to be honest! I have to thank the Aquaculture guys because without them building this amazing accessible building, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. It was a huge team effort winning this award. 

While it was awesome to win the award, I know there are a lot of really cool small businesses on the Northern Beaches doing amazing things in accessibility and inclusion but they’ll never nominate themselves. I hope the community nominates them and it’s their turn to be recognised. 

Nominations for the Disability Inclusion Business Award are open until Wednesday 30 April. Self-nominate or nominate a local business that you know creates an accessible and inclusive environment for all today.