Hello, I’m Shelley.

Why I do this

My grandparents lived on the Northern Beaches. So do my parents, and so do I.

I was born and raised on the Northern Beaches and I live in Seaforth, with family spread from Mosman to Palm Beach. Three generations of us on one stretch of coast.

So when I drive to a visit in Collaroy or Cremorne, I’m not servicing a postcode. I’m working in the place I grew up.

What I want for the people I see is what I want for my own parents, and for myself. To stay in the place we love, near the people we know, doing the things that make a day worth having, with the choice and the sense of control that comes from running your own life.

That’s where the name comes from. A basecamp is the place you head out from and come back to. Sometimes that’s the family home. Sometimes that’s your room in a residential home. What matters is that it feels like yours.

I’ve been an occupational therapist for twelve years, across hospitals, community health and mental health services in Australia, Canada and the UK. Community work is the part I’ve always loved: a cup of tea, a proper yarn, and working out together what would actually make the difference.