Speak Out August 2021

BRANCH NEWS TASMANIA

165 members at August 2021

Tasmanian SPA Executive Branch member profile This month we shine a light on the lovely Claire Davidson, speech pathologist with Learning Services South, Department of Education. Claire holds the office of Profession Advocacy Leader this year. We asked Claire some questions to help you all get to know her!

What brought you to Tasmania to practice? “I grew up in Tassie and was excited to come back and practice here. I have always loved bushwalking and exploring national parks and Tassie has so many on offer to explore.” What’s your favourite thing about your career? “I work with children and seeing their progress is such a joy. I notice how their confidence in talking, interacting with others and their learning are all benefitted. I still remember the little things like how a student with severe speech sounds made great progress with therapy, and I could see these improvements even with how she said my name (tair, care, cwair, claire).” What kind of work do you enjoy most in your role? “I enjoy collaborating with teachers, parents and support staff in schools and finding the best ways to support students as a team. I also enjoy running therapy sessions with students and finding lots of games to get more repetitions of targets. I find these activities fun too.” When you aren’t being an amazing SLP, what do you like to do the most? “I enjoy bushwalking and most weeks I’m exploring national parks. I also enjoy reading, painting (I’m only at the paint by numbers stage), catching up with friends and drinking lots of coffee.” What’s happening around Tasmania? “We are starting to see the return of professional learning events hosted in-person . Much to everyone’s delight,

the Department of Education team organised a training day in April for the Lidcombe program in the south. It was lovely to see other speech pathologists in person! On 1 June, the National Rural Health Commissioners’ office hosted a workshop on Rural Allied Health Service and Learning Consortia in Queenstown, Tasmania. Speech pathologists from some of the private practice teams within Tasmania were asked to present their model for facilitating allied health assistants working within rural and remote communities. The Tasmanian State Government introduced a program for state sponsored 492 visas for professional groups identified as high need. Unlike a standard 482 skilled migrant visa, a 492 visa has a path for citizenship when the candidate stays in a regional area. There has been a fantastic response with a number of overseas trained speech pathologists applying successfully and migrating to our beautiful island.”

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August 2021 | Speak Out