Speak Out Feb 2020 DIGITAL EDITION. pdf

10,000 STRONG Association news In January 2020 Speech Pathology Australia accepted its 10,000th member. The long-awaited milestone has a significant “ripple affect” for the Association. It means the Association has a stronger voice in policy and advocacy, strengthens our voice as the peak representative body of speech pathologists in Australia, and enables us to further develop programs and services to support members. “Association membership has grown rapidly over the past five years, and we celebrated each time we crossed the threshold of seven, then eight, then nine thousand members,” said President Tim Kittell. “But, reaching this milestone is even more crucial from a strategic point of view. It’s important to recognise the impact of the quantitative notion of 10,000 in the mind’s eye of others. It gives the opportunity during advocacy discussions to say, ‘So, from this meeting today, what message do we take back to the ten thousand members of our Association?’ “Similarly, when we perform public awareness events, such as Book of the Year or Swallowing Awareness Day, being able to A chance conversation with a neighbour about the long wait for speech pathology services sparked Nicole Hansen to act and explore becoming a speech pathologist. After graduating from her degree in December 2019 Nicole joined the Speech Pathology Australia and became our 10,000 th member. Nicole graduated from Curtin University with an undergraduate degree in speech pathology. Becoming a member was the next step to advancing her career. “Ethically being a member is the right thing to do and the Association gives lots of support for individuals and also those with a family.” Nicole has four children and hopes to combine her passion for working with children in roles within the early intervention space. “I love working with children and I want to be able to use those skills, and it was clear to me that speech pathology was the way to go.” “Learning about speech pathology during my course was beyond what I imagined. I realised how important communication is, and there is more to speech pathologists than speech – they are communication enablers. After doing the course I am convinced that I want to do this for the rest of my life.”

state that ten thousand number, backs up our assertion that the Association is a significant professional body – one more than capable of forwarding Australia’s research and clinical practice across a range of areas. While we sometimes struggle with raising public awareness about our breadth of practice, the act of introducing how many of us we are, serves as an introduction to reinforce that we are incredibly diverse, and add value to lives in a myriad of ways.”

Welcome Nicole! Our 10,000 th member

“I had some language difficulties when I was growing up and it took me a long time to catch up. My passion is to help families, and to skill the parents so they can empower the whole family.”

To welcome Nicole as the 10,000th member the Association will present Nicole which Association merchandise and free access to a professional development workshop of her choice in 2020.

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February 2020 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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