Speak Out February 2021 DIGITAL EDITION

From the President

Hi and welcome to the first issue of Speak Out for 2021. As the clock clicked down to midnight, many cities greeted 2021 with quiet resolve. If you live in Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra or Melbourne, the opening moments of the year weren’t greeted with the customary fireworks. But who needs superficial bangs and flashes to get excited? New Year, New Normal. And New Professional Standards! Boom! Flash! Ooh and aah! A large amount of this issue has been devoted to the Professional Standards for Speech Pathologists in Australia. Quite right too. If, over the summer, you were milling about in a gathering with 10 or fewer people, there’s a distinct possibility there’s a lull in the conversation and you were asked what you do for a living. Whenever I’m asked this, I never say “I’m just a speech pathologist”. I suspect you don’t either. Because there’s nothing "just" about being a speech pathologist in Australia. We are proud of what we achieve, and how much work we’ve put into getting where we are in 2021. At the stroke of midnight on January 1, at that precise moment that the fireworks didn’t go off, SPA enacted the Professional Standards, which is a living document capturing how brilliantly things get done around here. A few weeks ago, I caught up with a really good mate who I went to Uni with for coffee. Over a cappuccino, she let me know that she spent pretty much an entire afternoon going through December’s issue of Speak Out , clicking on various links and exploring the range of activities in which SPA engages. The first half of this February issue really brings together what the Professional Standards bring to our working lives. If you take the time to click on links here, you’ll soon find

that the standards are far from a list of rules or commandments: they are statements that should make you feel proud to be a part of this profession. As you’ll read later on in this issue: when we start using the language of the standards to describe what, how, and why we work the way we do, we further cement the values of our profession. Traditionally, February is always a great issue of Speak Out , because we get that first, tantalising taste of how the year’s SPA Conference is going to play out. We’ve waited longer than usual this time, and this year we will get to listen to our keynote speakers. The addition of Melanie Mununggurr- Williams to the 2021 program further cements a focus on Local Contexts and Global Practice. Thanks to the Conference Planning Committee, the program is looking increasingly innovative, and I can’t wait to find out more so I can plan out my upperwear choices for the three days. We’re getting ahead of ourselves though: before the excitement of the conference, we have #swallowingaware2021 coming up on 17 March. We did an incredible job online for Speech Pathology Week last year, so hopefully we keep the momentum going by bombarding social media with facts and pics about the importance of being aware of dysphagia and our role in making safe eating a priority for all. I don’t know if I can cook anything for 17 March that will be edible, certainly I can grab a coffee and share some facts. So whereas you perhaps weren’t greeted with literal fireworks at the beginning of 2021, it is still going to be a great year. Enjoy, and see you online!

Tim Kittel

Tim Kittel National President

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Speak Out | February 2021