SpeakOut_Feb2015_FINAL_web

BRANCH news northern territory

Elucidating differences between private and public practice in Darwin and around

With the completion of my speech pathology degree in December 2013, I decided to move “home” to Darwin to start my career as a speech pathologist. My experience as a new graduate working within the paediatric field has been both challenging and inspiring. Working across the Northern Territory, particularly within Darwin has afforded me the opportunity to work with a variety of clients, with varying presentations, and from a range of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

In the past year I have fortunately had the opportunity to work across private and public sectors. Although I worked from a family centred approach within a multidisciplinary team, in both cases, I noticed the following differences in my practice: • The service delivery framework varied completely across the two settings. Within a private setting, I had greater flexibility in providing services as I was not restricted by a specific set of principles and policies guiding my practice. As a consequence, I had more opportunities to develop a strong rapport with my clients and their families and particularly enjoyed watching the progress that we were able to achieve together. Due to high demand yet limited staffing within the public sector, I had to learn to work in a very different way, focusing on a parent led therapy approach, as we do not have the opportunity to provide ongoing therapy. • Caseload demands and the degree of direct client contact differed greatly between private and public settings. Particularly from a new graduate perspective, the caseload demands within a private setting are challenging and require strong organisational and time management skills and a degree of confidence within your practice. At times, I felt overwhelmed by my caseload and felt that my service delivery was impacted by a reduced amount of time allocated for planning and preparation.

• Another key difference across the two settings is the degree of collaborative practice. My service delivery and role within the public sector heavily involves working cooperatively with other organisations and services to ensure my clients are receiving a holistic and well-supported service. Due to the limited number of sessions families receive within the public sector here, this is particularly important as it provides families with support and management distributed across respective services. • Although I received mentoring and professional development opportunities within the private setting, I felt somewhat graduate, on the team. The larger team in the public sector offers me greater opportunities to discuss client matters and request clinical support and supervision when required. Although I have had quite varied experiences over my graduate year working across private and public sectors, I have thoroughly enjoyed both opportunities. Overall, I have learnt that it is particularly important to know your strengths, areas for improvement and interests, as they are the driving forces behind your success with your clients irrespective of the nature of the service. isolated with only one other speech pathologist, who was also a new

Christina Spinella Christina.Spinella@nt.gov.au

Speak Out February 2015

27

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au