{"id":7061,"date":"2018-07-26T02:50:26","date_gmt":"2018-07-25T18:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/volunteering-path-employment-speech-pathology-student\/"},"modified":"2022-12-07T13:08:56","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T05:08:56","slug":"volunteering-path-employment-speech-pathology-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/volunteering-path-employment-speech-pathology-student\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteering path to employment for speech pathology student"},"content":{"rendered":"

Attending speech therapy as a child gave Andrea Seator an early taste for the art and science of speech pathology. Now a fourth year student in a Bachelor of Science (Speech Pathology)<\/a>,\u00a0she has landed a job as a casual therapy assistant at one of the state\u2019s leading service providers, Therapy Focus, and plans to work domestically and\u00a0rurally when she graduates.<\/p>\n

Andrea always knew a career in health sciences, with a practical application, would suit her. As a child requiring speech therapy, she gained firsthand exposure to what a speech pathologist does, an experience she drew on when making a decision about university study.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always been interested in health sciences, and in particular I wanted to study a course that would be hands on and practical in an area of interest to me. When I was younger I used to attend speech therapy, so I had some understanding of what the role of a speech pathologist would involve,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As a first year student, Andrea was determined to make the most of opportunities to develop professional skills and began volunteering at Therapy Focus. She gained valuable experience in social therapy for children with language difficulties, and in supporting high profile fundraising events such as Telethon. Three years later, she joined the service as a paid employee, and now works as a casual therapy assistant (and continues to volunteer).<\/p>\n

\u201cI first began volunteering with Therapy Focus three years ago and, as of mid-2017, I\u2019ve been working with them as a therapy assistant. I first volunteered for different events such as fundraisers at the World\u2019s Biggest Play Day and Telethon, as well as assisting in social therapy groups such as \u2018Lego groups\u2019. As my experience around working with children with a range of communication skills grew, I was able to transfer this knowledge into my new role working as a therapy assistant,\u201d Andrea said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work with children who require repetitive and frequent language therapy, who are already currently receiving intervention from speech pathologists. I provide additional therapy time with the clients, in addition to the intervention that they currently receive with their speech pathologists, in order to maximise the efficacy of their allocated hours. Providing more frequent therapy is important in order for the clients to get more exposure to therapy and therefore the opportunity to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrea\u2019s experience at Therapy Focus, while challenging at times, has been invaluable in helping to refine her understanding of what makes an effective speech pathologist.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with children who experience different difficulties in regards to language, speech and literacy means that the therapy you are planning on providing isn\u2019t necessarily the only therapy you will have in the session. Behaviour management, and addressing stigma and negative feelings around these difficulties, are just as important in order to have a successful session and overall impact. For myself, managing these other confounding factors has been the most challenging experience so far,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>Having a great rapport with your client, using the best evidence-based practice and considering the client\u2019s goals are all important considerations that will make a successful speech pathologist. By having these considerations front-of-mind when making clinical decisions, you are doing what\u2019s best for your client and are more likely to see success or reach the goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Speech
Volunteering led to employment for Andrea.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As she nears the end of her degree, Andrea\u2019s post-graduation career goals include gaining experience in a wide range of areas with a broad client base. She is optimistic about the varied career opportunities having a speech pathology degree will facilitate, and has a particular interest in working in rural areas and working overseas.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeech pathology paves the way for a very rewarding career working with other people in a caring and helping role. Career opportunities include working in aged care, hospitals, rehabilitation settings, schools, development centres and private practice. This wide variety allows students to find their niche, as well as provide management, whether it\u2019s in speech, swallowing, language, fluency and other modes of communication. The essence of the degree is around communication and improving communication which may look different for different people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to work with a wide range of people, whether that is children or adults, in a wide range of settings. I look forward to gathering knowledge and experience in working with a variety of populations to increase my overall clinical knowledge. I also have a keen interest in working in rural areas and internationally once I have gained enough experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Therapy Focus is\u00a0<\/em>currently celebrating<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>its 20th anniversary and\u00a0<\/em>profiles Andrea<\/a><\/em>\u00a0on its webpage.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attending speech therapy as a child gave Andrea Seator an early taste for the art and science of speech pathology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4275,"featured_media":7062,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-7061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-and-global-community"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":false,"credits":{"author":{"title":"Arianne Chavez","url":"#","target":""},"photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Therapy-Focus_Portraits_Extra-10.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Curtin","last_name":"University","display_name":"Curtin University"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 11:29:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4275"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7061"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=7061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}