Speak Up

This week we are rebroadcasting an episode on cultural safety with some suggested resources by way of introducing the episode. We speak with Mitch Walley from Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service, and Dr Natalie Ciccone from ECU about a telehealth service for Aboriginal people living with acquired brain injury (ABI). They discuss steps for making the service culturally secure, and the important role of...

In this week’s episode, SPA Early Career Reference Group member, Georgia Poupoulis, and Nathan Cornish-Raley speak with Chris Antartis of Rebel Recruitment and Polly McCarthy from Village Therapy. They discuss how new grads and experienced speech pathologists can find the right job for their circumstances and career path, and how employers can sustainably offer the supports candidates are looking...

In this week’s episode, we speak with Jess Francis from the Training Club about digital health tools and resources to support speech pathologists in providing effective and efficient services. Jess speaks about the opportunities that digital health tools, including AI can provide allied health practitioners, acknowledges reservations that some people may hold, including when the TGA may become inv...

In this week’s episode, Dr Jacqueline Lim discusses Dynamic Systems Theory as a way to understand Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) and inform the supports we provide. She discusses the range of factors that influence motor learning, variability in speech sounds, and considerations for assessment and treatment. Speech Pathology Australia acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of lands, seas and wa...

In this week’s episode, we discuss values in the context of leadership to celebrate global ethics day, 2025. We are joined by Associate Professor Belinda Kenny, Chair Ethics Board, as well as Kelly and Trish from SPA’s National Office who regularly engage with members about ethical conduct and practice. Belinda, Kelly and Trish discuss reflective practice and the benefits to your work that come fr...

From time to time Speak Up will rebroadcast previous episodes to offer timely insights. This week, ahead of World Mental Health Day on Friday 10 October 2025, we are re-broadcasting our conversation with Kerry Holland and Jessica Carpenter from Peninsula Speech Plus. Laura Caire, SPA’s Senior Advisor Mental Health and Trauma, speaks with Jess and Kerry about recognising when someone we support mig...

In this week’s episode, we start a conversation about Foundational Supports with Dr Erin West from SPA’s Policy and Advocacy team. Erin will discuss a conceptual model that SPA are using to advocate to ensure that Foundational Supports reflect the need of the children and families speech pathologists support, and that speech pathologists working across all contexts are reflected in the model. As a...

In this week’s episode dual-qualified speech pathologist and clinical psychologist, Natalie Manley, speaks about supporting children with co-occurring Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). She discusses cognitive and linguistic characteristics of these kids, and strengths-based approaches to motivation and engagement, and behavioural, emotional,...

In this week’s episode, Cyndal Nelson (they/them) of the Queer Speech Collective speaks with Lauren Haskins (she/her) about her practice’s efforts to create a safe and inclusive space for LGBTQIA+ individuals through the Pride in Health and Wellbeing program. Lauren then speaks with Tyler Chapman (he/him) about his perspectives on allyship as a final year student and member of the LGBTQIA+ communi...

In this week’s episode, Asta Fung discusses her soon to be completed PhD research about applying our skills to breathing interventions to offer relief to people experiencing chronic pain. Asta discusses how she became interested in breathing interventions and recognised the skills speech pathologists can bring to this area of emerging speech pathology practices. Resources: Fung, Asta and Duncanson...

In this week’s episode, we speak with Associate Professor Anna Miles and Adjunct Associate Professor Jan Baker about functional dysphagia. Jan and Anna talk about the research from FND that they have drawn on to create a biopsychosocial framework for supporting people with functional dysphagia. Resources:  Read Anna and Jan’s article here: Miles, A., Baker, J., Barker-Collo, S., & Leadley, S. (202...

In this Speech Pathology Week episode, Dr Debbie Pu from Monash University discusses how we can have “Impact through communication” about dysphagia awareness. She discusses what different stakeholders understand about swallowing difficulties, how public awareness can support people living with dysphagia to enjoy safe meals, and how speech pathologists can communicate with impact about this issue....

From time to time Speak Up will rebroadcast previous episodes and invite speech pathologists to offer their reflections on the episode. This week Rebecca O’Neill (she/her), a Conference Support Fund Awardee reflects on her learning from Rebecca Reinking (she/her), both in this episode and at her conference presentation. Rebecca Reinking is a paediatric Speech Pathologist from ATUNE Health Centres...

In this week’s episode we speak with Dr David Lacey, CEO of IDCARE about cybersecurity for practices offering speech pathology and other allied health services. We discuss how threat actors gain access to data, how to manage data breaches, and steps that workplaces can take to prevent them. Resources: IDCARE – Services for small businesses: https://www.idcare.org/smallbusiness OAIC – Notifiable da...

This week’s episode is a panel from the SPA 2025 Conference about bias within the profession. Dr Vishnu Nair, Professor Betty Yu and Associate Professor Sarah Verdon discuss the history of our field’s alignment with medical approaches, and the subsequent bias particularly in relation to race, disability, and the intersection of disparities, with a particular focus on neurodiversity. This conversat...

In this week’s episode, Dr Lillian Krikheli and Dr Sarah El Wahsh speak about all things voice banking. Sarah and Lillian discuss how to raise the topic of voice preservation, how to support your service user to select the best software for their needs, and what changes AI has facilitated in voice banking. Much of the content discussed in this podcast is informed by both clinical practice and co-d...

In this week’s episode, we speak with Anna Pannuzzo from WorkPlacePLUS about preparing for the unexpected, and using risk management to enable business continuity. Anna speaks about the process of making contingency plans for situations such as natural disasters, sudden illness, and data breaches. Resources: WorkPlacePLUS: https://www.workplaceplus.com.au/ Contact WorkPlacePLUS: https://www.workpl...

In this week’s episode, we bring you a recording live from SPA’s 2025 conference, in Tarntanya | Adelaide. Dr Fiona Kerr, who was the plenary presenter the morning of this recording, and speech pathologist Ishwari Samarakoon, speak about using AI and technology to support connection and communication. They speak about resources, and ways to ensure when using AI to support speech pathology services...

In this week’s episode we speak with Jane and Kelly from the Advisor team about the frequently asked questions that they are hearing from SPA members about the recent NDIS changes. Kelly and Jane speak about the resources that members have found helpful, including information about pricing, ceasing services, and the heavy toll that speech pathologists are feeling. The episode ends with some reflec...

In this live episode from the 2025 SPA Conference in Tarntanya | Adelaide, we speak with Helen Smith, who the day before became Speech Pathology Australia’s newest Life member. Resources: If you would like to hear Helen speak more about ethics, she contributed to the Code of Ethics: Support for everyday practice https://learninghub.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/topclass/topclass.do?expand-Offeri...

In this week’s episode, we recognise Pride month as SPA’s Jess Kaplonyi (she/her), speaks with Chris Hunt (she/her) and Dr Louisa Smith (she/her) from LGBTIQ+ Health Australia’s Silver Rainbow program. They discuss the experiences and support needs of LGBTIQ+ individuals living with dementia and who engage with palliative care and Aged Care. Resources:  LGBTIQ+ Health Australia – Silver Rainbow re...

In this week’s episode, the Scientific Chair of the 2025 conference, Dr Jacqueline McKechnie offers her reflections on the episode ethical AI in speech pathology, a conversation with Professor Emma Power, from UTS. Emma speaks about the opportunities and considerations that using Generative AI can provide and the ethical considerations that we need to be thinking about. Resources: The Conversation...

In this week’s episode, Dr Debbie Pu from the 2025 Conference Planning Advisory Committee offers her reflections on the episode UN Sustainable Development Goals. Professor Sharynne McLeod and Professor Julie Marshall about a special issue of the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology focusing on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals from 2023. They discuss insight from spee...

In this week's episode, we speak with Anna Pannuzzo, from WorkPlace PLUS, about creating policies to uphold everyone’s psychosocial safety at work. Anna speaks about how planning ahead can help to ensure that if something challenging and unexpected does happen, there is a prepared plan. Anna speaks about policies and processes for psychosocial hazards, raising concerns in your workplace and how to...

In this week’s episode, we speak with Associate Professor Jade Cartwright. Jade is delivering the Elizabeth Usher Memorial Lecture at the 2025 SPA conference in Tarntanya | Adelaide on Sunday June 15th, 2025. Jade discusses the inspiration behind her plenary address, and reflects on the learnings we can achieve when we work to co-design with the people we support. Resources: Register for the SPA 2...