SpeakOut
April 2014
23
Wellwe’veall
receivedour packs
andpledgedourselves
asCommunication
Champions, but how
many people have
taken the leap and
actually started to
take the opportunities
to raise awareness
that the International
CommunicationProject
2014provides?
InSAwe have just had
an election, there are
multiple festivals in the
comingmonths, and the
Tour DownUnder (TDU)
has just cycled through
theState. TheMayor of
my suburb, Prospect,
was the Labor candidate
for Adelaide inwhat was
a tightly contestedbut
Liberal held seat.
Imet theMayor of
Prospect, David
O’Loughlin, locally a
number of years ago,
but don’t knowhimwell.
Hewaswithmanyof
usat thestreet party in
Prospect for theTDU.He
calledmeover to say,
“Hi,” across the crowd.
I took this chance to
be aCommunication
Champion, as detailed
below:
•
David introducedme
to JayWeatherill, the
Premier of SA.We
chatted for awhile,
and I told him about
mywork as a speech
pathologist in private
practice
•
I got a great photo of
myself withDavid and
thePremier! (above)
•
I becameDavid’s
friend on Facebook,
posted the photoon
my speech pathology
practice page,
included a link to the
ICP2014, and tagged
David and thePremier
inmy post
•
The post was ‘liked’
by a large number
of David’s Facebook
friends and Labor
colleagues, most
of whom I am not
familiar with
•
I approachedDavid
about doing an
interview for theSPA
SA Lobbying and
Influencing group
•
David accepted,
I phoned the
Opposition office
to tell them I was
meetingwith
David and they
booked a one-hour
appointment forme
next weekwith the
sittingMP
•
I met withDavid
yesterday for an hour,
and shared our SA
strategic lobbying
issues, including
championing youth
justice, which he
really engagedwith
•
Davidpledged
tobecome a
Communication
Champion, I took a
photo toprove it, and
he signed a consent
form enablingme to
use the photo
•
I postedDavid’sphoto
with the ICP2014 link
onmypracticeand
personal Facebook
pages, andat last
count it hadbeen
seenon thepractice
pageby 725people,
in less than24hours!
My takehome
messages are:
•
if youdon’t have the
confidence topursue
ameetingwitha
public figure, keep
your eyesopen for
chanceencounters
or conversations, as
younever knowwhere
theymight lead!
•
share the linkon
Facebook (if youhave
apage) andencourage
your friends topledge
asCommunication
Champions. They
in turnwill link their
friends, and there’s a
ChampionChanceof
it going viral on social
media!
Give it a go, aswe really
canmake a difference
by raising awareness of
communication!
DianaBleby
SABranchMember
andChampion for
Communication (CPSP)
BRANCHnews
BRANCHnews
SOUTHAUSTRALIA
QUEENSLAND
Thisyear
anundergraduate speech
pathology (SP) programhasbeen
introduced to theBrisbanecampusof
theAustralianCatholicUniversity (ACU).
TheBrisbanecampus joins theexisting
SPprogramsbeingofferedbyACU in
MelbourneandNorthSydney. Together,
the threecampusesprovideanational
four-year undergraduateprogram that is
committed todevelopinghighly skilled
andethical graduate speechpathologists.
Over 200 students haveenrolled in the
first year across the three sites, and these
studentswill benefit from theexpertiseof
anational academic team, with lectures
delivered simultaneously via interactive
videoconference.
Thenational academic team is ledby
Professor Paul Carding, a specialist in
voicedisorders, who joinsACU from
Newcastle (UK) as theNational Course
Coordinator inSpeechPathology. In
Brisbanehe is joinedbyDr ErinConway,
whose teachingand research focus is
acquired languagedisorders anddementia
care. InMelbourne, theSP team is ledby
VictorianCourseCoordinator Dr Diane
Jacobs, joinedby theNational Professional
PracticeCoordinator Dr SimoneArnott,
and teaching staffMsMarieAtherton, Dr
Kerry Ttofari EecenandDr ZanetaMok.
Together theyprovideclinical and research
expertiseacross speechand language
disorders, autism,motor speechdisorders,
fluency, clinical linguistics and international
development. InNorthSydney, Dr Leigha
Dark andDr NatalieBergprovideclinical
and researchexpertise indisability,
cerebral palsy,multimodal communication,
rehabilitation, anddysphagiamanagement,
aswell as the livedexperiencesof adults
withcommunicationdisabilities. Theywill
be joinedbyNSWCourseCoordinator
ProfessorWendyPearce inmid-2014,
whowill provide leadership in the fieldsof
paediatric speech, languageand literacy.
If youare interested in findingoutmore
about SPat ACUor clinical education
opportunitiespleasecontact Professor
Paul Carding,
DrErinConway
Senior Lecturer, ACU, Brisbane
UndergradSPat
ACU, Brisbane
Speech pathologist DianaBlebywithSAPremier JayWeatherill and
ProspectMayor DavidO’Loughlin; below, DavidO’Loughlin pledged
tobecome aCommunicationChampion.
Chance it asaChampion!
