Speak Out Digital Edition June 2016

victoria

World Voice Day , a day for celebrating and exploring the power of voice. Voices the world over, heard. A culmination of singing, communicating, clearly articulated voices in concert. We had a room full of voices and voice specialists at the inaugural World Voice Day celebrations at ACU in Fitzroy, Melbourne. Associate Professor Jenni Oates from La Trobe University was the mastermind and energiser who initiated the event in bringing together speech pathology students from the three Universities in Melbourne and leading experts in the field of voice. If the aim was to inspire, the goal was well and truly met. On 18 April 2016, two days after World Voice Day, approximately 80 students from Australian Catholic University, La Trobe University and The University of Melbourne, gathered in ACU’s Cathedral Hall to listen to some of the best clinicians in Victoria speak about their journey to a career in voice. The theme of World Voice Day 2016: ‘Explore your voice. Imagine where it will take you’ provided the inspiration for the event, the first time that the three universities had collaborated. It was a pleasing turnout and a testament to the general interest that speech pathology students have in pursuing a career in voice.

Guest speakers included Associate Professor Jenni Oates, Alex Giannini, Dr. Gabbie Constantinescu, Dr. David Azul, Dr. Adam Vogel, Georgia

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Dacakis, Kate Watson, Regina Fitzpatrick and Professor Paul

as at April 2016

Carding. Speakers Sarah Lobegeiger de Rodriguez, Nicole Free and Lillian Krikheli delighted us with a hilarious, albeit accurate, portrayal of the nervous excitement that a student endures on the first day of voice placement (complete with expertly interwoven voice therapy technique references). ACU student Jessie Hilder also impressed with a stunning performance of singing and acoustic guitar. Student clinician Farhin Chowdhury (La Trobe) discussed her placement at the La Trobe Speech Pathology clinic, which opened her eyes to the area of transgender voice and the difference this can make to the lives of clients. Farhin encouraged other students to explore voice in their studies and clinical placements. Gali Elishav and Tammie Tun (ACU) spoke about their current clinical placement at the recently opened ACU Adult Communication Clinic. This clinic provides services across all areas of adult communication with a focus predominantly on voice and the placement has included opportunities

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June 2016 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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