Meet our AHPs

My real interest in speech and language therapy was sparked by overhearing someone in a yoga class talking about their work with children with special needs. I was working in IT at the time, but something about their conversation made me realise that in my heart I wasn’t in the right job for me.

 

It was 2003 when I left my IT job, got a part-time position at M&S and began volunteering in Haringey as an assistant to a speech and language therapy team. I was then offered a full-time assistant post and I started a post graduate course in Speech and Language Therapy at City University of London.

 

I’ve worked in Surrey, Hillingdon and Barnet and am now a Language Pathway Lead in Barnet’s Children’s Integrated Therapies. My role is split between 40% managerial and 60% clinical and I love the mix as it keeps me current on both sides and makes my days really varied.

 

I work across early years, primary and secondary schools and the children I work with have a range of needs. We carry out assessments and therapy and work with a range of professionals as well as parents and carers. We also do a lot of indirect work, for example training parents, carers and professionals, developing programmes for children, report writing and other activities. We work individually with children but there are also opportunities to work with other therapists and assistants as well as education staff. Activities might include joint assessments with other professionals such as OTs, dietitians, CAMHS or paediatricians or other activities such as running joint groups which are always enjoyable and a great opportunity for learning.

 

We also contribute to educational and health care plans that identify the support a child or young person needs and what that support will look like, such as how many SLT sessions they need and how these are best configured including work with the Teaching Assistant and differentiation needed in the classroom.  

 

I’m also the therapist for the Youth Justice Service. Quite a high percentage of young people who go on to commit offences have communication and language needs, which may not have been previously identified. There are lots of opportunities for multidisciplinary team-working in this area, for example, working with educational psychologists, CAMHS, case managers and social workers.

 

I love working as an SLT with children and young people and seeing the impact of my contribution in developing their communication skills with those around them. 

 

I am a Band 7 and have regular meetings with peers in our service. Although we work independently, we also work as a team and frequently meet to discuss individual children, processes, and caseloads. As a service we value input from our staff at all levels and encourage staff to contribute their ideas or any concerns about their work.   

 

COVID-19 meant a lot of our meetings had to move to TEAMS and after a while we could see the benefit of that. It is efficient as we use less travel time so have more time to meet and talk to each other. We use the group chat function on TEAMS to keep up with colleagues and to ask questions and share information at any time. It’s so helpful when we go off to different schools and settings and need a second opinion just to be able to message colleagues.  There’s usually someone on hand to give a good and quick answer. TEAMS has also benefitted our supervision programme and we feel well-supported whether we talk online or in person. Of course, it is also lovely and helpful to see colleagues in person and we do encourage a balance between online meetings and going into the office.

 

In terms of the future, I am interested in moving to a clinical lead post or perhaps into a role within the NHS where I can use my skills to develop services. There are clear opportunities to progress for all staff and we’re very well-supported in moving forwards or diversifying.