I’m a specialist speech and language therapist based at the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering. It was while doing a psychology degree at Exeter University that I became inspired by the idea of pursuing this profession.
I was interested in working in health and with children and when I did a module on language development and communication, I could see that SLT would offer me something for all my passions and would use my psychology knowledge, too.
Joining the Michael Palin Centre
After I graduated from Exeter, I did a two-year speech therapy degree at City, graduating from there in 2016. My first job was at the Homerton. I absolutely loved it and knew it would take a lot to make me leave. Then I saw a job advertised at the Michael Palin Centre and I just had to apply – I knew it would be an amazing place to work, and I was right!
The work is interesting and varied. We see anyone of any age in Camden and Islington who stammers, we run online and face-to-face sessions and, being a tertiary centre, we get therapists from all over the country asking us for second opinions. I help triage those referrals and have also supported senior therapists to deliver therapy courses and teaching for groups – it’s a big part of our work.
Helping Families Globally
We also have a helpline, which is open to everyone. Anyone in the world can call it and leave a message with their query. We’re all assigned a day when we respond and, recently, we had a call all the way from Uganda. I initially found this work scary as when you’re chatting you really have to think on your feet. Now it’s probably the favourite part of my job! Being able to help a family when they are worried is really, really rewarding.
Being the newest member of the team, I mostly work with under 8s and am building up to working with older children. I have two assessment days a week where I concentrate on just one child each day. Half a day is spent on an in-depth assessment of the stammer, on their communication skills and finding out all about their challenges and the rest of the day is analysis and report writing. I appreciate the time I am given to be thorough.
Friendly and Supportive Team
I made such a good choice of career. I always wanted to work in the NHS as I believe the support and supervision is brilliant. The team is so friendly and supportive professionally and personally and they help me to be the best I can – that means a lot. I remember when we did our induction with the senior team, they all seemed so friendly and normal. You felt everyone cared about you as a person, not just as an employee. I felt well supported making the tricky transition from student to registered therapist.
Once a month I have a one-to-one clinical supervision session… compared to my friends in other sectors I feel my development and support is well structured. I have clear steps to work towards delivering teaching and becoming a Band 7. I am being given such a good grounding in my profession and I can honestly say I absolutely love working here!
