Balloons, Cake and Glorious Sunshine!

What a glorious day it was yesterday! The sun shone and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The beautiful weather brought lots of people outdoors to Saltwell Park, Gateshead. The Family Fun day and walk was organised by the Stroke Association and I spoke to someone prior to the event to ask for permission to hand out Giving Voice leaflets. I was delighted when they said that was fine! There was a lot of entertainment in the park, including Zumba, live music, tombola, raffle, dancing, face painting and cake!

We set up our table on a nice spot on the grass ready to hand out leaflets and balloons. We were set up between the face painting stand and the cake stall, which turned out to be really good as it was a great opportunity to give children balloons while they were waiting to have their face painted. Each child we gave a balloon too, we gave a leaflet to the parents and told them a little bit about Speech and Language Therapy and the Giving Voice campaign. Most people were quite interested and the balloons went down well with the children.

I engaged a few people in particularly interesting conversations about their experiences of speech and language therapy, as well as talking to some Stroke Association volunteers about Giving Voice. One lady I spoke to said all three of her children have had speech and language therapy at some point, most recently her youngest child, for feeding. She said she was surprised to find out that it would be a speech and language therapist who would help her son with feeding, but that he is now able to eat lumpy foods.

 A few people wrote their thoughts about speech and language therapy/what communication means to them on a nice pink speech bubble. Here are some of them:

"Communication is a blessing, not a right of passage. As someone who is dyspraxic I still find communicating a challenge. When I communicate successfully I get to learn about the world and others around me get a better understanding of who I am and what it's like to be me"

“Communication is vital in all parts of life for the needs of the person in question”

“Communication...gives the power to be understood...makes relationships easier...helps to make relating to the world and your environment easier.”

"Speech and Language Therapy is really good and it has really helped my two little girls talk and tell me what they want...it has also helped my son eat lumpy foods! Thanks to everyone that trains to be a therapist great work!"

We gave out approximately 65 leaflets, 5 badges, 20 stickers and 60 balloons. It was a lovely day and it was nice to Give Voice out in the sunshine. I was wearing my Giving Voice t-shirt and a badge, and my parents were wearing a Giving Voice badge each too!

I only found out about this event fairly last minute but it was definitely worth making the phone call to ask if we could go along.  There were hundreds of people at the event, and although I wasn’t able to speak everyone individually, it was worth it for the people we did speak to. We also had the Giving Voice pop up banner which lots of people were reading as they walked past – spreading the message that little bit further that ‘Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives’.  

I read an Old Chinese Proverb recently ‘The man who moved a mountain is the one who started taking away the small stones’ – I think this applies to campaigning, and Giving Voice – we might not achieve big things over night but every small thing we do and each person we influence is one person more who knows about the great work Speech and Language Therapists do!

Look out for local events in your area over the summer and see if you can go along and Give Voice!

5000 and beyond...

I’m very excited that my blog has exceeded 5000 pages views! It’s great that lots of people are reading and sharing it, to spread the message that Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives. Hopefully won’t be too long before it reaches 6000.

I was really excited to get my blog re-tweeted by Patrick Monahan (7701 followers)and Lost Voice Guy (1166 followers) help me reach 5000 views! Thank you to everyone else who shared it too! J

The Stroke Association are having a family fun day at Saltwell Park, Gateshead tomorrow ( Saturday 26^th May, 10-2pm) and I got permission yesterday to go along and hand out Giving Voice leaflets. If you are in the area why not come along and say hello? Hopefully the weather will be as nice as it is today! I’ll blog again after the event J

Here’s a link to their website if you want to have a look at the event! http://www.stroke.org.uk/event/step-out-saltwell-park-gateshead

Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives!

Grabbing Opportunities...

I was hoping to reach 5000 page views before my birthday this month, but as that was earlier in the week I wasn’t successful with this. Almost at 5000 now though so hopefully won’t be too long before I get there! I’m still thrilled that so many people seem to be reading my blog!

On Friday I went into Newcastle to go to the Northern Research Special Interest Group (SIG). I got the metro in, and was of course, wearing my Giving Voice badge. When I arrived at the SIG a fellow speech and language therapist said she noticed my badge on the metro. I’m glad it’s so noticeable and will continue to wear it in the hope that it will lead to more Giving Voice/Speech and Language Therapy conversations in the future.

As I was getting off the metro I spotted Lost Voice Guy so I stopped by and said hello. It was nice that he recognised me and I am pleased I stopped for a chat. I’m looking forward to seeing him perform again on June 11th, when he is supporting Patrick Monahan (winner of 'Show me the Funny') at Hoochie Coochie in Newcastle! :-)  

Check out their websites http://www.lostvoiceguy.com/   http://www.patrickmonahan.co.uk/

The Research SIG was really interesting and it made me even more enthusiastic about the profession. I am currently working as a research assistant with Newcastle University and the SIG made me more excited about this current post.

I have been in touch with the Stroke Association about a couple of events they are having in the next few months. There’s a fun day at Saltwell Park in Gateshead next weekend and I am hoping to be able to go along with some leaflets. I spoke to someone last week and they said they will get in touch with me tomorrow, so hopefully it will be positive news. I heard about the event from a fax that my mam received at work and thought it would be a good opportunity to Give Voice. It’s worth keeping your eye out for such things as you never know what opportunities could be waiting to be used!

Hopefully I’ll have something else to report soon – please keep sharing my blog as Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives!

Pinkjules meets Lost Voice Guy

After talking to a colleague last week and learning that Lost Voice Guy was due to perform in Newcastle on Thursday night, I knew I had to go! Having read and heard a lot about him I was looking forward to seeing him on stage!

Here’s a little introduction, for those of you that have not heard of Lost Voice Guy (where have you been?!) Lee Ridley, aka Lost Voice Guy, is “(probably) the first stand up comedian to use a communication aid”. Lee has Cerebral Palsy and uses an aid for his communication.

I tweeted Lost Voice Guy on Thursday afternoon ahead of the gig on Thursday night and was rather excited when he replied telling me to enjoy my night and come and say hi if I wanted.

Lost Voice Guy was not the headline act, but he was the reason we went along to the Jazz Cafe on Thursday night. I was looking forward to meeting Lost Voice Guy and judging by the amount of attention he was getting he was certainly popular! Every time I thought I’d go and say hi, he was surrounded by people talking to him (particularly after his performance!) I did manage to get to speak to him at the end of the night though and was delighted he recognised me from my tweet! (I was wearing my Giving Voice badge at the gig, and I have a Giving Voice twibbon on my twitter pic, so maybe this was how he recognised me).

I had a great night and enjoyed seeing Lost Voice Guy perform with his iPad. It’s lovely to see how well he is doing and it’s great that he is also raising awareness of the use of communication aids.  I think Lost Voice Guy has a lot of courage to get up and perform on stage as he does (I know from personal experience how nerve wracking it is to communicate in front of an audience) – he does it extremely well and the audience loved him!

I’ve spent a lot of the weekend telling people that I saw Lost Voice Guy perform last week, and I am pleased at how many people have already heard of him. It has also led to some interesting conversations about communication, and comedy in general.

If you haven’t already visited his website (http://lostvoiceguy.com) I’d highly recommend it! Why not go and take a look at his brilliant blog and check out the dates for his upcoming gigs! J

Lost Voice Guy on stage at Jazz Cafe, Newcastle, 3rd May 2012

How would you feel?

Where is the year going? I can’t believe we are well into April already. It isn’t long until the local elections on May 3^rd – check out RCSLT website to see if your local council is holding elections. Many councillors do not know about the role of Speech and Language Therapists, and this is a great opportunity to raise their awareness. There are some new resources which will help you to engage your local councillors (here) – and they see at least fifty members and supporters sharing a story about how you started a conversation with a candidate about speech and language therapy!

I wrote this poem last year and uploaded onto youtube as a video. I just realised recently that I didn’t share it in writing on here so I thought I would post it now.

How would you feel?

How would you feel if you couldn’t talk and express your thoughts each day?

How would you feel if no one would listen to the things you have to say?

What would you do if you couldn’t speak to the people who love you?

What would you do if you couldn’t express all the things you knew?

How would you feel if you struggled to get your message out?

How would you feel if you couldn’t understand what people talk about?

What would you do if you couldn’t swallow the foods you like to eat?

What would you do if you couldn’t say hi to people that you meet?

Not everyone can communicate as easy as 1,2,3,

Some people need the support of speech and language therapy,

SLT’s are there to help, to listen and understand,

To help assess the problem and to give a helping hand,

From newborns through to elderly - people of all ages,

You never know what’s yet to come as you turn life’s pages.

One day you may need the support of a speech and language therapist,

A referral can be made, and you’ll be placed upon the list,

To get support with language, swallowing or speech,

To help you to achieve things which were previously out of reach,

Giving Voice highlights the importance of SLT’s and the work we do,

Please join the campaign and Give Voice too!

I used to write a lot of poetry and used it as a way to express myself. I’ve been reading a great poetry blog recently and thought you might like to take a look here. I think poetry (and indeed any form of writing) is a wonderful form of communication that makes up a huge part of my daily life (I write in a journal most days).  Amy’s poems are not related to speech and language therapy but they are brilliant and I think poetry is a great way to express one’s voice.

Don’t forget to write to your local councillors ahead of the elections on May 3^rd! Check here  to see if your council are having elections.

Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives – keep spreading the word!



The King's Speech

On Monday 12th March, I went to see The King’s Speech at Newcastle Theatre Royal and it didn’t disappoint. All the acting was brilliant and I once again felt proud to be part of the Speech and Language Therapy Profession. The script was superb with some powerful words, particularly the King being “trapped in a body refusing to obey [his] commands.” Something that I am sure many people who stammer (or have other communication/swallowing difficulties) will relate to.  If you get the chance to see the play I would definitely recommend it! :-)

After seeing the success of the publicity around The King’s Speech film last year, I saw the stage show as another opportunity to Give Voice. I decided to email the Theatre Royal and ask if they were able to support the campaign in any way. I initially chose the person that I thought would be most appropriate to email, explaining a little bit about Speech and Language Therapy, Giving Voice and my involvement so far. I then asked if they were able to support us in any way, in terms of giving out leaflets etc. After a week, I hadn’t received a response so I decided to email more of the contacts from the website. I sent the same email again (this time with a little note at the end stating that if I had sent it to the incorrect department would they be able to forward it to the relevant person.) Within 2 days I had heard back from the Chief Executive’s office who asked the Front of House Manager to get in touch with me. (A little perseverance goes a long way!)

The front of house manager was extremely helpful and I explained about the campaign and what we wanted to do. He agreed that they could give leaflets out with the programmes, as well as have 2 volunteers attend at each performance. After speaking to other members of the North of Tyne steering group, we discussed arrangements for the week. We all agreed it would be good to have our ‘pop-up’ banner present, so I discussed this with the theatre and they said that was absolutely fine.





Recruiting volunteers was easy as lots of people were interested in helping out, including students, a service user and a dysfluency specialist. We were able to attend 7 out of 8 performances between us.

The organisation took time but it wasn't difficult and I would encourage others to try and do something similar if the opportunity arises.

I attended on the Monday (opening night) to drop the banner and leaflets off with the volunteers, and I attended to Give Voice at the Saturday matinee. The Giving Voice banner stayed in-situ all week.

The feedback was positive from the volunteers with reports that there was a lot of interest in the campaign. I attended the Saturday matinee performance, we spoke to a few people but the theatre had run out of programmes and so most people were more concerned about that. A few people asked us if we were selling programmes and when we said ‘no, but you can a leaflet about Speech and Language Therapy for free’ we were greeted on several occasions with ‘oh, no thanks, I’m not interested in that’. I was a little disheartened by the comments, but not surprised as I already know that people are often not interested in the profession, unless they have personal experience. It was a shame that the theatre had run out of programmes, as I think the atmosphere was a little flatter than it normally is before a show, so people were harder to engage. That said, we did still give out some leaflets and have a few positive conversations about the campaign – and you can’t win them all!

One man highlighted the importance of speech and language therapy for young children to enhance their educational outcomes.

I estimate that over the week we gave out about 150 leaflets that I designed plus a similar number of pink Giving Voice flyers (that were produced by the North of Tyne team). We also left a further 400-500 leaflets around the bar tables and with the people who were selling programmes, (on all floors, for the whole week) so hopefully some of these were also looked at.

Some of the feedback from the other volunteers included comments from people they spoke to:

“I’m very interested in speech and language therapy. I was a special needs teacher for many years”

“I’m a nurse and we quite often send people to speech and language therapy, so I know it’s very important”

“My son had speech and language therapy when he was young. He is fine now but it was ESSENTIAL”

“I think it’s really interesting. I’ll take some leaflets and pass them onto my access students”

Overall, I think the week was a successful at spreading the word further about Giving Voice. I tweeted the Theatre Royal to thank them for their support of #GivingVoiceUK and @kingsspeechplay  retweeted it!

I read a quote recently ‘Volunteers don't get paid, not because they're worthless, but because they're priceless’ - I think this is so true and would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who volunteered to Give Voice at The King’s Speech. It wouldn’t have been a success without you all.

Keep spreading the word that Speech and Language Therapy Transforms lives! #GivingVoiceUK

Sunshine, Stammering and Giving Voice

What a lovely Sunny Sunday it is today! I feel like Spring is finally on it's way; I love this time of year!

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been liaising with the Front of House Manager at the Theatre Royal Newcastle, about Giving Voice at The King’s Speech (which opens tomorrow).

I’m delighted that they have agreed to hand out Giving Voice flyers with their programmes and are allowing 2 volunteers to be present before the show begins to hand out leaflets/answer questions about Speech and Language Therapy.

I had a large number of volunteers who wanted to help out with this which is fantastic. I’ve managed to include them all in the rota for the performances (Monday-Friday) and I look forward to hearing back how it goes.

Organising this, took a little more planning and preparation than I expected it to, but I am thrilled with the response from the theatre. Hopefully, we will be able to make lots more people aware of Giving Voice, SLT and stammering this week! I believe this is a popular show and most performances are sold out, therefore the audience is potentially quite large! How exciting!!

I’m going to watch The King’s Speech tomorrow evening and I’m really looking forward to it. I look forward to reporting back how it goes!