An Inspiration - Johnson Beharry VC



Johnson Beharry VC



Just a quick note but I feel the need to share with you that I tweeted Johnson Beharry VC and he replied! I watched him in Dancing on Ice 2011 (and shook hands with him at the end of the live show in Newcastle last year) and think he is truly inspirational. At the time I thought about writing to him and telling him about Giving Voice (and to ask if he had speech and language therapy following his heroic war injuries) but I couldn’t find an address to send the letter to. I did buy his book though (Barefoot Soldier) in order to learn more about him and his experiences.



I decided to tweet him this evening to ask if he had speech and language therapy and I shared the link to the Giving Voice website. He replied to say that he did. Unfortunately he did not mention GV in his reply but it made my night to get a tweet from him all the same! I might tweet him again at some point to ask him for his support with Giving Voice (I don’t want to pester him though!)

Below: two photos I took when I went to see Dancing on Ice Live 2011 at Newcastle Metro Radio Arena.



Johnson Beharry




Johnson receiving his scores :-)



Keep tweeting and spreading the word that Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives. (#GivingVoiceUK)

Spreading the word one person at a time...

“Speech and Language Therapy?? That’s a strange thing to study at uni….I guess there isn’t much need for it or many places to look for work…”

This was part of a conversation I had whilst at work this morning. I won’t say who said it as I honestly don’t think he meant any harm by it, he just obviously, like many other people, doesn’t understand the value of Speech and Language Therapy.

It made me feel a little disappointed and frustrated that the profession is still so misunderstood, however I’ve encountered this enough times now not to be surprised. I’m sure he wouldn’t think it was a strange thing to study if he knew someone who needed the specialist support of a Speech and Language Therapist.

He asked what made me choose Speech and Language Therapy so I took the opportunity to tell him a bit about the profession and how I want to help people communicate as everyone has the right to a voice.

It has actually led to more than one conversation, today, about the profession and my search for a job. He commented that he thought it was a 'bizarre' thing to study but after I explained about the variety of work we do and how fascinating I found the course, he agreed that it does sound quite interesting. I found myself quoting some key facts (such as ‘Speech and Language Therapy saves £765 million per year’, ‘one in three stroke survivors have speech, language or communication needs’) and he found these quite interesting, so it's worth memorising a few of these in case someone asks more about the profession :-). He seemed surprised there was such a need for speech and language therapy and was even more interested once I started with the key facts! Spreading the word one person at a time!

It was lovely to see so many people involved the Mass Tweet (#GivingVoiceUK) on Tuesday from 8pm. I think this was a great idea (thank you to Helen - Facebook admin of Support Giving Voice Campaign – Stop Speech and Language Therapy Cuts). Hopefully it helped to spread the word a little further.  I don’t know if we got #GivingVoiceUK trending but lots of people got involved – it’s not too late to start tweeting if you don’t already! I didn’t think I’d ever be able to understand Twitter and only properly started using it last year, despite having had an account for almost 3 years. I have actually surprised myself and found it’s not as complicated as I first though and I also quite enjoy it now! (so don’t use ‘it’s too complicated’ as an excuse until you’ve given it a proper chance! :-)

I came across the following picture through facebook and twitter and thought I’d share it here. Thanks to Claire Johnston for creating and sharing it! :-)

A time to reflect...

December has been such a busy month that I haven’t had the chance to blog about my Giving Voice activity! That’s not because I’ve forgotten about Giving Voice, it’s just that I’ve had little time to sit down and type about it.

At the beginning of the month I was pleased to see that ‘A Creeful of Coals’ printed a Giving Voice update: a full page ‘A Quiz, some chocolate and a Ukulele’ detailing the afternoon Liz Panton and I went and spoke at Newbiggin Ladies Club. It’s a good article, with info about the afternoon, and facts about speech and language therapy and the Giving Voice campaign. There are also two photos from the event and details of the GV website (and my email address, should any other groups like me to do a similar talk). ‘A Creeful of Coals’ is available in many local North East shops and via mail subscription (UK and overseas).

Newbiggin Ladies Club

On Christmas Day, after lunch, we had a kind of secret santa for my family and I. My sister opened a present of 6 Giving Voice pens (it probably wasn’t very secret who they came from!) and she was VERY excited! She uses them at work (as a Nurse on an Elderly Care ward) and I usually give her them sparingly as I try to save them for people who haven’t already heard of Giving Voice. However, as it’s Christmas and she uses them in her work environment I decided to be extra generous! I’ve also recently started mentoring a young person. She likes pens so I gave her a Giving Voice one and she was interested in hearing about my profession. She also told me that she had speech and language therapy when she was younger. 

I’ve recently started learning how to play the Ukulele (not something I have EVER thought about before!) Liz Panton, (and her fantastic Ukulele song about Speech and Language Therapy) inspired me to do something different and I’ve met some lovely people at the Ukulele group that I now attend fortnightly! I’ve had a number of speech and language therapy related conversations with some of the other group members, some of which have had contact with Speech and Language Therapists and appreciate our important role.

I cannot begin to describe how this year has been for me. In January, when I attended the first session about Giving Voice at Newcastle University with Ele Buckley (then Ramsey) I never imagined it would have led to such a brilliantly productive and enjoyable year.



Flashmob



Ashington Street Fair

 It is safe to say that I have learned a lot in 2011, both through university and Giving Voice. I have gained experience and actively sought to develop my confidence in situations that have been important in taking the campaign forward. For example, I have begun to build a good working relationship with local MP Ian Lavery, following the 1:1 lobby in June, which to be honest is not something I ever saw myself doing! I’ve always had an interest in politics and I now enjoy using this interest to try to influence the government (even if that is just meeting with my MP and local councillors to discuss the importance of Speech and Language Therapy). The day of Mass Mobilisation is certainly up there in the best days of my life so far, as it was a wonderful to be part of something so powerful.

Mass Mobilisation - me with Alison Proudfoot

It is truly humbling when people tell you how fantastic they think the profession is due to personal experience. I have had an exciting and motivating year and I am proud to have been part of a brilliant campaign. I would never have described myself as someone who is likely to campaign, but I would describe myself as enthusiastic and passionate, and Giving Voice has allowed me to tailor that enthusiasm and take it forward to raise awareness of Speech and Language Therapy. It has been amazing to see just how creative and proud the profession is in our quest to ‘shout about’ just how good we are! Also, RCSLT have done an amazing job!

My initial interest in getting involved in Giving Voice was to raise awareness of what Speech and Language Therapists do as throughout my training, like many other SLTs,  I have been faced with lots of questions that demonstrate that the profession is little understood. I want to spread the word to the public, one person at a time to increase awareness of what we do.

I also got involved to raise awareness at a higher level, with the government, to ensure that they understand the important role of SLT services. This is important to ensure that SLT services remain there in the future, both so that newly qualified SLTs can get jobs and more importantly to ensure that people with communication and swallowing difficulties get the specialist support that they need to be able to participate fully in their everyday lives.

Communication Chain on Gateshead Millennium Bridge

Communication is absolutely vital to be able to form and maintain relationships with family, friends and society. Whether this is a child just starting out and finding their way in the world, or an older person trying to maintain those relationships following a brain injury or degenerative disease; communication is key. I have personal experience of family members with communication and feeding difficulties, so I understand a bit about how these difficulties impact on family life. Therefore it is vital that people can access the SLT support they need.

It’s been fantastic to be involved in so many Giving Voice events throughout the year and seeing some of these reported in local media. I started this blog to share some ideas and report on my own involvement in GV and I can’t believe there’s been over 2000 page views in just 5 months! I don’t know who reads it but I appreciate that people are interested in what I have to say. I will continue to blog into the New Year J

I cannot begin to describe how much I have enjoyed being involved in Giving Voice and I look forward to seeing what the New Year brings for the campaign and the profession! Hopefully 2012 will be an even greater year for Speech and Language Therapy (and see me getting my first post as an SLT!). I’ve met some wonderful people through Giving Voice this year (both on and off line) - and it has even led to me learningto play the Ukulele! and I am extremely proud to say I am part of the profession and have been part of this brilliant campaign.

Wishing you all the very best for 2012 – thank you to everyone who has been involved in Giving Voice this year – for me it truly has been a year to remember!

Speech & Language Therapy Transforms Lives

*~*~*~* For Grandma - the woman who taught me that life’s not always easy or fair but we have to fight for what we believe in – and we’ve got to laugh or else we’ll cry! *~*~*~*

(No) Fog on the Tyne!

After arranging to hold a communication chain across Gateshead Millennium Bridge on a mid-November day I was slightly concerned that it would be cold, windy, foggy and raining. I warned everyone to wrap up warm and be prepared for any inclement weather; so I was extremely pleased to see glorious sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. There certainly wasn’t any Fog on the Tyne on this occasion! The lack of cloud cover meant there was a bit of a bite to the air but the sun was surprisingly warm for November. We couldn’t have wished for nicer weather!

On route to Gateshead, I text BBC Radio Newcastle to tell them about the event and to ask them to mention us on the radio. I listened for about 15 minutes after I sent the text but then we arrived in Gateshead and we had to get out the car, so I don’t know if Sue Sweeny mentioned us on her show.

There were some people playing Bagpipes in Baltic square and whilst this was not planned on our part, it made the task of blowing up the balloons much more enjoyable and we found ourselves blowing up the balloons in time to the music!

Shortly after people started to arrive on Gateshead Quayside, a very special made a wonderful entrance – a big pink 'Peppa' pig came dancing towards us!

We all posed for a large group photo complete with banners, balloons and our Pig friend! Once the photo opportunity was complete we made our way across the bridge and eagerly awaited the horn to signal the start of the message.

Group Photo

The message started at Alison Proudfoot and she used an alphabet chart to pass ‘Giving Voice to Bridge the Gap’ on to the next person who then wrote the message to pass along. Speech and Language Therapists, students, service users, friends, family and passers-by all took part in the Chinese whispers style communication chain. The message ‘Giving Voice to Bridge the Gap’ was passed along the chain in a variety of ways including, speech, signing, writing and texting.

Pink and black balloons could be seen all around Baltic Square and across Gateshead Millennium Bridge as we passed our message along our communication chain. Our chain attracted the attention of lots of passers-by (especially through our special guest ‘Peppa’ Pig who was a big hit with children and adults alike!) and led to some nice discussions around Speech and Language Therapy.

A few passers-by asked for a photo with ‘Peppa’ Pig and I heard one little boy say ‘Mam, I wonder where George is?’ which I thought was very cute! (for those of you who aren’t acquainted with Peppa Pig – George is her little brother!)

My nephew, niece and I with Peppa!

The message changed slightly as it was being passed along, but it kept the same meaning (e.g. Using voices to bridge the gap) and found it’s way back to ‘Giving Voice to the Bridge the Gap’. The horn sounded again and we all turned round for a panoramic photo of the chain on the bridge.

I followed the whole chain to take video and photos and it was interesting to see all the different ways people communicated the message. I noticed how much slower the process was when people were not using speech to pass the message on (e.g. writing or an alphabet chart) and this is just one of the many challenges that people with communication difficulties face every day.

At the end we all made our way back over to Gateshead Quayside for another photo opportunity. It was a very enjoyable for everyone involved and we got the Giving Voice message out to more people!

Thanks to everyone who came along and supported the event and also to everyone who tweeted support on the day! Let’s keep spreading the message that Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives!

Be Part of a Communication Chain...

I am getting quite excited for tomorrow’s event on Gateshead Millennium Bridge! I really hope the weather is like it has been today (sunny and dry - if a little cold!)

I have Giving Voice balloons and I've bought pink and black ones as well as balloon sticks to make us stand out tomorrow.  I can't wait to see them all blown up (hope it doesn't take us too long!).

If you haven’t already seen the facebook event check it out here for more information. It’s not too late to decide to come and join us! We’ve got free balloons and stickers!

If you can’t make it to the event please support our cyber chain by tweeting about the event (#givingvoiceuk) or updating your facebook status. I’ve been tweeting a range of people/organisations in the area in the hope they might retweet about the Giving Voice event (so far altweet_pet have retweeted to 1800 followers and Koast Radio to 280 followers J)

I was pleased to see that this weeks News Post Leader had a short piece in about the North of Tyne Collaboration’s award and about Sir Alan Beith’s visit to the SLT service in Berwick. It didn’t mention Giving Voice but was nice to see they are talking about the good work of speech and language therapists again! The headline is ‘MP Praises Speech Team’. I cannot find the News Post Leader’s online version but I’ll upload a photo of the piece soon.

I hope to see you Giving Voice tomorrow (either on Gateshead Millennium Bridge or in cyber space!) Good Luck everyone! Let’s make it an event to remember because Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives.

Abseiling and a Lighthouse

Last Saturday some fantastic people abseiled down Souter Lighthouse (Whitburn, South Tyneside) in aid of the North East Trust for Aphasia (NETA). I wasn’t one of these amazing people, but I did go along to support them and to Give Voice.

Souter Lighthouse

·        NETA's main purpose is to support people with Aphasia, providing information and therapy support and the funding of the NETA Aphasia Support Centre

• Aphasia is the loss or impairment of speech and language skills following brain damage (arising from a stroke or head injury).
• One third of everyone who has had a stroke has problems with communication. Current figures show there are some 58,000 people in the North East who have aphasia.
• http://www.neta.org.uk/

In our second year at Newcastle University we have a placement in the Aphasia Centre and we get to be a part of the therapy, working individually with some of the service users. Therefore, we get to see first hand how important speech and language therapy is for people with Aphasia. NETA is a charity close to my heart (because of the links with university, but also because it’s great!) so I was very happy to go along and support the abseil. (I have raised money for NETA in the past – my brother in law ran the GNR 2 years ago for them and I had 2 stalls at Ashington Street Fairs this summer).

I wore my Giving Voice t-shirt for the event at the lighthouse (when it got cold though I did put my coat on! My GV badge was still visable though!) Initially I was set up inside the gift shop of the lighthouse but it wasn’t very busy so I the moved the display board outside and stood it on one of the fisher boats. Whilst inside I had the opportunity to talk to a lady whose husband had a stroke 14 years ago and has been actively involved in NETA ever since. She had not previously heard of Giving Voice so I told her about it and gave her some leaflets and pens (she told me she would share them at a Stroke Association she goes to with her husband). She was extremely interested in the campaign and grateful that I took the time to talk to her.

I also told the National Trust staff about Giving Voice (as well as NETA as I think the go well together to explain the importance of Speech and Language Therapy) and left some pens and leaflets with them. They too, were interested in learning about Giving Voice and appreciated how important SLT is (though this was something they said they had not thought about previously!)

Once outside I gave out a few stickers and leaflets as well as cheering on the people abseiling. All in all a very enjoyable day with the opportunity to Give Voice to some people – really pleased I was able to be part of it (I have so much admiration for the people who actually abseiled!)





At the bottom of the lighthouse



Info stand inside the giftshop/museum



My niece Toni and I with the display (inside the boat!)

If you know of a local event taking place (similar to this) why not go along with some GV leaflets some balloons, or even just yourself and see if you can engage at least one more person in a GV/SLT related conversation - you never know who you might bump into and what influence your little chat could have :-)

A Little Bit of Everything...

I’m pleased to see that MPs (mine included) are still blogging about meeting a Speech and Language Therapist at the Mass Mobilisation (Ian Lavery's Webpage) . Hopefully we’ll see lots more in the coming weeks! It was also good to see a full page spread in the Health Supplement of last Monday’s Evening Chronicle. (Speech and Language Team Win National Award)

On walking into a local pub on Friday night I was greeted by the barman telling me that he recognised me from the newspaper, as he’d seen me twice. I don’t know if was my face or my Giving Voice badge which led him to recognise me. But I smiled and confirmed that he had the correct person. He then asked the 3 men sat at the bar if they had seen me in the paper too. They all said no but were keen to know which Newspapers and why. The chatterbox in me saw this as the perfect opportunity to tell them about Giving Voice (I pointed out my badge) and the valuable work of speech and language therapists. They seemed very interested and I also told them about the mass mobilisation event and how I met our MP Ian Lavery in the Houses of Parliament. I stood talking to them for about 5 minutes and it was lovely to see they were so enthusiastic to hear about speech and language therapy.

The North of Tyne Collaborative have organised a Human Communication Chain which is due to take place on Gateshead Millennium Bridge on November 20^th. If you are in the area, it would be great if you could come along and support us. If not, please support us in advertising the event (facebook event can be found here) and tweeting/updating your facebook status to raise more awareness of Giving Voice. More details of the event to follow soon!

Evening Chronicle, 31st October - (the print is the same as the online article)