One year on...

Tuesday 18^th October 2011 was one of the most exciting days of my life! I can hardly believe that it has been a whole year since the Mass Mobilisation event in Westminster, where I joined over 200 other Speech and Language Therapists to discuss speech and Language therapy with our MPs.

I have just emailed my MP, Ian Lavery, to thank him once again for meeting with me last year and also to send an update about Giving Voice. RCSLT are inviting everyone to contact their MPs this week to help mark the one year anniversary.  Whether you were able to be in Westminster last year or not, you can help mark this occasion by emailing your MP about Speech and Language Therapy.

RCSLT has prepared a short briefing to remind your MP of the campaign’s key messages, which you can get by contacting Claire Moser at RCSLT - Email: claire.moser@rcslt.org.

Let’s see how many MPs we can contact between us and get them all talking about Speech and Language Therapy again! J Sending the email only takes a few minutes and could really make a difference to the campaign!

Houses of Parliament, 18th October 2011

Let’s remind our MPs that Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives.

“If you think you are too small to have an impact – try sleeping with a mosquito in the room!” Dame Anita Roddick

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! *~*~*~*

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)

Waking up Westminster

I woke up early on Tuesday morning with excited butterflies fluttering around my stomach, as the day of Mass Mobilisation had finally arrived! After breakfast, we headed out for a little wander around London. Our hotel was located in Central London so it did not take long before we were at Westminster.

Refreshments and Rally

I went into Church House Conference Centre about 11.30am and was feeling very excited and motivated! When I arrived I was surprised and delighted to see so many other people were already there. There was a lovely atmosphere in the Hoare Memorial Hall, where RCSLT provided light refreshments to fuel our energy for meeting our MPs.

It was lovely to see everyone mingling and I enjoyed meeting other speech and language therapists. I saw Jennie Marshall (the inspirational Speech and Language Therapist who cycled 180 miles to get to Westminster) communicating with her light writer (as she did for her whole journey – check out her fantastic blog London or Bust). Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to say hello to her, but I enjoyed her talk during the rally in which she used her light writer to tell us that the cycling was child’s play compared to using the communication aid. I found the whole rally inspirational and the atmosphere was electric. It was brilliantly organised and extremely empowering. It made me proud to be a speech and language therapist (albeit an unemployed one!) and filled me with admiration for SLTs all over the country.

Everyone seemed really excited to be part of such a big event and it was clear that everyone was dedicated to their profession.

Kamini Gadhok, CEO of RCSLT, talks at the Rally

Photos

After the rally we walked from Church house, across Westminster Bridge to get some group photos with the Houses of Parliament in the background. Walking across the bridge, flag in hand, the excited butterflies in my stomach were beginning to fly in formation ready for meeting with Ian Lavery, MP. Having always had an interest in politics, I couldn’t wait to go into the Houses of Parliament for my meeting!

Sam, Sarah (final year students at Newcastle) and Me

Me with Alison Proudfoot (group photos)

Westminster Bridge

Palace of Westminster – Meeting Ian Lavery, MP

Once through security, I announced my arrival at the reception desk and was told to wait in Central Lobby until Ian Lavery, MP arrived. Whilst I was waiting, I enjoyed looking around the magnificent area which is Central Lobby. The Speaker’s Procession took place while I was waiting. We found this quite fitting, that John Bercow, Speak of the House (and man behind the Bercow Review - A Review of Services for Children and Young People (0–19) with Speech, Language and Communication Needs) was walking through Central Lobby as we were waiting to meet out MPs to talk about the importance of Speech and Language Therapy.

(Before every sitting of the House, the Speaker's procession leaves the Speaker's House inside the Palace of Westminster and heads for the Commons chamber.)

Mr Lavery took me through the Palace of Westminster to an outdoor seating area, looking out onto the Thames, where we sat with a cup of tea and talked about the valuable role of speech and language therapists. He was every bit as supportive during this meeting as he was when I had the 1:1 lobby in constituency early in the year.

View from the Palace of Westminster

I felt like I was part of something really special on Tuesday, and I have been delighted to see that MPs have been blogging about meeting with their constituents. I think as a profession we woke up Westminster with regards to Speech and Language Therapy and I hope they continue to talk about it and work with their constituents to protect the profession for the future, so that those people who need it can access SLT services.

Congratulations to everyone who attended (or supported) the Mass Mobilisation event on Tuesday, I am proud to say I was part of it. RCSLT report:

• 255 Speech and Language Therapists and service users turned up for the Giving Voice rally
•  Over 100 MPs were met – in private meetings, at the event within parliament and via the green card system
• Over 400 tweets which included the hashtag #givingvoiceuk were published during the day (keep them coming!) Why not tweet your MP

Giving Voice is not over yet so let’s keep sharing the message that Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives!

Just another Monday morning?... meeting The Hoff

On Monday morning we set of for Newcastle Airport ready to Give Voice for Tuesday’s Mass Mobilisation in London. I have been excited about the mobilisation since the day I signed up months ago so you can imagine this excitement was even greater once our journey began.

Having been following the blog of Jennie Marshall (an SLT who cycled 144 miles to get to London for the mobilisation) over the last week, I’ve found myself thinking about my own communication a lot. This was especially so at the airport, as I couldn’t help think how scary and confusing such a place could be for someone with speech, language or communication needs (SLCN).  Even more so once we reached Heathrow and needed to ask for directions. A simple thing for my parents and I but a task which could be extremely difficult for someone with SLCN.

We made our way out of the airport, onto the tube and arrived at the hotel without any problems. A quick discussion and reading of the map and we realised it wasn’t far to walk from the tube station.

Once checked in, we made our way to the lifts in the hotel lobby. When we got there my mam said to me  ‘that man looked like David Hasselhoff!’ We didn’t think anything of it until a minute later he joined us in waiting for the lift. I agreed with my mam that the man did indeed look identical to David Hasselhoff, and I let her know this with a little non-verbal communication (a discreet smile and a nod!). By this time I really wanted to hear his voice to establish if he was a lookalike or really The Hoff. He got in the lift with us and just as we were going to ask him which floor he was going to he pressed the number himself (2, for anyone who is interested!) My dad said 'hello' as we got in the lift, and Mr Hasselhoff's 'hello' back confirmed his accent!!

I couldn’t help but look at the man in the lift, and then back at my mam. He smiled at us and I think he knew that we recognised him. He opened his room key card, as he smiled, and my mam and I saw that next to ‘customer name’ read: ‘Mr Hasselhoff’ – we looked at each other as if to say ‘I knew it!’ and my mam said ‘you are aren’t you?’ (yes mam, he is (The Hoff), but he can’t read your mind!) (My mam is mortified that she hadn’t thought of something more sensible to say, but it was just such a surreal moment, and I seemed to have lost my tongue completely! So I’m just glad she actually said something at all. I just stood there smiling!)

The Hoff smiled at us and asked us where we were from, and we had a brief conversation. He told us he was going to his room to sleep and when we asked what he was doing in London he said ‘lots of things, you’ll see me all over.’ Sadly at this point he got out the lift and we didn’t see him again. It all happened so quickly (from ground floor to level 2) that I didn’t even have time to ask for a photo. I was so annoyed with myself afterwards that I took it upon myself to write him a letter to tell him it was a pleasure to meet him. I also enclosed a Giving Voice leaflet and told him about the Mass Mobilisation which was due to take place the next day. I gave him my contact details and asked if he would like to meet me any point to get his photo taken to support the campaign, it would be very much appreciated. I then handed the letter in at reception and asked them to deliver it to his room. The lady on reception took the envelope from me and told me she would ensure it was delivered. (‘shy bairns get nowt!’ and all that). Unfortunately, I didn’t hear from him so I will never know if he received the letter. (I tweeted him but did not get a response).

Although a conversation with The Hoff in a hotel lift was more than ‘nowt’, I am disappointed I don’t have a photo. But you know how the saying goes – don’t Hassle the Hoff!

 My first day in London was indeed exciting, but Tuesday surpassed it by far. I’ll save that for another day though...

Me enjoying a cup of tea after meeting The Hoff

David Hasselhoff on BGT (sadly not a photo I took!)

A surreal few days...

I’m home now from a very exciting and rather surreal trip to London as part of the RCSLT Mass Mobilisation event. I have lots to write about (about all 3 days) so I think it will take a good few days before it’s all on here. I also have a lot of photos, from the Mobilisation event and the RCSLT Honours and Giving Voice Awards, so I’m sorting my way through those!

I think RCSLT need huge congratulations on planning, organising and carrying out such a brilliant day! Thank you RCSLT! It was fantastic to see so many people at the Mass Mobilisation and I was proud to be there alongside other SLT's and service users.

I’ll be updating this over the next few days about the events in London and of my Giving Voice experience. Please keep checking back and share it with your family and friends to help us to keep spreading the Giving Voice word that Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives!

Speech, Sir Alan, and some Sausage Rolls!

On Friday, Sir Alan Beith, MP, visited the Speech and Language Therapy service in Berwick and I went along too. It was my first ever trip to Berwick (!) and I quite enjoyed the drive up to the other end of my beautiful county of Northumberland (I was lucky that the roads were pretty quiet so it only took about an hour). I don't know why I haven't been up to Berwick before as it's a lovely place :-)

Sir Alan arrived at Berwick Infirmary and was greeted by Sue Welsh, Head of Therapies and Daljit Lally, Executive Director of Adult Care. He then came along to the speech and language therapy department where two service users (a parent of a child with a stammer and a man who has aphasia following a stroke), two speech and language therapists and I met him.

Sue gave a short presentation explaining the value of SLT and outlining the Giving Voice campaign. We then had an informal group discussion with Sir Alan about the variety of work Speech and Language Therapists do.

Sir Alan was surprised at the variety of work speech and language therapists do on a daily basis. He said he was aware that SLT’s work with children who have speech difficulties, but he wasn’t aware of lots of the other work we do (such as work around language and swallowing). He enjoyed talking to the service users (who were both very positive about their experience of speech and language therapy) and told us he felt he was much more informed about the work we do.

Sir Alan, stayed with us for lunch (which was a lovely spread of sausage rolls, sandwiches and fresh fruit) and our discussions continued. Before he left, Sir Alan said he was beginning to think about how life would be for him if he was unable to speak, and realised how he wouldn’t be able to do his job in the same way and how different his life would be. Fortunately, for Sir Alan this was hypothetical, but for thousands of people every single day this is a reality.  

Following the discussion, a photographer took some photos of Sir Alan with the team to use for publicity, and newspaper coverage is due to follow (in the Berwick Advertiser and the health supplement of the Evening Chronicle).

Sir Alan will be meeting with Sue as part of the Mass Mobilisation on Tuesday. Now I’d best go and check I have everything for London as I’m travelling tomorrow, ready to meet my MP, Ian Lavery on Tuesday.

Check out the advice from RCSLT about using Twitter to spread the word about Mass Mobilisation.

Even if you aren’t heading down to London on Tuesday you can still help to spread the word on Twitter and Facebook. Let’s see how much we can Give Voice together!!

Sir Alan and I

Speech and Language Therapy Transforms Lives.


"Read all about it!!"

Journalists are becoming my new best friends this week! On Sunday night I went to see ‘The Feeling’ in Newcastle and got talking to a trainee journalist there (from a North East regional newspaper). Always keen to Give Voice, I told him about Speech and Language Therapy and the campaign. I also told him that I am joining other SLTs in London next week to talk to our MPs (can’t believe it’s only a week to go!!). He was interested in what I had to say and we exchanged contact details. I don’t know if anything will come of it, but it’s always good to have another contact! J

Our Ashington Extra arrived with a thud today and I decided to have a flick through it to see what exciting things have been happening in Ashington over the last week! I was delighted to see that there was a short piece about the talk I did with Liz in Newbiggin last Tuesday. The journalist I contacted last week was interested in hearing more about my campaigning (he is impressed with how proactive and enthusiastic I am!) and I’m glad he got another short piece printed in The Extra. I was pleased to see he published the GV web address, and he also printed my email in case any other groups would like a similar talk. I think the over 50’s really enjoyed the talk and I’d love to Give Voice to other groups too.

The journalist also asked me to report back how it goes with Ian Lavery next week J so hopefully some further publicity will follow.

Ashington Extra - Wednesday 12th October

Talking is what I do best...

Yesterday afternoon I made a phone call and arranged to attend a local over 50’s club to talk to the members there about Giving Voice and Speech and Language Therapy.

Those of you who know me personally know how much I like to talk, and as you may be aware, I am passionate about the Giving Voice campaign and the profession, so being given the opportunity to go and talk about it for about an hour is almost a dream come true!

I have arranged the talk for Tuesday 4^th October at 1pm. This is slightly sooner than I would have liked but as the group only meets once a fortnight it would have been the beginning of November if I didn’t go on October 4^th (as I will be in London on October 18^th for Mass Mobilisation – it’s not too late to sign up, here!)

The prospect of keeping 60 people of the older generation interested and engaged in what I have to say, for up to an hour is slightly daunting and feels like a bit of a challenge. However, I am always up for a challenge and feel this is an opportunity not to be missed! Who knows who could be sitting in the audience or who they may know?!

I am planning on having a little Speech and Language related quiz towards the end of the session, to keep them entertained and to see if they’ve been listening :-) I am also hoping that some people will complete a speech bubble to show their support of the campaign.

If anyone has any ideas they’d like to share with me that they think will appeal to the older generation then please do get in touch with me J I want the session to be as interactive and as positive as possible in the hope that as least one person will go on to tell someone else about the campaign and the important work of a Speech and Language Therapist!

The lady I telephoned to arrange the talk was lovely and very keen to arrange for me to attend (she even invited me to stay for a game of bingo after my talk!) If you have some spare time on your hands and know of a group that welcome guest speakers, why not see if you can go along and Give Voice?

A Simple Idea..

My first entry of the month! Where is the year going?! Just over 5 weeks left until Mass Mobilisation!

I thought I’d share a simple idea with you to inspire you to spread the Giving Voice message a little bit more J For the majority of the year I have had a Giving Voice leaflet or poster in the window of the front room of our house which looks out onto a main road. The latest leaflet was becoming sun damaged so I decided to put a new poster in the window today.  As I was putting the poster in the window, a group of people walked passed and were reading the poster, spreading the message a little bit further. The poster (printed by the North of Tyne Steering Group) is also readable from across the road J

Why not put a Giving Voice leaflet in your window. Try timing it for a busy time of day so people see you putting it there and look J Even if you don’t live on a busy street you could put one in your window anyway, even if it’s only the postman that sees it, that’s spreading the message one person further J



My Front room window





Giving Voice poster



Save the date!

I had an exciting phone call earlier today! It was from my MP’s office regarding the mass mobilisation event on Tuesday 18^th October!

I have a provisional appointment with my local MP (Ian Lavery) at 2.30pm in central lobby (Westminster). Exciting times!

I am really looking forward to being part of this important event where we can all come together and Give Voice at the same time in the heart of UK Government! This event has the potential to be really influential in terms of Giving Voice and raising awareness of Speech and Language Therapy with people at the centre of decision making! J

If you haven’t already signed up - find out more here:Mass Mobilisation Event