School of Community Health
Community Engagement - Health
Parent Tutor Program
Parents of children with severe communication issues are employed by the Speech Pathology program to tutor small groups of 2nd year students over a six week period for three hour sessions.
The role of the Parent Tutors is to teach students: What it is like to live with a child who has a severe speech/language disorder; their experiences of therapy (and of the health service in general); their needs and dreams for their children, and how the students can help in meeting these needs.
This community-based approach is educates the students to deeply understand the concept of consultation and negotiation in providing - and advocating - care as a fundamental tenet of their service delivery.
Staff Involved:
Client Tutor Program
Using the same model as Parent Tutors, people with communication problems as a result of neurological impairment are employed by the Speech Pathology program to tutor small groups of 3rd year students over a six week period for three hour sessions.
The role of the Client Tutors is to teach students about: What it is like to live with communication problems as a result of neurological impairment; their experiences of therapy (and of the health service in general); their needs and dreams, and how the students can help in meeting these needs.
Staff Involved:
Cooinda Partnership
This is a partnership with our local Cooinda Family Support Service where third year students work in pairs with families who have a child with disabilities and communication issues.
Students work over a 13 week period providing weekly individual assessment and therapy, working within the school and/or home under the overall supervision of an experienced local clinician.
The parents pay a small fee for this service and this fee pays for the clinical supervision of the students. Up to 20 families with a child with disabilities can receive speech therapy services per annum and there is strong demand for this programme to continue.
Schools Project
This is a partnership between the Riverina Department of Education and Training (DET), Albury Community Health (part of Greater Southern Area Health Service) and the speech pathology program at CSU. A fourth year student mentors a team of three or four second year students per school so that up to 50 students service ten local schools per annum.
It aims to work with teachers, in classrooms, to support the integration of the K-6 Talking and Listening Outcomes of the NSW schools curriculum. Projects are suggested by the schools and resources the students make are left for the schools' use, ensuring sustainability of the service.
This project has run for the past four years and is enthusiastically supported and requested by many schools!
Learning Exchange
Over the past four years pairs of 3rd year Speech Pathology students have undertaken learning exchanges in a variety of disability services in the Albury/Wodonga region. The students work in a 'volunteer' capacity for approx four hours per week over a 12 week period, in exchange for the opportunity to learn about individuals with complex communication difficulties and the disability organisation.
Students work with individual children or adults - who are often non-verbal - within the organisation, and develop communication resources for the individual as well as the service as a whole.
Vietnam
This is a transdisciplinary five week placement based at Phu My orphanage in Saigon. It has been running since 2001.
Twelve students from speech pathology, physiotherapy and occupational therapy travel there in the mid- semester break, and work with carers and interpreters with severely disabled children under the supervision of various allied health workers from Australia.
The students learn about assisting the children with eating, communication, sitting/mobility, and other stimulating activities. CSU's work there has been nationally recognised with a Carrick Institute Award for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, and internationally recognised with peer reviewed publications, conference presentations and requests for information.South West Brain Injury Rehabilitation Service (SWBIRS)
Multiple research initiatives involving collaborative work by clinicians and academics.
Staff Involved:
Spastic Centre
Clinical education: training and sponsorship of allied health students with an interest in paediatrics. Also interdisciplinary workshops for professional development of clinical educators
Staff Involved:
Ovens and King Community Health Service
The development of the community capacity building placement (this involves OT, Physio, Speech and Pod). This involves our students being involved in conducting physical and communication assessments in various towns covered by the Health Service.
Staff Involved:
Alfred Hospital, Melbourne
This participatory action research is a collaborative project between an academic staff member and occupational therapy practitioners (at the). It aims to explore and then change the researchers' practice of occupational therapy so that the practice is improved and is more in accordance with the vision of occupational therapy best practice. The research is assisting those involved, to be more aware of the influences upon practice, and importantly how occupational therapists can transcend limitations within the practice environment so that they are more articulate about the valuable contribution that occupational therapy has to make to the health of all.
Staff Involved:
Friends of Woodstock
A collaborative partnership is being established to enhance the research capabilities of staff from the Friends of Woodstock and develop students' understanding of working with people with disabilities and their families and carers. Research projects initiated by this partnership aim to enhance life of people with disabilities.
Staff Involved:
- Julia Coyle
- Prof Gail Whiteford
- Linda Goddard
- Bridget O'Connor
- Caroline Robinson
- Anita Barbara