spa going the distance-final

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SCHOOL OF COMMUNITY HEALTH

Going the Distance: Providing speech pathology services

to schools in rural NSW

Marijke Denton2, Kendall Clarke3, Libby Clark1, Jane McCormack1, 1Charles Sturt University 2Albury Community Health Centre

3Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

Speech Pathology Australia National Conference, June 2012, Hobart



IssueSupporting children in their early development has long-term benefits to them and the community. However….

• There are three distinct groups that have significantly poorer results in childhood development including geographic location (more remote the poorer the result), socio-economic status and being indigenous.

• The “…maldistribution of the health workforce nationally,…significantly disadvantages regional, rural and remote communities, particularly in accessing … allied health services”

• 1:10 students in public schools are disabled or have special learning needs and teachers are struggling to educate these students.

(Health Workforce Australia, 2011)



Impact of the problem

“Negative trends in child and youth wellbeing are costing Australia $22 billion per annum.”

Community

• Social disadvantage

• Engagement• Cost• Distance

SP practice

• Waiting lists• Staff

retention• Service

delivery models

Workforce

• Placements• Current and

future rural workforce

• Local workforce.



Communication impairment and the ICF-CY



Riverina Schools Project EvolutionRiverina Schools Project

Speech SPACE - Speech Pathology and Classroom Exchangehttp://csusap.csu.edu.au/~mdenton/pages

Connected Classrooms (Video Conferencing) Trials

Specialist Integrated Community Engagement Model

SpICE



The Schools Project



Speech pathology g Specialist servicesIntegrated: cross sector / discipline services and student placements co-ordinated and timely.Community - Building capacity Engagement - Building social capital

Building on the Schools Project Lessons



Specialist Integrated Community Engagement

COMMUNITY OFLEARNERS

NGO

Serv

ices

Educational

Institutions

Uni Students &

Supervisors

Gove

rnm

ent

Serv

ices

Philanthropies

SpICE Model Specialist IntegratedCommunity Engagement

Parents / Carers

& Community

Comm

unity W

ellbeingCapac

ity

Capita

l

Social

Building

Fam

ily

Well

bein

gENGAGE – Growing the Community of Learners

PARTICIPATE – “What is the ‘relevance’ to

me?”

INVESTIGATE – Learn about Need

INSTIGATE &IMPLEMENT – ‘sustainable’ opportunities

COORDINATE – Nurturing the ‘cultural’

shift

EVALUATE – Describing Outcomes; building on

success

Community of Learners

Refers to the concept of all stakeholders involved

(including service recipients) being learners

as well as imparters of knowledge and service

expertise.

Information and experience are exchanged

and a knowledge economy created as well

as social and cultural capital.

This will have a direct impact in increasing

family and community wellbeing



Challenges that SpICE addressesPoor childhood development outcomes that impact on family and community wellbeing.In a pilot project, over half a million dollars’ worth of therapy was delivered for twenty-thousand dollars.Rural community disadvantageThere was an increased interest shown by parent members of the Community of Learners in pursuing ‘formal’ training that could lead to work opportunities like Cert III in child studies or Allied Health AssistanceRural workforce challenges. An integrated, ‘multifaceted’ approach is needed, initially to address the backlog of demand but also to value-add to existing services and increase their capacity/potential and to introduce ‘new’ ways of working with specialists.



SummaryGo the distance by…

Community•Finding solutions to complex problems from within communities and by communities.•Building capacity in the community to participate in strategies for change that result in sustainable achievements.•Building on what works well.•Forming partnerships to maximise the use of resources.

SP practice•Building relationships with communities and partners.•Persevering in seeking ways to engage, listen and follow-up.•Working in an integrated and timely way … if you can do it you should…. despite service and geographic boundaries.

Workforce•Providing placements that enable collaborative engagement to build capacity and generalist skills•Increasing capacity of rural supervisors through shared placements and using technology.•Up-skilling the local community to enhance the delivery of specialist services.



AcknowledgmentWe’d like to acknowledge everyone involved in making this journey happen:- Our respective departments/institutions: FaHCSIA, MLHN, NSW DEC and CSU- The students ….from Kim & Cara-Jane through to the students preparing for

placement in Spring; - The teachers, and the pupils of Albury, the Riverina and the Central West - The parents in Condo, Lake, Murrin Bridge and beyond- The fabulous folk at NSW DEC- To Ruth, Helen, Marion, Andrew, Carl, Eva and Julia – you know how you

contributed!

…and the dynamic Kendall Clarke, for helping us to see that we need to think ‘big’ & ‘local’ at the same time!

These relationships really are the heart of it all.



Going the Distance: Providing speech pathology services to schools in rural NSW

Kendall Clarke Libby [email protected] [email protected]+61 8 8975 0628 +61 2 6051 9205

Marijke Denton Jane [email protected] [email protected]+61 2 6058 1800 +61 2 6051 9224

mailto:[email protected]





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