Who We Are

Trinh Foundation Australia (TFA) was established in 2008 as a voluntary, non-profit, non-government organisation dedicated to helping the people of Vietnam establish Speech Therapy as a profession in their country.


TFA is governed by our board of Directors who, along with the support of our volunteers, are committed to improving the quality of life of Vietnamese people with communication and swallowing disorders.


Each member of the board brings extensive professional experience and expertise from a variety of backgrounds to achieve our organisational goals.


Our sources of funding are from grants, fund-raising activities, philanthropic donations and collaboration with other Australian aid organisations.


The directors and the secretary are fully self-funded in all their activities associated with Trinh Foundation Australia.


Trinh Foundation Australia Ltd abides by the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) Code of Conduct, which provides standards on management, communication with the public and, most importantly, how funds are spent.

Trinh Foundation Australia is registered with the Australian Government Charities and Not-for-profit Commission, having received the Registered Charity tick.

 

Please email info@trinhfoundation.org to request a consolidated financial statement from the Secretary.

 

Organisational Structure

Patron

  • Mr Graeme Swift Australian Consul-General, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 2009 – 2011 Graeme has served in Australia’s foreign service for many years, completing 10 postings. He found working in Ho Chi Minh City among the most professionally rewarding, gaining enormous satisfaction seeing at first-hand how people and organisations working together can achieve sometimes quite extraordinary outcomes.
    Graeme now holds a senior position with DFAT in Canberra.

Directors

  • Professor Emerita Lindy McAllister

PhD, MA (Hons) (Sp Path), BSpThy, Life Member SPAA
Professor and Associate Dean of Work Integrated Learning Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney and founding director of TFA.

  • Mrs Sue Woodward

DipSpThy, Speech Pathologist

Private Practice, Central Coast, NSW. Conjoint Fellow in Speech Pathology, University of Newcastle and founding director of TFA.

  • Dr Sally Hewat

PhD, BAppSci (Sp Path) CPSP
Head of Speech Pathology Program, Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle, NSW.

  • Ms Bronwyn Coop

BA(Hons)
Private consultant.

  • Dr Sarah Verdon

PhD, BHthSci(Sp Path)(Hons)
Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Speech and Language Pathology, Faculty of Science, Charles Sturt University, Albury NSW.

  • Katie Walker-Smith

B Sp Path, Grad Cert Dysphagia, Grad Cert Health Management, MBA Director of Speech Pathology, Children’s Health Queensland.

  • Ms Joanne Walters

BAppSci (Sp Path),Grad Cert Applied Management (Health Promotion),CPSP Speech Pathology Lecturer and Clinical Education Coordinator, Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle, NSW.

  • Gwendalyn Webb

PhD, MA (Ling), BAppSci (Sp Path), CPSP
Speech Pathology Lecturer, Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle, NSW.

  • Dr Marie Atherton

PhD, BAppSci(Sp Path), GradDip(IntDevt)
Senior Advisor Professional Standards, Speech Pathology Australia Speech Pathology Lecturer, Australian Catholic University.

 

Secretary

  • Ms Bronwyn Coop

You can learn more about Trinh Foundation Australia’s Directors here “More about the TFA Directors“.

 

 

TFA Project Officers

Interpreter and translator Co-ordinator, Ms. Hồ Thị Mỹ Linh

Linh is an independent educator from Hue, Vietnam. She has university qualifications and professional experience in Language Teaching and Social Development. Linh is currently running her own educational initiative called Enjoyable English with a passionate young team from central Vietnam. This initiative supports Hue’s community via language learning, offering lessons in Vietnamese, Sign Language and English. Linh has been volunteering with TFA as a trained SALT interpreter since 2015.

Administration, Linley Schaller

Linley is a qualified Bookkeeper with over 20 years’ experience across many different industries.

 

Our Volunteers

Since our founding in 2008, volunteers have remained central to helping TFA achieve our goals.

TFA has resourced in excess of 120 volunteers from Australia, UK, New Zealand and US to assist with programs in Vietnam. Volunteers assist across a broad scope of work including: teaching students, mentoring speech therapy graduates, coordinating projects and courses, and liaising closely with our Vietnamese partner organisations.

Some volunteers travel to Vietnam for a short stint, while others have committed two or more years to the development and coordination of courses. Our long-term volunteers have been supported by Australian Volunteers International. We are fortunate to also work with many remote volunteers, who have provided their time and expertise through our online mentoring programs.

Our volunteers are also active here in Australia, working to raise awareness and funding. Is it their passion, dedication and enthusiasm that assists TFA with our mission of improving the quality of life of Vietnamese people with communication and swallowing disorders. TFA values the input from the interpreter and translator volunteers coming from both Vietnam and Australia that assist us with achieving our mission.

To find out more about volunteering click here .

Thank you to our many volunteers.

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