Back in May 2024, our in-country volunteer Sally Howard provided 3 
weeks of clinical supervision and mentoring for the BSALT at Hai Duong 
Medical and Technical University (HMTU). In her words, Gemma shares 
her experiences and what motivated her to volunteer with Trinh 
Foundation Australia. 
 
I love travelling and new experiences and Vietnam is one of my favourite 
countries. When I saw the volunteer opportunity through the Trinh Foundation 
this looked like an amazing opportunity to combine my love of travel and my 
work as a speech pathologist. 
 
Speech pathology is a new profession in Vietnam, and it is not yet widely 
recognised that speech pathologists have a crucial role in supporting people 
with communication and swallowing impairments across the lifespan. With 
improved access to speech pathology services in Vietnam it will be great to 
see awareness improve. 
 
Capacity building is important for addressing the gaps that exist in an 
emerging profession, including training of speech pathologist&rsquo;s and building 
awareness of the scope of speech pathology practice. By recognising the 
value of speech pathology and prioritising capacity building, the profession will 
grow resulting in improved outcomes for people with communication and 
swallowing impairments in Vietnam. 
 
There were so many things that I enjoyed about volunteering in Vietnam. I 
enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of the local community and experiencing 
working in a foreign health care and university setting and being a part of their 
team. I also enjoyed being able to share my 20 years of clinical experience 
and supporting students in developing their skills and knowledge. 
Volunteering in Vietnam is not only making an impactful contribution to the 
speech pathology profession, but you will also experience professional growth 
and personal satisfaction. You will meet wonderful people and make 
connections for life. It is also an opportunity to see an amazing part of the 
world and experience the Vietnamese culture and food. I don&rsquo;t think anything 
prepares you for the reality of the cultural differences of the Vietnamese and 
Australian health care setting, however the Trinh Foundation and MCNV are 
very organised and prepared in setting up a successful trip.

<img alt="" src="https://ktr-dev.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com/blogs/MAIN%20IMAGE%20-%20BLOG%20SALLY%20HOWARD%20%281%29.jpeg" style="height:354px; width:641px" /> 
 
<img alt="" src="https://ktr-dev.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com/blogs/BLOG%20IMAGE%20SALLY%20HOWARD%202%203%20%281%29.jpeg" style="height:439px; width:640px" /> 
 
<img alt="" src="https://ktr-dev.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com/blogs/BLOG%20IMAGE%20SALLY%20HOWARD%202%20%281%29.jpeg" style="height:486px; width:640px" /> 
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Back in May 2024, our in-country volunteer Sally Howard provided 3 weeks of clinical supervision and mentoring for the BSALT at Hai Duong Medical and Technical University (HMTU). In her words, Gemma shares her experiences and what motivated her to volunteer with Trinh Foundation Australia.

MAIN IMAGE - BLOG SALLY HOWARD (1).jpeg

In Country Volunteer Blog: Professional Growth and Personal Satisfaction

This drawing shows my first impression of Vietnam!

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We want to share the work in speech pathology being done in Vietnam and let the community know about our Beyond Border Mentoring Program 2024.&nbsp;In her words,&nbsp;Cat&nbsp;shares&nbsp;her journey as a speech pathologist and how she got involved in speech and language therapy in Vietnam!

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I came to speech and language therapy later in life. After I had my son, the local health visitors were offering free baby massage classes. They told me that this was because there was a very high rate of communication difficulties in children in that area of London, and that this was a way of promoting parent-child interaction. This got me intrigued&hellip;I then volunteered for the Stroke Association UK in a communication group, and befriended a stroke survivor with very severe aphasia. He had been a musician - the only man in an all-girl rock band, and ran a music studio. We became great friends and I learned a huge amount about the impact of stroke and communication difficulties and how to communicate with someone without speech.&nbsp;Sadly,&nbsp;he passed away, but I am still good friends with his daughter.&nbsp;

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After training at City University London, despite originally wanting to work in adult neuro rehab, I ended up being offered a job by my college tutor in mainstream schools, and as my children were young and it was a term time only post, I accepted and became a paediatric therapist. I love it, and also run drawing and art classes for adults with aphasia and dementia and other neuro conditions, so get a bit of both worlds.

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One of my colleagues married a Japanese man and went to live in Japan. She was interviewed for a blog about British therapists working abroad, which had links to organisations for those interested in volunteering abroad, which is how I came across TRINH. I volunteered for the Beyond Borders programme for four years before the opportunity came up to go to Vietnam to supervise a clinical placement for the first&nbsp;master&rsquo;s&nbsp;cohort at An Binh Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. On my first day, a &lsquo;get-to-know-you meeting&rsquo; turned out to be a full presentation ceremony with the entire board of the hospital and a banner welcoming me as an expert! No pressure!

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My time in Vietnam was incredible - the students were all super-experienced physiotherapists and doctors, so already highly motivated and knowledgeable. Many of them are already becoming leaders of the profession in Vietnam. I spent some time getting to know the country, including a&nbsp;22-hour&nbsp;train journey to Huế, which was beautiful and magical, if not always massively comfortable!&nbsp;

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From knowing barely anything about Vietnam, I now feel like my second home. I am continuing to volunteer for the Beyond Borders programme with another lovely pair of mentees, and am looking forward to taking my youngest son (age 19) with me this summer to meet my Vietnamese family. He has never been on a motorbike, so he&rsquo;s in for a treat. I will be running some workshops at An Binh Hospital for parents of children with communication difficulties, and visiting the art group for people with aphasia run by Dr. Dien, which has run in parallel with the one I run for the past ten years.

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My hopes for speech and language therapy for the future are already being realised - the passionate and committed therapists of the country are building up their knowledge, experience and professional networks so that foreign therapists are becoming colleagues rather than mentors. Much work is being done on developing Vietnamese tools for assessment as well as knowledge of phonetic and linguistic structures of the languages and dialects in order to understand communication needs in a uniquely&nbsp;Vietnamese context. I am absolutely honoured to have been a very small part of this journey.&nbsp;

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<img alt="Dr. Dien and Ms Cat Andrew at An Binh hospital     " src="https://ktr-dev.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com/blogs/IMG_1172.JPG" style="height:624px; width:500px" />

Dr. Dien and&nbsp;Ms Cat Andrew&nbsp;at An Binh hospital &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

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<img alt="The aphasia drawing group at An Binh hospital" src="https://ktr-dev.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com/blogs/IMG_1173.JPG" style="height:375px; width:500px" />

The aphasia drawing group at An Binh hospital

We want to share the work in speech pathology being done in Vietnam and let the community know about our Beyond Border Mentoring Program 2024. In her words, Cat shares her journey as a speech pathologist and how she got involved in speech and language therapy in Vietnam!

IMG_1171.jpeg

A much-loved mentor- Cat Andrew

Meet Ms. Gemma Scott, our fantastic in country volunteer clinical supervisor making a difference in Da Nang, Vietnam in May 2024. In her words, Gemma shares her experiences and what motivated her to volunteer with Trinh Foundation Australia.

My role included the provision of feedback for students&rsquo; assessment/intervention plans and their direct work with families. It was a paediatric caseload involving Speech Sound Disorders, Developmental Language Disorder and children presenting with neurodivergent characteristics. I also led a presentation for the staff at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Da Nang on neurodiversity and behaviour, and provided a question-and-answer session for the students at the end of their placement.

The people of Vietnam are so kind and welcoming. The community I met are very hard workers with strict schedules, but time with others is prioritised and organised with great clarity. There is a spirit of adventure and I love how socialising usually includes activities. 

My biggest takeaway is that the more international connections we make within our profession, the richer speech pathology will become. For example, a country with less formal assessment resources has students&rsquo; trained more skilfully in informal observations which is an equally important tool to use in all assessments. This ability to adapt and change a session quickly to tease out areas within a child&rsquo;s naturalistic communication is a skill I see decreasing in Australia due to the over-use of formal assessment batteries. 

I am also so impressed by the professional yet personal culture between the staff and students. This created an environment where students were comfortable to ask many insightful questions, and appeared less anxious in sessions. The culture difference of physical touch in Vietnam was also a big takeaway. Neurodivergent children were certainly benefitting from increased sensory input during sessions so they could feel their bodies in space. 

Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to continue the neurodiversity conversation. I am inspired by your approach in combining traditional and western interventions to support children. I hope we can continue to treat families more holistically within teams all over the world.

 
<img src="https://ktr-dev.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com/blogs/image-20240621094209-1.png" style="height:562px; width:750px" /> &nbsp;

Images supplied from the paediatric speech and language placement that Gemma Scott has completed in Da Nang. 
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Meet Ms. Gemma Scott, our fantastic in country volunteer clinical supervisor making a difference in Da Nang, Vietnam in May 2024. In her words, Gemma shares her experiences and what motivated her to volunteer with Trinh Foundation Australia.

recruitment gemma 2.png

In Country Volunteer Blog: The more international connections we make, the richer speech pathology will become.

Meet Jessamy Routley, a dedicated in country volunteer who recently shared her experience working as a TFA clinical educator. Here, Jessamy provides insights into the role and the profound impact of capacity building in Vietnam.&nbsp;

Jessamy&#39;s journey with TFA began after she was inspired by a colleague who had a positive experience volunteering in Vietnam. Her love for travel and interest in merging work with exploration aligned perfectly with TFA&#39;s mission. Her decision to contribute to the growth of speech therapy in Vietnam was driven by a desire to share her knowledge and make a meaningful impact.&nbsp;

During her time in Vietnam, Jessamy was stationed in Hai Duong and Da Nang, engaging with diverse healthcare settings.&nbsp;

&ldquo;During the Hai Duong section of my placement, I supported a 3-week clinical placement for 16 students in the hospital setting. The aim of this placement was to provide clinical supervision to the students on their first university placement, while also working with the lecturers to build their own clinical supervision skills. This involved clinical supervision of the students when working directly with patients to complete all aspects of intervention planning, from initial case history and assessment to therapy and home programs.&rdquo;

In&nbsp;Da Nang Jessamy focused on the ongoing professional development of graduate speech and language therapists (SALTs) in Vietnam. &quot;I supported them by providing mentoring and continuing professional development sessions,&quot; she explained, emphasising the importance of nurturing the next generation of professionals.&nbsp;

Having visited Vietnam as a tourist before, Jessamy already had a love for the country&#39;s food and culture. However, her volunteering experience brought a new dimension. &quot;The main thing that stood out to me this visit was how interested and open to learning about speech pathology everyone was &ndash; from the patients to the other hospital staff, everyone was so receptive.&quot;&nbsp;

Reflecting on the state of speech pathology in Vietnam, Jessamy stresses the significance of capacity building. &quot;Speech pathology in Vietnam is still so new &ndash; although the universities are now consistently graduating students, these early career speech pathologists face difficulties accessing guidance around complex cases. If these people better understand what a speech pathologist does, they will be better equipped to access speech pathology when needed or make appropriate referrals,&quot; she said.&nbsp;&nbsp;

One of Jessamy&#39;s favourite aspects of volunteering was witnessing positive changes in the application of clinical reasoning skills by students and new graduates. &quot;I loved seeing them apply a strategy that we had discussed during a session with a patient, or ask a question differently to show that they had taken new learnings on board.&rdquo;

Addressing potential volunteers, she advises flexibility and creative thinking: &quot;Be prepared to be challenged; it&#39;s all part of the experience and learning!&quot;

Jessamy&rsquo;s journey is a testament to the transformative power of cross-cultural collaborations in speech pathology, contributing to the growth of services in Vietnam.&nbsp;

If you have ever considered broadening your impact as a SALT through volunteering abroad, we&#39;d love to hear from you! Please contact&nbsp;<a href="mailto:volunteers-tfa@trinhfoundation.org" target="_blank">volunteers-tfa@trinhfoundation.org</a>&nbsp;to learn about upcoming opportunities.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Meet Jessamy Routley, a dedicated in country volunteer who recently shared her experience working as a TFA clinical educator. Here, Jessamy provides insights into the role and the profound impact of capacity building in Vietnam.   Jessamy's journey with TFA began after she was inspired by a colleague who had a positive experience volunteering in Vietnam. Her love for travel and interest in merging work with exploration aligned perfectly with TFA's mission. Her decision to contribute to the growth of speech therapy in Vietnam was driven by a desire to share her knowledge and make a meaningful impact. 

IMG_5845.jpg

 Insights into the role and the profound impact of capacity building in Vietnam. 

In Country Volunteer Blog: Professional Growth and Personal Satisfaction

A much-loved mentor- Cat Andrew

In Country Volunteer Blog: The more international connections we make, the richer speech pathology will become.

Transformative Experiences: Volunteering as a Speechie in Vietnam

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