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
- Mrs Sue Woodward DipSpThy, Speech Pathologist
- Dr Sally Hewat PhD, BAppSci (Sp Path) CPSP
- Ms Bronwyn Coop BA(Hons)
- Dr Sarah Verdon PhD, BHthSci(Sp Path)(Hons)
- 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
- Dr Marie Atherton PhD, BAppSci(Sp Path), GradDip(IntDevt)
Professor and Associate Dean of Work Integrated Learning Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney and founding director of TFA.
Private Practice, Central Coast, NSW. Conjoint Fellow in Speech Pathology, University of Newcastle and founding director of TFA.
Head of Speech Pathology Program, Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle, NSW.
Private consultant.
Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Speech and Language Pathology, Faculty of Science, Charles Sturt University, Albury NSW.
Speech Pathology Lecturer, Faculty of Education and Arts, The University of Newcastle, NSW.
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
Volunteer Co-ordinator Team:
Online Mentoring, Carla Mira
Carla has been a speech pathologist since 2008 and has worked across Australia and the United Kingdom in various paediatric roles. Her first in-country volunteer experience with TFA took place in Hanoi in 2014 and it was here that she truly fell in love with Vietnam and the aspiring speech and language therapists.
Carla returned to HCMC in 2015 to deliver a master class on Early Intervention: service approaches. In 2017 she also provided in-country supervision within DaNang to final year students and in 2018, while moving to France became one of the first Beyond Border Mentors. In 2019 Carla coordinated the Beyond Border Program and this is where her role as a PO for Trinh started. She is currently working on TFA’s Young Ambassador Program which is of great interest to her as it allows international speech therapy students to connect with Vietnamese culture and the opportunities and barriers of the profession within Vietnam.
In-country student supervision, Merran Peisker
Merran had the opportunity to travel to Vietnam with Project Boomerang, Cleft Care Team in 2008 as a 3rd year speech pathology student. There she met Sue Woodward while taking part in an additional clinical placement. Merran was able to provide assessment and training to health staff in hospitals around the country on a range of speech pathology areas of practice.
Following this, as a qualified speech pathologist, she volunteered with TFA in 2011, 2013 and 2014 before assuming the role of Volunteer Coordinator from 2015-2017. Since then Merran has helped conduct TFA’s online mentoring Program Beyond Boarders from 2019 – 2022.
Media and Communications, Tess Stolarchuk
Tess is a communications and digital marketing professional with over 10 years experience working for corporate multinationals, primarily within the health and cosmetics sector. Her speciality lies in applying an integrated approach to communications, leveraging the power of PR through social media and creative content to shape brand reputation.
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.