Clinician Diaries

My name is Elma Griffin and I am a speech & language therapist working in primary care. I was drawn to this career because I had an interest in being a health professional and in helping others. Working as a speech and language therapist affords you the opportunity to work with and make a difference to the lives of people of any age. That has certainly been the case in my career to date. I previously worked in the acute care setting where my primary caseload consisted of adults with a variety of neurological conditions including stroke, Parkinson's Disease & dementia. I also worked with infants and children with feeding, eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties and worked in the neonatal intensive care unit, special care baby unit and paediatric ward.

My current role in primary care involves working with children with a variety of speech & language difficulties. I have enjoyed the diversity of my professional working life to date. A speech & language therapist has a unique set of skills that are transferable to a variety of settings; meaning there is great variability in the type of work a speech & language therapist can do . A speech and language therapist can make a difference to people's lives, we are there to help people through crises and difficult periods in their lives,  providing advice and reassurance to help people navigate through the presenting communication or feeding difficulties. Working as a speech & language therapist is a very rewarding career and I couldn't imagine my life doing anything else. 

Working as a speech and language therapist affords you the opportunity to work with and make a difference to the lives of people of any age.