After 15+ years of lawyering, I retrained as a speech pathologist.
Friends and workmates thought it was an early mid-life crisis.
But it was the right call.
Retraining opened my eyes to a whole new way of seeing the world. It gave me the chance to so something practical and useful in my community, face-to-face, six days a week.
With my wife, we started our own business: a clinic in Sydney. We called it Banter Speech & Language because we wanted it to be a friendly, good-humoured, playful, and positive place where everyone is welcome.
Back then, not many people knew much about speech pathology. We decided to share free, evidence-based information with the public in plain English, every week, to help people with communication challenges.
A decade on, we’re still at it. Our gigantic Banter Speech & Language website is now used by tens of thousands of people around the world every month, including by parents, carers, other speech pathologists, and teachers looking for guidance; and we’ve distilled some of our most popular articles into a collection of free books for families:
- Developmental Language Disorder: A Free Guide for Families
- Clear Speech Essentials
- Language Therapy Essentials
- Reading Essentials
- Lidcombe Program Activities for Children who Stutter
As Banter Speech & Language grew, we hired and trained a star team. Supervising speech pathologists properly in private practice became an obsession.
Even with a background in law and business, running a health and disability provider business is really tough:
- Not enough time.
- Too much red tape and paperwork.
- Stressed-out systems.
- Never enough resources to meet demand.
- Owner and staff burn out.
I decided to do something to help others in the same boat:
- I wrote a free ebook for speech pathologists about how to launch a private practice.
- I wrote a book and training program about how to supervise speech pathologists properly in private practice.
- I co-wrote a university course to prepare undergraduate health professionals for the realities of business and private practice.
- I wrote articles and infographics summarising practical business and management strategies for providers.
But it wasn’t enough.
I wanted to make useful tools and resources that allied health and disability providers could use in their day-to-day practice. So I started:
- Banter Speech Preps to publish therapy resources and online training modules for speech pathologists and teachers; and
- The Provider Loft to publish templates, policies, procedures, business tools, and online training modules for allied health and NDIS providers, professionals, and workers.
I continue to make these tools and resources so other professionals and providers:
- don’t have to reinvent wheels; and
- can focus on the work that matters most: helping their clients and customers.
No one I know works in health or disability for the money or prestige. But, despite the challenges, I love:
- providing allied health care to children and adults as a speech pathologist;
- sharing free evidence-based information with the public;
- supervising my team at Banter Speech & Language;
- volunteering to causes that make a difference, e.g. as a director of SPELD NSW, and as a member of the Speech Pathology Australia Ethics Board;
- helping other professionals and providers understand and meet their obligations to regulators;
- living a life of purpose in my local community; and
- spending time with my wife, kids and the rest of my family.
Along the way, I’ve met so many inspiring families, carers, teachers, doctors, allied health professionals, academics, advocates, and NDIS providers who do essential – often undervalued and stressful – work to support children and adults.
This year, I’m keen to make more useful tools and resources for you!
Find me
