Introducing our new ESLA Board member: Giuseppe Mancini!

Giuseppe works with adults with neuropsychological disorders (such as TBI, Stroke, and Dementia). He has been actively involved in ESLA for quite some time now. He started 7 years ago as an extra delegate in CPLOL and was voted ESLA treasurer in May 2019 and re-elected in May 2022. In Italy, he was the President of the Federazione Logopedisti Italiani for 8 years and is now also the same association’s treasurer. 

Giuseppe’s motto is “The more you know the more you can”.

MEET YOUR FELLOW ESLA MEMBERS

In this issue’s spotlight: The Swedish Association of Speech and Language Therapists - Logopedförbundet.

Hard facts 

Founded in: 1966

President: Kerstin Wiström

Number of members: 2387 (members have to be either SLT students or licensed SLTs)

ESLA delegate: Kerstin Wiström

What were your most important achievements in the past years?

We've created a larger awareness of our profession within Swedish politics, which means we're now a part of larger discussions and processes regarding health care and education. We're now also collaborating a lot more with other professions' organisations (such as PT, OT and psychologists) and patient organisations. Since employing professional support we would also say that our communication with our members has improved a lot, which has been good for our image but it's also noticeable that members are now more aware of what's going on in Swedish health care politics, which in turn makes it easier for them to advocate for our profession.

What are the biggest challenges SLTs are facing in modern day society?

As for most health professions: bad working conditions. Too large workloads, low and slow salary development and not enough continuous training.

In your opinion, what is the future of the profession?

Even more teamwork with other professions. We make ourselves and our competence visible and valued when we work with and educate other professions. We also think that SLTs, at least in Sweden, will have more flexible working conditions in the future, where the SLT will come to the patient more instead of the patient coming to a clinic, and with more opportunities to work from home, for administration and digital consultations. It's already increasing and we think it will only continue to develop.

Why do you consider it important for SLT associations to be a part of ESLA? 

It's important for European SLTs to have a European network, and it is important for that network to be purely for SLTs. I think there is a lot of potential for increased collaboration, and for us we see it as a way to keep track of what's going on within the field across Europe.

LATEST NEWS

On June 24th, the ESLA Board and delegates met online for an Extraordinary General Assembly (EGA). Here’s a brief rundown of the most important decisions and announcements.

1. We welcome back the French association Fédération National des Orthoponistes (FNO) among our members! Sarah Degiovani, the President of FNO says: “Since European cooperation is essential, the Fédération des Orthophonistes stands ready to collaborate closely and actively, in order to contribute to shape the landscape of speech therapy in Europe and ensure a better quality of life for our patients. We are therefore delighted to reconnect with the ESLA community and colleagues from all over Europe.”
   This feeling definitely is mutual. ESLA is looking forward to many fruitful collaborations!
2. ESLA announced its first ever Expert Group, which will be working on a Policy Paper on “The role of SLTs in the instrumental evaluation of swallowing, voice, airway, and tracheostomy”.
   SLTs’ scope these practices within Europe are not unified. With this Policy Report ESLA aims to support SLTs’ rights to be educated in and to perform instrumental evaluation methods. Further ESLA aims to support patients’ rights to SLT quality care and professional expertise.
   We are very excited for this first group to get together and we are convinced that more Expert Groups will follow shortly!
3. Mark your calendars: We are thrilled to announce that the 2024 ESLA Congress will be taking place between September 26th and September 28th 2024 in Bruges, Belgium with the theme: The Power of Communication in the Quality of Life. More information about the Call for Abstract submissions will follow shortly. We look forward to meeting you as participants or presenters in Bruges! 

ESLA Chair, Norma Camilleri was invited by the Education Academy of Vytautas Magnus University (Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas) in Kaunas, Lithuania, to give a keynote speech in the forum about the profession of Speech and Language Therapy in Europe. The forum included Professor Lina Kaminskienė, Head of Faculty, representatives of the Health and Education Ministries, Associate Professor Vilma Makauskiene, Associate Professor Daiva Kairene and Dr. Simona Daniute amongst others. Several members of the Lithuanian Association of Speech Language Therapy attended the forum. Our Chair also had the opportunity to meet with Vice Rector Dr. Vilma Bejeikiene. It was a great opportunity to be amongst various important Lithuanian stakeholders and emphasise the importance of initial training standards, recognition and above all regulation of our profession in all European countries. Ms Camilleri emphasised that we must not fragment our profession and that together we can achieve new heights for our profession which makes a difference in the quality of life of our clients, patients and their families.

Last but not least, we would like to invite you to complete a survey based on a joint initiative of The European Speech and Language Therapy Association (ESLA) and the International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP). The survey explores experiences of staff retention in the profession of SLP/SLT and only takes about 10 minutes to complete. You can access the survey through this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FGM9FG3. All responses will be anonymous. The findings will be disseminated to ESLA and IALP membership. In addition we will share findings more widely as workforce availability and planning is of interest to many health organisations, governments and the World Health Organisation. Please also share this link with your SLT colleagues and any people who trained in the profession however no longer work as such.
On behalf of both IALP and ESLA, we thank you very much for your support!