What can you offer the Association?

The Association is a thriving body of professionals working towards the same goals, supported by a few hard-working paid staff across Australia. The many achievements made each year by the Association would not be possible without the time and commitment offered by its active members with their special expertise, insights and enthusiasm.

Volunteering Opportunities

Who are the Volunteers?
Anyone who has an interest in the values and goals of the Association can assist the Association in realising those values and goals.

Members of the Association are involved in all sorts of ways:

• You can contribute your skills and increase your own learning by involvement in the development of a Position Paper or on a Task Group, or as a Branch Portfolio Committee member
• You can contribute your skills and develop networks and organisational skills, by being an Editor for Speak Out
• You can contribute your knowledge and develop leadership skills by being a Branch Portfolio Leader, a Councillor, a Branch President, or the National President
• You can contribute your expertise and increase your national recognition as a Spokesperson
• You can contribute your expertise and increase your networking and your understanding of speech pathology within a wider context by representing the Association on external committees or alliances
• You can contribute your expertise and develop governance skills by being involved in the Ethics Committee, the Fellowship Committee, or Council
• You can contribute your expertise and increase your exposure by being on an Editorial Board for the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, or Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech Language Pathology publications

Most of these opportunities are on a purely volunteer basis. However, each year budgets are allocated to pay honorariums to some of these project officer and senior positions. The honorarium is not necessarily directly related to the number of hours or amount of work.

Levels of Involvement

You can be involved as little or as much as your current circumstances and goals permit.

A number of factors may influence the degree of involvement of a member, such as time available, other responsibilities (e.g., work, family), location, the requirements of the role assumed.

Some examples of the amount of involvement would include:

• Providing input or feedback to a particular document over a limited time
• Attending infrequent meetings as a representative
• Attending quarterly teleconferences
• Attendance at regular monthly meetings
• Organising events at specified times
• Weekly emails
• Writing documents and reports for a specific project or on a regular monthly or quarterly basis

Why Volunteer

Benefits of Volunteering
Volunteers for the Association gain a number of personal and professional benefits from their volunteering involvement:

• Gaining new knowledge and skills
• Contributing to progress in specific areas of the profession
• Contributing to the big picture of the profession
• Meeting and working with other speech pathologists outside the workplace, sometimes across Australia
• Personal satisfaction – being able to say “I was a part of  that!”
• Career enhancement potential
• Gaining points in the Professional Self-Regulation Program

How the Association Assists
The Association acknowledges and values input and involvement from its members through:

• Provision of training where considerable responsibility is required. For example, training is available for: mentors and mentees as a part of the Association’s Mentoring program; for members of the Ethics Board; for members of Council
• Reimbursement of reasonable and agreed costs
• Specific rewarding and recognition budget items
• Recognition through the Awards system
• Recognition through different membership categories such as Fellowship, Life Membership, Alumnus membership
• Mentoring support. For example, for representatives on committees, project officers, Councillors, Branch Executive

How to get Involved

Contact your Branch President or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to discuss opportunities for contributing according to your experience and availability.