Updated Covid19 Response

To Our Clients & Friends

Due to restrictions in place around Coronavirus, us speechies needed to adapt and innovate so our clients could continue their sessions and all the growth that accompanies them. We did adapt, and we used telepractice, on the whole, VERY successfully. We fully recognise that it wasn’t just the speechies who had to adapt, though. The families and individuals to whom we provide service and our reception team needed to pivot, breathe, move with, guide, and trust us during uncertain, more-than-usual changing times. We thank them for that. We thank you for that.

At the start, we didn’t know how things would look. And we said that. We said:

“I don’t know”

“I’m not sure”

We said:

“We’re going to try this because what we do know is that we, and you (our clients) ought to continue our therapy journey together, however we can.”

One of the most courageous things we can do is say “I don’t know”, or “I haven’t got an answer to that”.

We did that.

At the start of this pandemic, we said “we don’t know”.

And do you know what people said to us? Can you guess?

They said, “thank you”.

They said, “we think it’s going to be scary, too”.

They said, “we are prepared to try this as well”.

They said, “we don’t want to give up on the work either, so let’s try”.

So we did try, together. And it worked. And as we went back into our offices, we learned from the opportunity. We found out things we might never have tried. And we are a better practice for it.

As we re-opened the clinic SPT had a plan to keep our team members and clients safe and limit the spread of Covid19.

We re-opened in stages, with a gradual return. While our therapists are now all back in the clinic, some clients are still meeting their therapist by telepractice. Some clients are having a mix of appointments, with some sessions in the clinic and some by telepractice. These are being arranged using a broad needs-based assessment of the many variables relevant to individual clients, individual therapists and the many relational needs.

There are some things we are doing a bit differently so we can keep everyone safe. Some of the changes that are important to know about include:

• How we enter and exit the clinic
• Who can come to appointments
• What we’re doing before, during and after sessions to follow new rules about distancing and hygiene

Appointments that happen at school or home might be a bit different too.

One year later, we are still taking these precautions. Thank you for helping us keep each other safe. There are also some new things we are doing now as we continue to adapt to the ‘new normal’ of navigating everyday life in a pandemic world.

To reflect those changes, and more recently the re-opening of our state borders we’ve updated our Covid Safety Plan. You can read the most recently updated version here: SPT Covid Safety Plan updated Nov2021.

We’ll continue to update this plan as we move forward and learn, and as further relevant communications from Government come to hand.

We will also contact our clients and families to discuss the next steps, but, as always, you can reach out to us through our reception on (03) 6234 5717 or via our contact page.