Wow! What a busy term! Thank you to all of our lovely families for keeping in touch with us through illnesses, COVID, and taking time out. It has been a great term for making progress, and refining processes for our communication with families.
AUsome Supports
We are so pleased to welcome AUsome Supports Support Coordination into our space in the clinic. AUsome Supports is a Neurodivergent owned and run company that provides support coordination services to both children and adults. If you require these services, or are looking for additional support in managing your NDIS plan or applying for funding, you can speak with Kim (in our office Monday and Tuesday) or touch base with her via kim.moran@ausomesupports.com.au.
Comings and Goings for the School Holidays
Our Director, Sarah, will be gone for the whole school holidays. Many of you will know the many cancellations of our wedding due to Covid, and we finally tied the knot in April, 2022. I will finally be going away to New Zealand for a long-awaited break and honeymoon. I will not be in contact via email or phone for the period for 22/9/22-6/10/22 inclusive.
Emma will be working Monday and Tuesday, both weeks of the school holidays, and enjoying Wednesday-Fridays off with her beautiful family. She will be available on Mondays and Tuesdays to answer any queries via phone or email but we ask for your patience over this time.
Fees for Service
It has been a very busy time for us all this year, managing going back to school, therapy appointments, and illness after illness! We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that invoices are due seven (7) days from the date of issue. These can be paid via bank transfer with details on your invoice, or in person in the clinic. Failure to pay invoices within the expected timeframe on a regular basis is a cause for termination of services. If you are having difficulty paying invoices within the timeframe or require an extension, please get in touch with Sarah on sarah@foundationfirstsp.com and we can work something out. Please see our Ceasing Services policy attached here.
COVID-19 Update
It's been a rough flu and COVID-19 winter for all of us and I know I'm not alone in being super happy that it's finally starting to warm up! A short update from us. Speech Pathology Australia is presently directing clinics to the latest Public Health Orders regarding making decisions about wearing masks for services. As we are not a public or private health facility, masks are not mandated. From Term 4. clinicians and families will no longer be required to wear a mask for provision of services. It remains individual choice if you wish to continue wearing a mask and you may request that your clinician wears a face mask.
If you have any questions about this, please reach out.
School Visits
We provide a lot of services to children in preschool and schools and we are shifting the way we touch base with families to improve clarity for you, and save time for us! A new proforma has been introduced and this will be provided via email as a pdf. file to provide families with an update about their child's service, goals, and home practice. Please reach out if you have any questions regarding this new form or if you have any suggestions on improving it!
Another reminder too, that we are charging Non-Contact Billable time for the time spent putting this together as it falls outside the usual scope of providing therapy AND is an essential element of clear communication and progression towards goals with our clients and their families.
We are REGISTERED!
A short note here. After waiting for 12+ months, we've finally heard back from the NDIS Safeguarding Commission and Foundation First is officially an NDIS Registered provider. We can now provide services to children who are over the age of seven (7) years of age who are NDIA (or Agency) Managed with their NDIS plan. Unfortunately, for children under seven (7), we can only provide services to plan and self-managed participants.
We are hiring again!
We absolutely love having Emma on board and it's time to build the team again! We are looking for another speech pathologist to join our little team and allow us to expand our services. If you know a speech pathologist looking for a change with flexible hours, a close knit team, and great opportunities for clinical growth. We have an ad on LinkedIn so please feel free to share around or get in touch!
Job Description You will work with paediatric clients, focussing primarily on NDIS participants. You will be part of a small team (2 speech pathologists, admin) that provides clinic, home, and school/preschool visits to participants in the Maitland area and/or closer to your home location. We aim for a mix of clinic and outreach days so that you get variety in your caseload and flexibility in work hours to make sure you are living the life that you want.
We offer:
🌱 Regular Peer Mentoring and Supervision with experienced clinicians
🌱 Actually flexible works hours (just tell me when you want to work)
🌱 All clinic resources and a budget for providing you with what you need
🌱 PD Budget and five (5) days paid Study Leave per year
🌱 Capped billable hours (5 per day including travel and indirect time)
Foundation First is passionate about hiring individuals with lived experience of disability and a passion for helping others. Reach out to chat about the role and how we can work together!
From Sarah:
I never really shared any wedding photos so please enjoy my husband and I getting married in the rain below:
We are looking forward to working with you into next Term! Please reach out to your therapist to confirm your appointments for Term 4.
Comments