Join Robert Serianni, MS, CCC-SLP, FNAP, the chair and program director of the department of Speech-Language Pathology at Salus University, as he moderates a podcast that focuses on the Aphasia Support Group at the Speech-Language Institute. He is joined by the supervisor and students that have had the pleasure of working within that group.
Bob Serianni:
Something that the Speech-Language Institute really likes to do for our patients and our student experiences is to give them that individual one-on-one approach to therapy, as well as what does it look like when we work with clients in groups? And one of our longest standing groups is the Aphasia Support Group, which is supported by the National Aphasia Association. So, I welcome you all to our talk this afternoon.
Alison Finkelstein:
Hi, I'm Allie Finkelstein. I'm a clinical educator in the SLI. I've been a clinical educator there since its inception in 2015, and started the Aphasia Support Group in 2017.
Amanda Moxham:
Hi, I am Amanda Moxham, and I am a second-year graduate student in the SLP program.
Gianna Cicini:
Hi, I'm Gianna Cicini. I am a first-year student at Salus and I'm one of the co-leaders of the Aphasia Support Group.
Courtney Bernhardt:
Hi, I'm Courtney Bernhardt. I am also a first-year student in the SLP program, and I am a co-leader with Gianna for the Aphasia Support Group.
Bob Serianni:
Why did you choose to come to Salus?
Amanda Moxham:
I graduated from a pretty large undergrad program. My CSD graduating class was about 100 students and the environment was pretty intimidating. I didn't have close relationships with a lot of my professors in the program and I knew I wanted the opposite for graduate school. So when I came to Salus, I just immediately felt really welcomed by the faculty and the SLP program, and by the Salus staff. I could just tell that the environment was really positive and supportive. And I've been saying since day one, I've always felt like my professors and clinical educators want me to succeed, and they're very available. They were always offering the support that I felt like I needed and I was just really excited to be at Salus. When I was there touring, I also really loved that we were able to work with clients as soon as we started school. I think that's something that sets apart Salus from other programs. I think just gaining that experience really early on sets the stage for the rest of the clinical experiences that we get in the clinic and in the community. And that was just a really huge factor for me when I was deciding between schools.
Gianna Cicini:
I actually went out of state for undergraduate school. I'm originally from Pennsylvania, and I knew I always wanted to work in Philly or the surrounding area. So a lot of the schools that I applied to were in the Philly area or surrounding areas, but as soon as I came to Salus for my interview, it just felt like a good fit. Meeting the staff, having my interview, it at all flowed so naturally. So it just really felt like it was where I wanted to be.
Courtney Bernhardt:
Just like Amanda was saying that she came from a bigger undergrad program, so did I. And when I found out that Salus is just a graduate program, there's no competition between the graduate students and the undergraduate students for talking with the faculty or anything like that, smaller class sizes, that really drew me to Salus. And the clinical exposure in the beginning, being able to see clients, I felt like it was your first week. I was so scared, but it was crazy how comfortable you felt with your clinical educators being with you every step of the way.
Bob Serianni:
We do to intentionally sort of give you right over to the clinic. We want our students to get as much experience in clinical care under our roof, so to speak, in order for you to succeed in externship, which will make you succeed in your profession. And that early clinical exposure is really the cornerstone to the Salus program.
Allie, part of that early clinical exposure is to give students this group experience so tell us a little bit about the Aphasia Support Group, what its goals and purposes are.
Alison Finkelstein:
We start the students immediately into the clinic, as Bob just mentioned, and one of the important components of that is being able to lead a group. Group treatment or group therapy looks different in different settings, but for our setting we wanted it to be a support group that would provide an opportunity for our clients to be with other peers that have aphasia, and their caregivers, and to be able to provide them with education and opportunities to practice their communication skills in a group setting. So it's a little different than that individual treatment that the students gained experience in. It allows the students to learn leadership skills and how to facilitate a supportive environment for those with communication disorders. With our particular group, we go by the philosophy of the life participation approach to aphasia, so we reinforced with our members that we want them to be able to learn how to live with aphasia rather than recovering. So this is an opportunity to do that, to really hone their skills and learn problem solving and strategies in different settings.
Bob Serianni:
As co-leaders, Courtney and Gianna, you are getting to sort of do the stuff that Allie's talking about. The leadership, the group dynamics, who hasn't talked, who's talked too much. Can you give our listeners an idea of some of the topics or projects that you're currently working on with the group?
Gianna Cicini:
We really centered our sessions around the life participation approach, which is a very functional way for the members to learn compensatory strategies. So ways to communicate easier. We just did a treatment goal session, and it gives them a different perspective on maybe what they are already living with. We give a lot of information on aphasia in general that seems to help the clients and their caregivers.
Courtney Bernhardt:
And also given the pandemic that we're currently living in, one of our first sessions we talked about how the pandemic itself has hindered their access to communicating with others, whether in person or online, because video chatting can also be very difficult for some people. So just having that space where people can vent about what's going on in their own lives and people can relate to them. It's a great group.
Bob Serianni:
Amanda, as an alumni co-leader of the Aphasia Support Group, how did that help you?
Amanda Moxham:
For my fall externship, I was in a hospital, outpatient setting. We didn't do any group treatment, but I think from the Aphasia Support Group, I learned a lot of substantial counseling skills. I had a few clients with aphasia and then several without, but I just learned how to listen to the clients. Like Courtney said, venting is huge. And adjusting to these diagnoses is not easy. So just being an open ear to discuss what's troubling them or anything that they're having struggles with was really helpful. I was able to refer a client to the Aphasia Support Group, and I hope she's still attending. I think it's just a really awesome way for people with aphasia to connect. Especially now, it's hard to connect and having a voice to discuss any problems that one is having is really important.
Bob Serianni:
So Allie, is that the point? Is that the experience you hope to develop for the students?
Alison Finkelstein:
I think that the students will agree with me that they've learned so much about aphasia from our aphasia clients, in addition of course to what they're learning academically. But we leave every meeting saying, "Wow, that blew me away that member said that, or they shared that." We've covered a gamut of topics. Typically the students have a PowerPoint to talk off of, but the conversation and discussion leads elsewhere at times. So the students have to be very fluid. They let the clients dictate where the conversation might go while they're still facilitating the communication and their goal of the meeting. But some of the topics have included challenging situations, aphasia awareness, being an advocate for yourself as living with aphasia, modalities for expression, expressing gratitude. The challenge this year, or since the pandemic, the challenge has been meeting virtually because the group when we started, was meeting in person once monthly. So now we meet virtually, or remotely, once a month. And that has been a challenge. And the students have really risen to the occasion and have learned how to facilitate the group in that dynamic.
