ReACH team

Employee Voices Nicola Orr

Speech and Language Therapist 

“Although we found that we did have transferable skills which enabled us to fulfil the role we were being asked to do, we found the loss of our own “professional” identity difficult. Having worked as a Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) in Children’s Services roles since qualifying at age 21, much of our identity is defined by our clinical expertise, rather than our leadership skills, and at times in our new roles we felt we had lost part of ourselves.

“However, the ReACH team embraced us as paediatric SLT staff with no clinical role in this crisis. Our lack of clinical expertise in rehabilitation or adult care was never a barrier at any point. The substantive Team Leads and coordinators in ReACH were incredibly supportive from the outset, guiding us through processes and procedures and answering every “silly” question. We received very positive feedback from ReACH team leaders and coordinators and heartfelt messages when we left to return to our substantive roles.”