US SLP moving to Australia

Hi, I am currently trying to move to Melbourne, Australia. I am finishing my CFY and wanted to know if anyone had advice about SPA membership, visa, where to look for jobs? Anything would be helpful! Thanks!

It's hard to move to Australia, I would call an embassy or find a forum online about this specific topic. When I was in the UK (a lot of Brits go over) and they all said how impossible it was to move over there and how expensive it is.

Lola32 in Scranton, Pennsylvania said: Hi, I am currently trying to move to Melbourne, Australia. I am finishing my CFY and wanted to know if anyone had advice about SPA membership, visa, where to look for jobs? Anything would be helpful! Thanks!

I am thinking of doing a similar move, can you post how the process is goin
Thanks

SLPinNYC in New York, New York said: I am thinking of doing a similar move, can you post how the process is goin
Thanks

Fido, I want to find an SLPA position in Australia. If anyone has any tips that would be great!

annon in Gardendale, Alabama said: It's hard to move to Australia, I would call an embassy or find a forum online about this specific topic. When I was in the UK (a lot of Brits go over) and they all said how impossible it was to move over there and how expensive it is.

I just moved back to Canada from Sydney, Australia where I was looking for work as an SLP. There are definitely multiple jobs available over there; however, if an employer can choose a local vs a foreign it was in my experience they choose local. I would urge if you are strongly considering a move to contact both ASHA and SPA to find out more details. If you are already a member of ASHA you will need to get your credentials assessed by SPA and once approved you will need to become a member of SPA to practice. Cost for both is around 1000 that is if you are going in the new year. Otherwise you will have to apply for membership now until the end of december and then reapply again in January.

I left Australia because I realized how difficult it was going to be for me to work in a setting and in a way that made me most comfortable. Plus the financial burdens of the costs associated to holding two membership and certifications was more than my budget could handle at this time. Australia is beautiful so I would urge that maybe you plan a visit, check out the jobs, interview and talk to employers, than make decision about working there before you spend the money necessary and than realize it isn't your thing. I am now back in hometown in Canada dealing with similar issues as I received my training and work experience in the US..
Good luck!

sarah in Windsor, Ontario said: I just moved back to Canada from Sydney, Australia where I was looking for work as an SLP. There are definitely multiple jobs available over there; however, if an employer can choose a local vs a foreign it was in my experience they choose local.
I left Australia because I realized how difficult it was going to be for me to work in a setting and in a way that made me most comfortable.

Thanks for your post, that is helpful to know as I am interested in moving from the US to Australia as well. I am wondering, though, what was the specific reason you didn't stay? You say that there were jobs, but its tough because they choose locals first... but were there enough jobs that you could have obtained one? I'm guessing that the jobs you could get were not in the area you wanted to work in (schools, etc?). Any more detail would be helpful to me.

Did you get the feeling like this was the same situation all over Australia, or perhaps more of an issue in Sydney?

I found out that Australia doesn't require a masters, only a bachelors to practice SLP... but do you know if U.S. workers are really marketable with only a bachelors there?

Thanks!

I'm an Australian-trained SP (as we're known as speech pathologists here) working in Aus. SPA (Speech Pathology Australia) membership is optional here, but you need to be eligible for membership in order to work in Aus for most positions. In Queensland you have to be registered.

A Bachelor degree has traditionally been the entry point to practice in Australia. However, our university system is structured differently to North America, in that our degrees are specialised rather than general - so you only study speech pathology and related subjects (anatomy, psychology, statistics) in a 4 year degree, with minimal (if any) electives. There is no 'general education' requirement - we finish our general education in secondary school. Since 2000, there have also been 2 year coursework Masters entry programs available for students who already have a Bachelor degree in another field.

My guess is that you would not be qualified to practice in Australia with a Bachelor degree from a North American university, because this is not the entry qualification to practice there. However, you would need to have your qualification/s evaluated by SPA to determine this.

In Australia, you can work in hospitals (acute or rehab), schools, community health centres, and private practice. Compared to the US, there is less of a focus on schools in Australia, although I work in schools (in Victoria). Schools in New South Wales do not employ speech pathologists; instead school-aged children see speech pathologists at community health centres. We typically only see students once a fortnight, rather than several times a week in the US, as there aren't enough of us. I think about 50-60% of speech pathologists only work part-time in Australia.

I've not worked in hospitals other than when I was a student, but most acute hospital positions just deal with dysphagia, and maybe brief language/communication screenings.

Thanks AusSP! That is very helpful information. It makes more sense now that I understand how a bachelors is structured differently there.

Is the home health business big there? Also, why is it that so many are part time workers? I am guessing that speech pathologists are in high demand there and that salaries might be comparable to the US?

Thanks!

how are the grad schools for speech in Australia compare to canada/us? is it worth making the move to study there. I've heard there are lot of racial and safety issues associated with foreign students.

sarah in Windsor, Ontario said: I just moved back to Canada from Sydney, Australia where I was looking for work as an SLP. There are definitely multiple jobs available over there; however, if an employer can choose a local vs a foreign it was in my experience they choose local. I would urge if you are strongly considering a move to contact both ASHA and SPA to find out more details. If you are already a member of ASHA you will need to get your credentials assessed by SPA and once approved you will need to become a member of SPA to practice. Cost for both is around 1000 that is if you are going in the new year. Otherwise you will have to apply for membership now until the end of december and then reapply again in January.

I left Australia because I realized how difficult it was going to be for me to work in a setting and in a way that made me most comfortable. Plus the financial burdens of the costs associated to holding two membership and certifications was more than my budget could handle at this time. Australia is beautiful so I would urge that maybe you plan a visit, check out the jobs, interview and talk to employers, than make decision about working there before you spend the money necessary and than realize it isn't your thing. I am now back in hometown in Canada dealing with similar issues as I received my training and work experience in the US..
Good luck!

Rina in Windsor, Ontario said: how are the grad schools for speech in Australia compare to canada/us? is it worth making the move to study there. I've heard there are lot of racial and safety issues associated with foreign students.

Only since 2000 have 2-year Masters entry programs in SLP (or SP as it's known here) been available in Australia. A 4 year, specialised Bachelor degree is the traditional entry-level qualification in Aus. Unlike the US, there are no specific pre-requisites for the Masters courses here, I don't believe (other than you must have a Bachelor degree, in any field). A background in linguistics/psychology/anatomy and physiology would be useful, and may be preferred (but not essential) by some uni's. Unlike US/Canada, there is no Clinical Foundation Year here, no board exam, and no CCC's. If you completed your studies here and returned to Nth America to practice, I'm guessing you would need to at least sit the board exam/s and obtain your CCC's (or have gained sufficient practical experience working in Oz for 1-2 years first) - but I'm only speculating, you would need to check with ASHA/CASLPA.

There were significant media reports of Indian students being attacked in 2009; although apparently the perpetrators were mainly from ethnic minority groups.

To answer previous q'ns from Jake, a lot of SP's are part-time in Oz I'm guessing because it's a female dominated profession with many who have young children. It's difficult to say how the salaries compare given fluctuations in the exchange rate, but I'm guessing between A$65k and A$85k would be average for a SP with a few years' experience in Oz. To my knowledge, home health isn't a big thing here (although it may be known under a different name? I'm not quite sure of the concept... SP's provide therapy in patient's home? That happens a bit with pre-school agencies, I'm guessing not as frequently with adult patients).

Rina in Windsor, Ontario said: how are the grad schools for speech in Australia compare to canada/us? is it worth making the move to study there. I've heard there are lot of racial and safety issues associated with foreign students.

Only since 2000 have 2-year Masters entry programs in SLP (or SP as it's known here) been available in Australia. A 4 year, specialised Bachelor degree is the traditional entry-level qualification in Aus. Unlike the US, there are no specific pre-requisites for the Masters courses here, I don't believe (other than you must have a Bachelor degree, in any field). A background in linguistics/psychology/anatomy and physiology would be useful, and may be preferred (but not essential) by some uni's. Unlike US/Canada, there is no Clinical Foundation Year here, no board exam, and no CCC's. If you completed your studies here and returned to Nth America to practice, I'm guessing you would need to at least sit the board exam/s and obtain your CCC's (or have gained sufficient practical experience working in Oz for 1-2 years first) - but I'm only speculating, you would need to check with ASHA/CASLPA.

There were significant media reports of Indian students being attacked in 2009; although apparently the perpetrators were mainly from ethnic minority groups.

To answer previous q'ns from Jake, a lot of SP's are part-time in Oz I'm guessing because it's a female dominated profession with many who have young children. It's difficult to say how the salaries compare given fluctuations in the exchange rate, but I'm guessing between A$65k and A$85k would be average for a SP with a few years' experience in Oz. To my knowledge, home health isn't a big thing here (although it may be known under a different name? I'm not quite sure of the concept... SP's provide therapy in patient's home? That happens a bit with pre-school agencies, I'm guessing not as frequently with adult patients).

This is great information. I have a Masters in Linguistics from the US, I'm fluent in Spanish, and was an accent and dialect coach until I entered the field of speech pathology. I have an SLP Assistant license in Texas where I work for a home health agency and, following an unexpected and painful divorce and considering I am single and full of intellectual energy, I want to expand my horizons in the field. This would require furthering my education. At the same time I had the idea that I want to move to Australia because I like what I've heard about the life there. I am a rare SLP Assistant who reads a lot and it seems a lot of great research, especially in Audiology is top notch in Australia. My concern is that I'm 35, although lots of mature-aged people study in the US, especially for a Ph.d, so I imagine that since there are good programs in Australia it is similar. I want to specialize in feeding and swallowing in children. It is a concern I've seen a lot doing speech therapy and I have had the repeated dishonor of standing by helpless with the parents as the child on the waiting list for this service has a G-button when he needs to learn to eat or just avoids food while getting thinner and thinner. We call this feeding therapy in the US. Are there many feeding therapists in Australia? You say that visit frequencies are much smaller than in the US, do you think there is the kind of advocacy present at the moment to increase this number based on the research? Thank you, I'm just exploring! :)

I was speaking specifically about SLP in the schools when I mentioned the frequency of therapy. I'm not sure how it is in other settings. I think one of the main reasons there is less frequency/service in the schools here is that we don't have a national policy like 'no child left behind' in the US. But even if we had that, at this point in time, we wouldn't have nearly enough SLP's to cover 3 sessions of therapy a week (or whatever it is). SLP is still a relatively small profession in Aus, with something like 5-6 thousand SLP's (around half of whom work part time) in the whole of Australia.

When I studied my degree, there were probably around 20 'mature age' students in a class of about 75. I think the oldest in the class at that time would have been around late 40's, so I don't think 35 is 'too old'.