Awareness of local services

Speech pathologists should develop an awareness of local Aboriginal health services and Aboriginal specific social services.

Reference: Armstrong, Hersh, Hayward, Fraser and Brown, 2012
NHMRC level of Evidence: Qual.

Rationale: Knowing what services are available can help in discharge and therapy planning as well as advocacy.  For example it may be that the Aboriginal health service offers a chronic disease service/clinics and the speech pathologist could facilitate the client's access to this and offer to assist the clinicians in their understanding of aphasia.

References:

1. Armstrong, E., Hersh, D., Hayward, C., Fraser, J., & Brown, M. (2012). Living with aphasia: three Indigenous Australian stories. International Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 14(3), 271-280. doi: 10.3109/17549507.2011.663790