In this week’s episode, we explore an innovative practice education model where students receive interprofessional supervision to provide supports to First Nations communities in a rural area. In the first half of the episode, we speak with Ngarrindjeri woman and Aboriginal health worker, Bethany Kropinyeri, and physiotherapist, Meekah Zangari, who support students at the Riverland Mallee Coorong Local Health Network. Next, we speak with Judy Tran, a former student participant, and Clare Coulter, placement education coordinator at Flinders University. They discuss how practice educators and students are supported, the benefits of interprofessional learning, co-designing a sustainable and culturally safe program, and practice in rural communities.

Resources:

Parkin et al. (2025). Learning in a contextually complex rural clinical placement. Advances in health education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-025-10443-6

SPA resources:

Position statement: Practice (clinical) education: https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/resource?resource=99

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culturally responsive capability framework: https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/resource?resource=884

Practice education in private practice (SPA Members Only): https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/resource?resource=486

Speech Pathology Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of lands, seas and waters throughout Australia, and offers our respect to Elders, across all times and places. The Speak Up podcast recognises the central role of yarning and oral storytelling in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, how this translates to knowledge translation, and that colonisation has interrupted these practices of Language and knowledge sharing. The Speak Up podcast acknowledges the need for truth-telling and deep listening, the central role that Language plays in connecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People with Culture, Country, and Community, and the interwoven nature of health, and social and emotional wellbeing. We recognise that the Traditional Owners of the Lands across Australia have been here since time immemorial, and that their sovereignty over this land, was never ceded.

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