For his final episode, Matt goes back to the beginning and talks to members of the first cohort to graduate from Chandler House in 1988. Together they reminisce about studying on the course, how the practice has changed since graduating, and what life was like as a university student in the 1980's.

Topics discussed are the recollections of the 4 graduates, and they acknowledge that others may remember these events differently.

Thank you to the guests from the 1988 Cohort:

Karen Bartlem

Lesley Cavalli

Rosemary Townsend

Sarah Morrison

Things mentioned in Giving Joy:

Karen: Walking her Dog (and animals in general!)

Sarah: Travelling around the world (particularly Cambodia!)

Rosemary: Sally Wainwright's Riot Women

Working on the UCL Dementia Research Centre's Art Installation

Lesley: Paddle Boarding!

(Thank you also to Sarah Beadell for suggesting Giving Joy as the name for the end segment!)

In this episode, digital artist Sarah Ezekiel and drag artist and academic Dr. Cheddar Gorgeous come in to the studio to talk about their drag show Ms MaNDy's Adventures in Wonderland, based on Sarah's life and her experiences with MND. The conversation also includes topics covering Sarah's experience of speech therapy, use of AI in art, and also dreams of the apocalypse.

Further Links:

Watch Ms MaNDy's Adventures in Wonderland: https://vimeo.com/1076004741/1ad9806baf?share=copy

Co-Creative Minds Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cocreativemind/

Sarah's Website: https://www.sarahezekiel.co.uk/ 

Cheddar's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cheddar_gorgeous/

ElevenLabs: https://elevenlabs.io/

Lifelites: https://www.lifelites.org/

Guest Recommendations:

Sarah: The Vagina Monologues by V

Cheddar: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

In this episode, Matt talks to Dr. Anna Volkmer, Abigail Lawrence, and Kiran Bansal about Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) and the facilitators and barriers to assessment/diagnosis that people from multilingual backgrounds may encounter. Our talk also covered their current research project which looks at experiences of multilingual people with PPA.

Links to further resources:

• PPA awareness day: https://speechtherapyppa.com/ppa-awareness-day

• Anna's 2025 Paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12939-025-02634-9
• Sign up for the PPA Webinar on 10th April 2026: https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/event/ppa-awareness-day-2026-webinar/

Guest recommendations:

• Abigail: Search Engine Podcast
• Kiran: The Wire TV Show
• Anna: The resurgence of 90s music! (in particular Foo Fighters - This is a Call)

In this episode Matt talks to Adhe Noviello about his experiences living with Brocas's (non-fluent) aphasia, his work with the Stroke Association, and his music created as part of UCL's Aphasia New Music Group.

Adhe's recommendations (for karaoke):

All American Rejects - Move Along

Bob Marley - Three Little Birds

Ne-Yo - Because of You

In the episode Adhe also mentions completing his masters (which Matt forgot to ask about). Adhe was kind enough to elaborate afterwards over email: " I completed my MSc in Big Data and Data Science Technology last year. It was quite a shift from my bachelor’s degree, as the focus was mainly on analysing large datasets, programming, and applying machine learning techniques. It was definitely challenging at times, but I enjoy pushing myself and taking on new challenge, it keeps things exciting."

Congratulations on completing your masters Adhe!

UCL's Aphasia New Music Group : https://www.ucl.ac.uk/brain-sciences/pals/research/language-and-cognition/aphasia-new-music-group

In this episode Matt talks to Alex O'Sullivan, an SLT working in the Regional Hyper-acute Rehabilitation Unit at Northwick Park Hospital, about prolonged disorders of consciousness and the role mental capacity and Speech therapy plays in their treatment.

Links to further PDOC and Mental Capacity resources:

• Healthtalk - Family Experiences of Vegetative and Minimally Conscious States Healthtalk
• Mencap - What is The Mental Capacity Act? | Mencap
• 39 Essex Chambers - Mental Capacity Resource Centre | 39 Essex Chambers
• Headway - Headway - the brain injury association | Headway

Alex's Recommendations:

• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6101138-wolf-hall

• Chopin piano competition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFTHzzFA-TQ

In this new episode, Matt Austin talks to speech therapist and tech savant Richard Cave about his journey from receiving speech therapy to becoming a speech therapist, his groundbreaking work in AAC with the innovative Project Euphonia, and the latest advances in AI Voice Banking.

If you are interested in Helping Richard with the development of Project Euphonia he can be contacted on this email:

[email protected]

Richard's Recommendation (AriAtHome):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjH9zb009-E

In the second part of the Boys’ Corner mini-series, Rich and Cristian sit down with Mark Campion; an SLT and former UCL student who currently works in an adult in-patient team in a North London Hospital Trust. We hear how Mark entered the profession and get his thoughts on what it’s been like navigating SLT as a man. Together, we open up a candid conversation about identity, visibility, and what masculinity can mean in a profession where men make up just 3% of the workforce. 

Want to hear more about the discussion around gender in SLT? Check out this RCSLT SLT Voices article: https://www.rcslt.org/slt-voices/the-gender-equity-debate/

Did you know men make up just 3% of the speech and language therapy workforce in the UK? In Boys’ Corner, a new mini-series hosted by Rich and Cristian, we explore what it’s like to be part of that small percentage. In Episode 1, we start unpacking the current landscape of men in SLT, sharing our own experiences as male practitioners, and hearing directly from SLT students about what it’s been like entering the profession. 

For the facts and figures: 

• HCPC Diversity Data Report 2021: https://www.hcpc-uk.org/resources/reports/2021/diversity-data-report-2021/
• HCPC Diversity Data: Speech and Language Therapists 2023: https://www.hcpc-uk.org/resources/data/2023/diversity-data-speech-and-language-therapists-2023/
• A paper discussing the "unicorn" of male SLT representation worldwide (2018): https://pubs-asha-org.libproxy.ucl.ac.uk/doi/10.1044/persp3.SIG17.29
• RCSLT diversity in SLT figures: https://www.rcslt.org/speech-and-language-therapy/workforce/student-slt-diversity/#section-4
• Women in STEM: https://www.stemwomen.com/women-in-stem-statistics-progress-and-challenges

In their final episode hosting the Giving Voice Podcast together, Nathalie and Issy collaborate with the UCL Communication Clinic once more to discuss Developmental Language Disorder, or DLD, in adults. They are first joined by UCL's Simone Ojei to discuss the work carried out at the clinic's Adult DLD Assessment Service. Later, Issy and Nathalie chat to Shelbi about her experience of DLD as an adult and of not being diagnosed until she was 25 years old.

For more information, check out the following resources:

• RADLD: https://radld.org/
• Afasic: https://www.afasic.org.uk/
• DLD and Me by Anna Sowerbutts & Amanda Finer: https://www.dldandme.co.uk/the-book
• The RCSLT article mentioned: https://www.rcslt.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/A-Vision-for-Developmental-Language-Disorder.pdf
• Shelbi's Instagram to check out her work with RADLD: https://www.instagram.com/dldwhycantyouseeme/

Issy and Nathalie speak to Aarti Panchmatia, a speech and language therapist, whose role is split between Level 1 neurorehabilitation in a neuropsychiatric unit and working in a mental health unit with adults. Aarti shares how she arrived at her current role, the skills needed, and the importance of MDT working.