What I want for my clients :

I want my clients to communicate freely, socialise with confidence and live their life unhindered by a speech and language difficulty.

I am passionate about including the individual, their families and other people or professionals in their lives. Having the right supports and knowledge in every day life can dramatically improve the outcomes for people with communication challenges.

I want you to be engaged in the decisions, goal setting and learning to ensure the process is clear and goals attainable but also challenging.

Hello, I’m Holly, the founder of ‘Communicate to Connect’. I am a Senior Speech and Language Therapist with experience in various cultural settings from London to New Zealand and most recently, Ireland.

I started my career in London, working in acute hospitals, rehabilitation and community settings. I provided assessment and intervention to younger and older adults with speech and language difficulties and dysphagia post stroke, brain injury and with progressive neurological disorders.

In 2016 I joined the Stroke Association in London as a Communication Support Coordinator.  People were referred from acute and rehabilitation hospitals.  I supported people with aphasia, breaking down their communication barriers and reclaiming the normality in their lives. Here I led a project setting up an ‘Aphasia-Friendly’ cafe in a Costa coffee cafe. We educated the staff on aphasia and provided simple ways for them to could support those affected during the simple task of ordering a cup of coffee. It was equally rewarding and challenging achieving our goal to increase independence and confidence while overcoming the communication barriers of aphasia.

In 2017 I  moved to New Zealand and joined the speech and language therapy force at the Ministry of Education. I focused on the up-skilling and education of the adults and teachers who interacted with children daily at home or in school. I got the opportunity to provide assessment and intervention to children aged 2-21yrs with language disorders, delays, autism, Down syndrome and fetal alcohol syndrome. I collaborated with an occupational therapist and our technology support service to trial software, devices and switches that gave non-verbal children a voice and means to communicate, for example, a child with a severe motor speech disorder associated with cerebral palsy.

In 2019 I  created a school based project called ‘Lego-Language Club’. I worked closely with a principal and her teachers to implement this adapted version of lego therapy. Together we saw first-hand the improvements in children’s use of language, problem solving abilities and social skills. Their confidence and courage to express themselves to their peers also developed. These children had a diagnosis of autism and/or a Developmental Language disorder and for them to begin to express positive and negative feelings openly was hugely rewarding. I will be setting up a similar Lego-Language club in communicate to connect.

I continue to develop my skills and practice in order to provide the most effective and up to date service for my clients