The Brisbane Speech Pathology Society's mission is to enhance student's social wellbeing and increase connectedness within the speech pathology and the wider allied health student community. We do this by providing a diverse range of high quality social and professional development opportunities throughout the academic semesters on the Brisbane campus and online.
Clubs and societies are an important part of the culture of university. University is more than just hitting the books- it's about networking, making connections and building those soft skills such as leadership that you can't learn in a classroom. Being part of a society allows you to do all this, and more!
Founded in 2015, the Brisbane Speech Pathology (BSPS) is a student run and led, faculty- based society on the Brisbane Campus. The volunteers who run BSPS are a team speech pathology students from all year levels.
BSPS works closely with Student Life to ensure the quality of all society activities and with faculty staff to seek advice on any professional development events we hold. We also liaise with other ACU staff including librarians, careers and employability staff and the academic skills unit to ensure the quality of our events and activities. The BSPS team also includes Speech Pathology Australia ACU student reps to help us stay connected to SPA news and events and help promote our profession among the wider student and staff community at ACU.
Joining the society costs $10, and membership is renewed annually.
The BSPS aims connect like-minded students. We want to build your network so that you not only have familiar faces in tutorials and around campus, but you have a big supportive community of peers who you can share your university experience with. We want to connect you with speech pathology students from your year level and from other year levels. We want to connect you with other allied health students students- physio, social work, OT, exercise science and those nursing and paramedicine students also make great friends! The unique advantage of ACU is we are a national university, so we want to connect you with speech pathology students from the Melbourne and Sydney campuses too.
We do this in a number of ways, the biggest way is by hosting events. We host social events, both on and off campus, and professional development events. MISP is the Speech Pathology Mentoring program, and the society works closely with MISP to ensure its success. We also connect students through our social media platforms and our monthly newsletter. The newsletter has a 'student spotlight' section in each issue, where we celebrate our speech pathology students and showcase their achievements.
University can be stressful. It's important to take care of your social wellbeing in order to reach for full potential academically. The society aims to scatter fun, social events throughout the semester giving you opportunities to relax and recharge. Attend our social events and laugh often! We want you to enjoy your time at university. Engagement in the society helps keep you healthy.
The society gives students an opportunity to take the knowledge they have learned in the classroom into discussions and activities outside the classroom. Study groups are a great way to consolidate knowledge, and as a member you will have an opportunity to be part of a regular study groups in 2023. Professional development events give students an opportunity to extend on the information learned in class. The society might host a skills class, or an event where we invite a guest speaker.
Awareness days give students an opportunity to promote the speech pathology profession to the wider ACU community, taking topics we have learned about in class such as dysphagia and developmental language disorder and presenting information in a way that students from other disciplines will understand. As a member, you will have the opportunity to be involved in running a variety of awareness day stalls throughout the academic semesters and participate in promoting our profession.
Students who are involved in volunteering with the society have the opportunity to gain and improve skills such as leadership, communication, time management, organisation and more. These 'soft skills' look great on your resume. By becoming a member of the society in your first year, and by engaging in events and activities through the year, you will have the foundations to take on a leadership role if you decide to volunteer in your second, third or fourth year.
The Brisbane Speech Pathology Society hosts a variety of professional development and social events each semester. We strive to keep our events free, or as low cost as possible. Attending events is the best way to connect with your cohort and others in different year levels. We believe that engagement with your student society, through attending our events, is the key to getting the most out of your university experience. Keep checking back as new events are added all the time
