Speech language pathology in the Northern Territory: Shifting the focus from clinicians to intercultural, interdisciplinary teamwork

Speech pathologists (SLPs) are routinely called on to develop and deliver culturally appropriate practices for working with Aboriginal clients. We posit that to create real change in practices with Aboriginal clients, we need to shift the focus beyond the individual clinician. Aboriginal community partners, researchers, academics and linguists need to be engaged with SLPs in clinically applicable, collaborative, intercultural, interdisciplinary teamwork. To do this we ask the profession to reconsider the way our work is envisioned, and urge funding bodies and government agencies to better support teams engaged in implementation science. Shifting the focus from individual practising clinicians towards teamwork is a more generative solution to engaging in culturally responsive practices with Aboriginal clients and in line with the commitments made in Speech Pathology Australia’s Apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. We present three cases of interdisciplinary, collaborative work which might serve as informative practice examples for the profession.