Speech Pathologist Claire shares experience as Early Career Supervisor

WA Country Health Service Speech Pathologist Claire Symons recently featured in the Rural Health Conversations podcast, sharing her experience of and providing advice for early career supervisors.

Produced by the four Western Australian University Departments of Rural Health (WA UDRHs), the podcast features conversations with rural health professionals about the experiences, opportunities and advice for supervising healthcare students on rural placements.

Raised in the Midwest, Claire has been with WA Country Health Service for the past five years.

Throughout the episode she shared some of her experience as an early career supervisor and the importance of support and honesty.

“I remember with my first student I was really honest with her – I told her that this was my first time supervising a student and I think that honesty is really important,” she said.

“Being an early career supervisor, it’s also a learning opportunity for you. I think what made it work well for me was having the support of senior speech pathologists and other people who had experience with supervision that I could lean on.”

Director Allied Health Suzanne Spitz said participating in the podcast provided an important opportunity to share our experiences and commitment both to students on rural placements as well as early career supervisors.

“Facilitating rural placements is incredibly important, they allow students to learn in a unique, hands-on environment and for some it can spark a love of rural health that sees them come back once they graduate.  Within allied health alone, we host over 240 students per year from WA and interstate universities,” she said.

“The chance to be a supervisor, especially early in your career is an excellent opportunity to grow both as a leader, but also to learn new skills.”