Are you a speech pathologist looking for a sea change? Look no further than tropical north Queensland. With its sandy beaches, rolling rainforests and pristine holiday destinations at every turn, you’ll be making the move to a real-life paradise. 

But don’t take our word for it – it’s time for you to take a peek inside Sarah’s regional relocation diary. Sarah is one of our passionate speech pathologists from SpeechEase Mackay. Keep on reading to discover why Sarah made the move from the Gold Coast to Mackay and what she’s doing to kickstart her speech therapy career with us.  

 

Regional Relocation Diaries – Sarah, Speech Pathologist  

 

Meet Sarah: 

Sarah is a delightful Speech Pathologist with a passion for paediatrics based in our SpeechEase Mackay clinic.  

With a degree in Nutritional Medicine under her belt, Sarah uncovered a passion for feeding therapy – only to discover she’d need to be an Occupational Therapist or Speech Pathologist to complete the full intervention training. So, in true ‘Sarah’ fashion, she made it happen – Sarah pursued a Master’s Degree in Speech Pathology and hasn’t looked back since! 

Now that she’s a certified practicing Speech Pathologist, Sarah is continuing to discover new things that she loves about the profession. For starters, Sarah has always loved the idea of helping people to feel heard and understood – I’s a foundational need as a human being, and Sarah feels that it is a privilege to be involved in that. The way that creativity is embraced has also been a delight for Sarah! She loves coming up with unique activities and session plans to engage her clients as they work towards achieving their therapy goals. 

 

The Move from Gold Coast to Mackay 

Sarah hadn’t always planning on living in the regions, but with the rising cost of living in the city becoming hard to manage, and an enjoyable remote placement in her final year of studies, Sarah became open to the idea of moving to a new area. 

While Sarah enjoyed her university placement in Longreach, she knew she wasn’t cut out for long-term living in a very remote area. For Sarah, living in a regional area strikes the balance between having some of the conveniences of big city living, while still being affordable.  

Mackay also offers many of the relaxed lifestyle benefits that Sarah enjoyed in the city. There’s a choice of gyms and yoga studios, excellent libraries, a decent variety of restaurants, and a few different farmer’s markets to choose from, both during the week and on weekends.  

What really sealed the deal for Sarah was how easy it would be to go back home to visit family and friends from Mackay. It’s a short flight to Brisbane and there’s even a train that can take you down south – this access to travel options really cuts down on the stress of being far from home! 

 

 

Sarah’s Favourite Things About Living and Working in Mackay 

If you have met our Sarah before, you’ll know that she’s a creative at heart. From her speech therapy sessions to her hobbies, Sarah brings colour and a unique perspective to everything she touches. So it’s no wonder that for Sarah, one of her favourite things about living and working in Mackay is the thriving arts and cultural scene. Sarah has taken part in many great workshops organised and funded by the council since moving to the area. 

As a ‘city slicker’, Sarah also appreicates that there is rarely any traffic in Mackay! She knows that she can find a car park wherever she is going – it definitely beats wasting time on the highway or waiting aimlessly for a park to become available.  

Finally, there’s the natural wonders that abound in the regions. Sarah loves being able to pop up to Airlie Beach for the reef, down to Clareview where there are dugongs, or inland to see platypus and rainforest birds at Eungella. 

 

Okay, are you ready for a quick-fire checklist of things to do in Mackay? 

Here you go… 

 

Things to Do In Mackay

Local walks: Lamberts Lookout, Bucasia Beach, Kommo Toera trail (just as good as the Instagram-famous paperbark swamp at Agnes Water / 1770!). 

Orchid House: Visit the free Orchid House inside Queens Park. It changes with the seasons, so it’s different on every visit, but always beautiful. 

Slade Point: Work in the peaceful community gardens at Slade Point, under the tall shady gumtrees. 

Art and Culture: Visit ArtSpace or any of the other lovely art installations around town  

Day Trips: Take a day trip to Eungella or Finch Hatton for a dose of rainforest wildlife. 

 

 

Sarah’s Speech Pathology Career Goals 

It’s only the beginning, but we know that Sarah has a bright future ahead of her! Her career goals are big and exciting, and we can’t wait to support Sarah in achieving them. Here’s a snapshot of some of Sarah’s speech pathology career goals: 

I’m hoping to expand my knowledge of effective literacy intervention, and language development in bilingual/multilingual populations. Long term, I eventually would love to be involved with non-profit organisations who work in regions impacted by high proportions of Cleft Lip/Palate, such as Colombia and Honduras. It’s great that certain charities and missions fund surgeries to repair these birth defects, but the people affected also deserve long-term therapy to help them re-learn to speak and effectively swallow after the cleft is repaired. Upskilling local health professionals is one way this gap can be addressed. Outside my work hours, I like to practice administrating Speech Pathology assessments in Spanish, so that I can eventually contribute to this worthwhile cause. 

 

 

We hope you found Sarah’s story of regional relocation inspiring and interesting! If it has sparked something for you and you’d like to explore your options for regional relocation, take a look at our dedicated relocation page for Speech Pathologists.