Our Team
Rachel Hampshire
Principal Speech Pathologist
Since graduating with honours from the University of Sydney in 2002, Rachel has worked as a Speech Pathologist in a variety of settings. She has worked as a clinical specialist in major tertiary referral hospitals in Sydney, private rooms at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead Medical Centre, community health, school-based services, and multidisciplinary clinics including developmental assessment clinics, feeding clinics, and research clinics.
Rachel’s ongoing professional training includes:
• Sounds-Write Linguistics Phonics Certified Practitioner
• Hanen Certified Speech-Language Pathologist (More than Words; ABC and Beyond)
• SOS Approach to Feeding
• Picture Exchange Communication Systems (PECS)
• SAS trained facilitator (Secret Agent Society social-emotional skills training program)
• PROMPT trained (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets for speech disorders)
Rachel’s skills are recognised at a national level including prestigious scholarships. She received a Churchill Fellowship in 2008 and toured feeding clinics and hospitals in the US and Canada sharing her expertise and engaging with international practices. In addition, Rachel was the recipient of NSW Department of Health Rural Allied Health Scholarship in 2001 and received a Speech Pathology Australia Research Grant in 2001. Rachel has been a long-time contributor to the Speech Pathology profession and presented research papers at various international conferences.
She has been also lectured for the University of Sydney Masters of Prosthedontics and Bachelor of Oral Health programs. Rachel has provided assessment and intervention services for children and adults presenting with a wide range of feeding and communication disorders including difficulties with speech, language, social communication, stuttering, voice, swallowing and oromotor dysfunction. She is passionate about working collaboratively with clients and families and takes great care developing strong therapeutic relationships and applying evidenced based clinical solutions to treat the unique needs of the individual.
Natasha Balachandran
Speech Pathologist
Natasha pursued a Bachelor of Speech Pathology at The University of Newcastle following her 18 months experience as an Assistant Pre-School/Primary School Teacher at Primrose Hill Active Learning (Malaysia). She has experience in working with children across ages 3-14, which continued as she worked as a private tutor for Hunter Mobile Tutoring while completing her degree. Natasha also developed a passion in helping others following multiple voluntary work alongside Malaysian non-governmental organizations to feed the homeless and care for residents at aged care facilities.
Natasha is interested in working with adults and children across a variety of clinical areas. She is enthusiastic about life-long learning and strives to continue her professional development so she can support her clients as best as she could. Natasha is hoping to expand her clinical skills into treating individuals with Head and Neck Cancer.
Natasha is driven to provide the best quality of holistic care to her clients through evidence-based practice and a person-centred approach. As Natasha is a bilingual Malaysian speaker, she enjoys working with people from culturally diverse backgrounds and working collaboratively with clients and their families to achieving their communicative goals.
Ciara O’Farrell
Speech Pathologist
Ciara graduated from the University of Sydney with Honours in 2021. She has enjoyed clinical placements in a number of settings including schools, communities and acute hospitals.
Ciara has published research in a peer reviewed journal on aspects of speech sound disorders and has presented findings at the Speech Pathology Australia conference, 2022.
Ciara is organised, committed to learning and an active listener. Ciara has a passion for the Speech Pathology profession and believes in providing a high level of client care. She is continually reflecting and growing her skills as a clinician to ensure the best therapy outcomes for the families that she works with.
Ciara is strongly committed to working collaboratively with clients and their families in conjunction with evidence based treatments. Ciara’s aim is to empower families with knowledge to ensure a shared approach to achieving communication goals .
Linda Sinnett
Administrative Assistant | Allied Health Assistant
Linda’s warm manner and impeccable organisation skills contributes greatly to the smooth running of Word of Mouth Speech Pathology. Linda’s friendly approach greets our clients both over the phone and in-person at our Mudgee clinic.
With years of experience working as an assistant to professionals and a Certificate III in Business Administration, Linda is an expert behind the scenes ensuring the efficient operation of the clinic. If you wish to enquire about our services, please don’t hesitate to call and speak with her!