Introduction

Volunteering enriches your personal and professional life, providing numerous positive benefits and a wider perspective on your profession. You can choose volunteer opportunities that require time commitments of only a few minutes a week to many hours in a day. Participation in volunteer activities is available at the national, state, local or workplace level. ASHA, as well as your state speech-language-hearing association, provides many opportunities for volunteering, allowing you to share your time and talents to benefit the people that we serve, as well as our professions.

Sometimes we treat our

professional associations

as if they are a luxury

cruise ship. Think for a

moment about your

responsibility to ASHA

and other professional

organizations as a

Windjammer type cruise

where EVERYONE has to

pitch in to get the work

done.

Some members of ASHA

are reluctant to

volunteer for leadership

roles in the association

or professions of

Audiology or Speech-

Language Pathology.

Also, members may be

unaware of the many

benefits of ASHA

membership. This poster

provides ideas of how to

get involved in

volunteering to enrich

your professional life

while providing some

updates from ASHA.

National•Provide peer review for an ASHA document or site•Participate in the Leadership Development Program at ASHA•Be a guest blogger on the Ashasphere•Participate in practice based research at the ASHA CLARC site•Nominate a colleague for an award•Add your name to the volunteer pool to be considered for an ASHA committee•Respond to ASHA Action Alerts •Contribute an article to the ASHA Leader or Perspectives•Become a CEU provider•Host a CE event•VOTE IN ASHA ELECTIONS!

Our Personal Experiences

The authors of this poster are current members of the ASHA Board of Directors. Our individual pathways to national volunteer leadership were similar in many ways. First, we stepped up when leadership opportunities became available in our work places, then in our state associations. We put our names in the volunteer pool at ASHA and eventually were chosen for committees. We provided feedback on ASHA policy documents and contributed to the ASHA Leader and Perspectives publications.

Check out these resources at www.asha.org

Leadership and Volunteer Opportunities

Perry Flynn, The University of North Carolina at GreensboroDonna Fisher Smiley, Arkansas Children’s Hospital

Shari Robertson, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Lead the Way: Welcome Aboard the ASHA Windjammer Cruise

Workplace•Plan an in-service•Organize a support group•Organize parent/ care giver training•Volunteer to represent SLP on a committee

Local•Speak to high school students about the professions•Conduct hearing screenings at Special Olympics events or senior citizens facilities

State•Join your state association or related organization•Participate on a committee at your state association•Present at your state convention•Speak to community groups about the professions•Nominate a co-worker for an award

• The Practice Portal• ASHA Wire (over 25

publications accessed in one place)

• ASHAsphere (official blog)• www.identifythesigns.org

(campaign encouraging early identification of communication problems)

• CLARC Clinicians and Researchers Collaborating (partnerships for practical research)

• Special Interest Groups• The ASHA Community

(connect/network with members with similar interests)

• Leadership Development Program (grow your leadership skills and get known in the association)

• “Lunch and Learn” (Case Studies) - 11 FREE CEUs over the next 11 months

• AND SOOO Much more at: www.asha.org