Zoë’s Journey
A full circle experience…
I was so lucky, I knew exactly what I wanted to do by the time I was in my final year of high school. It started with a conversation with a family friend who mentioned her son was seeing a speech therapist. The moment I heard about it, something just clicked. After hounding her with questions and doing my own research for the days following, I quickly came to realise that speech therapy was the perfect intersection of everything I loved: language, science, community, and working with kids.
Growing up in a Dutch-Indonesian household in Australia, language was always a central, fascinating part of my life. This interest led me to begin my university journey with a year of language and linguistics. From there, before entirely devoting myself to my Bachelor in Speech and Language Pathology, I decided to build my capacity in Bahasa and spend time connecting with my family and culture across Indonesia. While there, I spent several months volunteering which cemented my language skills and gave me a profound appreciation for the subtle, beautiful ways culture and communication are intertwined, something that now has become central to my practice.
With this new perspective, I returned to Australia and immersed myself in my studies. My early career began in Indigenous health, where I experimented with bringing textbook knowledge to life. I made many, many, cringe-worthy mistakes that only a new grad would make. But, with the guidance of my very first mentors, supervisors and an incredible Occupational Therapy partner (SPOT teams really are the best!), I quickly built my confidence and with it, a deep love for the job.
Working in this space, I learned that being a great speech therapist isn't just about the science, methods and scoring. It's about listening, understanding, and respecting the unique story, values and dynamics of each family. It was here that I grew a passion for early intervention and providing effective support to culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
Life has a beautiful way of bringing you full circle and here I am now - living and practicing as a speech therapist in Bali. This journey, from that first ever conversation to building a career that feels so entirely me, has been more rewarding than I could have ever imagined.
I know I’m in the right job because every single child I have ever had the pleasure of working with has left a mark on me. From being called "the fun doctor" (the ultimate compliment!) to witnessing the little and big wins; a first word, a successful social interaction, a child saying their own name properly for the first time. It is such a privilege to be part of those moments, and the joy of experiencing the world through so many different, little eyes never gets old. I know, dramatic… but it’s the absolute truth!
