A Year for Connections

Dear ArSHA members, SLP and Audiology professionals in Arizona,

Welcome to a new year for the Arizona Speech and Hearing Association! We would like to give our sincere appreciation to Board and Committee members who serve on their own time and with their individual strengths to promote the good of our professions and the community we serve.**

Executive Board, 2020-21

  • President – Melanie Moore
  • President-Elect – Amy Hilton Anson
  • Past President – Jennifer Casteix
  • Vice-President for Audiology – Fadyeh Barakat
  • Vice-President for Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) – Darrell Dern
  • Annual Convention Chairs – Shelly Lanham and Roberta Jackson
  • Annual Convention Chair-Elect – Sarah Glenn
  • Membership Chair – Rebecca Archer-Anwar
  • Recording Secretary – Sarah Dachtyl
  • Treasurer – Debbie Venkatesh
  • Ethical Practices Chair – Elizabeth Morrison
  • Communications Chair – Denise Stats-Caldwell
  • Community Relations Chair – Samantha Hagness
  • Professional Development Chair – Heather Caska
  • Government Affairs Chair – Jeff Meeks

**Click here or the full list of Special Committee Chairs and Advocates

Our successes in the past year have been numerous, including a successful virtual convention, bills passed that more widely support SLPA supervision and teletherapy, advocacy and education for the provision of AAC support, and others. Details about many of these are included in our News and Blog spaces at www.arsha.org, as well as publicized as they happen on our pages with Facebook and Instagram.

Our theme in the coming year, Connections will build on our collective and ongoing work. Connecting means many things, from working with our allied state agencies to support wise and meaningful work to connecting with one another as professionals and people. Recent times have reminded us that when the going gets rough, the tough have to stick together! We know what a monumental effort it has been to continue reaching and serving people. We understand the obstacles faced and the determination demonstrated by speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and SLPAs state-wide.

We know it is time to keep and foster the Connections we built during the last year- not only through conquering odds during a global event, but embracing our differences as strengths! We cannot lay down our vigilance to include one another fully. Connections and inclusion are ways of being we emulate, not projects we take on to finish. The benefits of this mindset are fruitful to us as professionals and rewarding in ways we may not fully understand until it becomes our pursuit.

It is my sincere belief as the new President for ArSHA that this connectedness is precisely what drives our board members in their work. It can be the only explanation for such a high rate of return volunteerism and the enthusiasm observed as these wonderful people work together. It is also something we hope to share with YOU!

We invite you to join with us in whatever capacity you are able or choose: become a member; volunteer for a committee, or even attend a meeting to learn what we are doing; share news you see in our posts on your own page to share our “voice” with others; visit the ArSHA store to pick up some swag that will show your Arizona SLP and Audiologist pride! We know through Connections we all thrive!

Amy Hilton Anson, CCC-SLP
2021-2022 President, Arizona Speech-Language-Hearing Association