Virtual 3-day conference: 3-5th September 2021.
BAPAM is very proud to be hosting a wonderful panel of experts in vocal health this week at the British Voice Association Choice for Voice Conference. The theme of the conference is ‘Crossing Boundaries in Voice’, with an emphasis on multidisciplinary approaches to health, performance, and research in the field of voice. Key areas for discussion include; physical and mental wellbeing for voice users, voice and the workplace, and crossing genre boundaries in pedagogy and performance.
Over 40 hours of lectures, workshops and masterclasses, from the world’s top practitioners in the field of voice, include keynotes and masterclasses from Markus Hess MD, Steven Zeitels MD, Prof. Janice Chapman, Prof. Kenneth Bozeman, and Christina Shewell.
BAPAM’s panel has been put together by Sarah Wright-Owens, one of our Vocal Rehabilitation Coaches who is also facilitating the Q&A, and BAPAM CEO Claire Cordeaux. The session will explore our Vocal Health Care Pathway, the importance of expert clinical assessment in the Voice Clinic and the multidisciplinary team.
Up to 20% of our callers present with a vocal health problem and our message to any professional voice user in this position is that they should always seek a diagnostic assessment in a specialist voice clinic run by a laryngologist or speech and language therapist.
There are so many potential causes of voice problems, that a clinical diagnosis with a scope of the vocal folds is the only way to fully understand what is going on, rule out any surgical options and guide effective treatment to resolve the problem. Once this has taken place, with a multidisciplinary team involved in the assessment, the right rehabilitation can take place.
Our panel includes presentations from key members of the multidisciplinary team:
- Declan Costello, consultant laryngologist, will talk about his role in the diagnostic process
- Tori Burnay will describe how she works as a speech and language therapist, including how she has established an SLT-led specialist voice user clinic at Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust with support from BAPAM
- Dr Anna Colton, clinical psychologist, will discuss how she works with performers where there is a psychological cause for their vocal problems
- Michael Mehta, osteopath, will talk about his approach particularly in relation to muscular tension
- Pippa Anderson, Vocal Rehabilitation Coach will outline how she uses her skills as a singing coach in the clinical setting
We are so grateful to the clinicians who bring their combined skills to work with BAPAM to resolve vocal health problems, and we thank the BVA for allowing us to bring together this stellar group of specialists to talk about their work.