Finally I also want to introduce myself. Thanks for the initiave! My name is Beatrice Rathey. I am a speech and language therapist, trained in Heidelberg, Germany and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England (MSc/GB, Master of Human Communication Sciences). I worked in a University Hospital (ENT-clinic) and in logopedic practices. I spent four years living in Singapore, working at the former German School (now German European School) as a speech and language therapist, treating language development disorders in children and, in addition, teaching German to multilingual preschool children in a supporting school project. After moving back to Germany, I became head of a vocational training college for speech and language therapists. In teaching theory and praxis I specialize in adult and juvenile voice disorders, dysarthrophonia (e. g. in Parkinson’s disease or other neurological diseases), multilingualism, clinical reasoning, body work, breath work, mindfulness. Besides teaching methods etc. in theory I am also working with patients and supervise students during their therapy sessions with patients in the Logopedic School ambulance. This way I – literally – make sure to stay in touch with patient’s needs and topics.
In almost all logopedic disorders counseling is a basic task and many patients naturally show problems with coping. Often psychological aspects cause (e. g. voice)problems or are a consequence of speech/ language/ voice loss. That’s one reason for my interest in the treatment of mind body disorders. We see ‘strange’ accompanying symptoms for which no organic/ structural reason can be found many times. Nevertheless, the patients suffer a lot and struggle without understanding what is going on with them.
My personal story of suffering from headaches/ migraines for decades is a personal factor that immediately evoked my interest in this mind body medicine course. I started using parts of the approach during the time of the course – quite successfully. At the moment I think a lot about plans for my retirement from work at the college in about 2 years. Among other things I would love to combine counseling with a focus on mind body treatment with ‘the rest’ of my professional skills.