Nicole Kennedy qualified from Trinity College Dublin in 1999 and began working within the HSE. She quickly identified her interest in acquired communication disorders in adults and succeeded in acquiring a post in ST. James’s Hospital, Dublin. Nicole was able to develop specialist clinical skills by working with a wide variety of people with communication and/or swallowing difficulties as a result of Stroke, Parkinson’s disease, Dementia and also Head and Neck Cancer. Nicole was also trained in unique therapies for helping those with voice disorders ( e.g. teachers, singers and other
professional voice users)
Understanding the wealth of experience and knowledge to be gained from working in a different health system, Nicole worked for a year in a large teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia. This experience allowed Nicole to further develop specialist clinical skills in the above areas.
Throughout her years working in St. James’s Hospital Nicole was always passionate about supporting students and their learning. She was offered the opportunity of further contributing to undergraduate education of Speech and Language Therapists when offered the role of Practice Education Co-ordinator in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at University College Cork.
Nicole’s depth of experience and passion for learning allowed her to introduce new ways for Speech and Language Therapy students to learn about what it was like for someone with a communication
and/or swallowing disorder. Such novel learning approaches earned Nicole the prestigious UCC‘President’s Award for Innovation in Research and Teaching’ in 2012.
More recently, through CAINT Nicole has developed a workshop for corporate clients seeking to
educate their staff in voice care.
