Gavel Clubs Fund

For people with aphasia and for people with Parkinson’s disease, their worlds have been shattered as a result of a communication disorder. Communication impairment makes it difficult or sometimes impossible to participate in everyday life including working, telling a story, sharing a memory, or conversing with friends or family.

The Centre for Brain Research Gavel Clubs provides people with aphasia and people with Parkinson’s disease a way to rebuild their worlds, rejoin conversations with family and friends and reconnect with their community.

The CBR Gavel Clubs are non-profit, long-term communication therapy programmes specifically designed to meet the communication and participation needs of people with aphasia and people with Parkinson’s disease. The Clubs are led by a speech-language therapist and provide a rich learning environment for University of Auckland speech-language therapy Masters students.

The CBR Gavel Clubs are the first of their kind in the Southern Hemisphere. They provide a unique opportunity for members to improve their communication skills, improve public speaking and leadership skills, increase confidence and overall quality of life. The mutually supportive and encouraging environment helps people with neurological disease tackle their communication challenges.

Gavel Club members are enthusiastically involved in translational research lead by University of Auckland academics and postgraduate students seeking to improve the lives of people with neurological disease.

A gift to the CBR Gavel Clubs will be used to support a speech-language therapist conducting pioneering research exploring a new approach to rehabilitation for people with neurological disease and will increase the clinical learning opportunities of University of Auckland students working in this important area.