YOUR TEAM

Natalie Diwakar

Principal Speech Pathologist, Director

Natalie is the Managing Director of Liverpool Speech Pathology
Services. She graduated from Macquarie University with double major in Linguistics and Psychology. Natalie is an expert in her field with over 25 years’ experience in helping children overcome any communication related difficulties.

Natalie worked in the public health services for over ten years whereby she gained insights into all aspects of speech pathology and now imparts this expertise into her own practice and amongst her team.

Natalie’s passion lies in treating children with autism to communicate effectively. She is actively involved in mentoring her staff to go over and beyond to achieve her mission to “Pursue Excellence in Communication”.

Natalie is dedicated to continuously build her knowledge through networking with allied health professionals and speech pathologists to ensure that the clinic provides an up to date professional care for your child.

Natalie is a certified practicing member of Speech Pathology Australia and devotes her time in participating in professional training and development programs to deliver the best service and experience to the patients.

Hiba Charbel

Speech and Language Pathologist

Hiba graduated from Macquarie University with a Master’s Degree in Speech Pathology. She also holds a Bachelor Degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences. Therefore, this positions Hiba as a specialist in hearing and its impact on speech and language development. Having worked at various allied health practices, Hiba’s specialities encompass assessing and treating children from culturally and linguistically diverse populations.

Being multilingual herself, Hiba has a deep appreciation and understanding of the needs of children from a variety of cultures and backgrounds. Hiba’s success lies in her passion to help children overcome any difficulties and for them to enjoy a fruitful and successful life in communicating with their friends, parents, teachers and everyone that is important.

Hiba is a certified Practicing Member of Speech Pathology Australia. She is actively involved in expanding and updating her skills in her field, through ongoing professional development.

Shirley Leung

Speech and Language Pathologist

Shirley graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Speech Pathology). She has a passion for working with children and educating parents on what they can do to facilitate their children’s communication development.

Shirley is bilingual (Cantonese) and brings knowledge and clinical experience she has accumulated from private practice, community health, school settings as well as her role as a tutor for primary school children. She is determined to help children meet their therapy goals and achieve academic success whilst still ensuring therapy sessions are enjoyable and engaging.

Shirley is a certified Practising Member of Speech Pathology Australia and continues to seek professional development opportunities in order to stay up to date with current speech pathology research and uphold high quality practice.

Amar Awad

Speech and Language Pathologist

Amar graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Speech Pathology). Amar chose Speech Pathology due to the great impacts the profession has on children with communication difficulties and their families. Amar has had experience in a variety of settings including community health, allied health practices, not-for profit organisations and school based intervention programs. This has provided her with a great range of experiences working with children, families and teachers and with a variety of communication disorders.

Amar is bilingual (Arabic) and has a deep appreciation for assisting children from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This enables Amar to work with and support families where English in not the first language. Amar provides evidence based and family centred therapy and aims to provide functional and individualized therapy.

Amar is a certified practising member of Speech Pathology Australia and is committed to expanding her skills and continual professional development.

Stephanie Grote

Speech and Language Pathologist

Stephanie graduated with a Master’s Degree in Speech and Language Pathology from Macquarie University. She also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences. As such, her knowledge base also includes the effects of hearing loss on a child’s ability to develop speech and language.

The driving force behind her work as a Speech Pathologist is the desire to provide every child with the opportunity to communicate to the best of their ability, to achieve in academic settings, and in doing so have the best quality of life.

Stephanie is a certified Practicing Member of Speech Pathology Australia, and is regularly updating her knowledge of Speech Pathology Practice through professional development activities

Caroline Tran

Speech and Language Pathologist

Caroline graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Speech Pathology). She has had experience working with children in a variety of settings including community health, school based intervention programs in rural communities and within disability schools. As a result, she has collaborated with allied health professionals, teachers and education staff as well as parents to provide the best possible care for the children.

Caroline is bilingual with a Vietnamese background. She enjoys working with children and families from variety of culturally diverse backgrounds. She understands the importance of communication and is passionate in helping to provide children with the best opportunity to develop and improve these skills. Caroline takes a holistic, family-centred approach and upholds evidence-based practice within her work.

She is a certified practicing member of Speech Pathology Australia and is constantly striving to expand her skill and knowledge base through professional development opportunities.

Neda Bundalo

ABA Behaviour Management Therapist

Neda completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in 2014 and graduated with Masters of Teaching (Secondary) at the Western Sydney University in 2017.

Working in the profession since 2012, Neda has specialised in Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and worked as a therapist for children with Autism and other related developmental disorders with organisations such as ABAlink and in private settings.

Neda is a highly experienced in helping children with behavioural issues in order for them to learn new appropriate skills and reach their full potential. She adopts “evidence based practice” and provides a holistic approach in assisting children to overcome their difficulties.

Neda is passionate about empowering children, their families and everyone that interacts with the child, with the skills to manage challenging behaviours. She works collaboratively with other health professionals including psychologist, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, other ABA therapists as well as with school educators to ensure best outcomes for every child.

Michael Costello

Clinical Psychologist

Michael has been working as a clinical psychologist since 2002, with 10 of these working in major public teaching hospitals in NSW in both clinical and senior management roles. Michael treats people both individually and in groups for a variety of problems including depression, anxiety, OCD, and addictive disorders.

Michael takes an "evidence based practice" approach and therefore, where appropriate, employs techniques that have been proven to be effective by independent research trials. Michael’s speciality is working in a collaborative manner, focussing on strengths and setting realistic goals, with the aim of developing a treatment plan that best suits individual needs.

His experience include the development and provision of training programs for student psychologists, clinical psychologists, counsellors, and other health professionals. Michael holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and professional memberships and associations include the Australian Psychological Society College of Clinical Psychologists, Adjunct Fellow with the University Of Western Sydney School Of Psychology, and The Australian Centre for Addiction Research.