Our Team

Speech Therapy Central Auckland

Samantha Russell

Speech Language Therapist and Director of Speech4all

I am a New Zealand-trained Speech Language Therapist, holding a Bachelor of Speech Language Therapy from Massey University and a Master of Science with First Class Honours in Speech Language Sciences from University of Canterbury. With over 15 years of experience, I have had the privilege of working alongside children and their families to support meaningful communication outcomes and achieve individual goals.

I have extensive experience working with a wide range of children, including those with complex communication needs and speech sound disorders. My approach is child-led and family-centred, ensuring therapy is engaging, meaningful, and tailored to each child’s strengths, interests, and developmental stage.

I am committed to being a lifelong learner and regularly engage in professional development across areas such as neurodiversity, complex communication needs, literacy, speech sound disorders, Makaton, and Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC). This ongoing learning ensures that at Speech4all, we continue to provide high-quality, evidence-based Speech Language Therapy services.

Throughout my career, I have developed skills across a range of settings. I enjoy working directly with clients, providing supervision for other Speech Language Therapists, and delivering professional development workshops for educators and families. For some families, I offer a combination of one-on-one therapy and parent coaching, supporting carryover of skills into everyday environments.

I value the opportunity to provide personalised therapy at Speech4all, working closely with each child and their family to build strong relationships and create individualised programmes. I am flexible in my approach, adapting therapy strategies, resources, and goals to ensure best practice and optimal outcomes.

I am also Communication Assistive Technology (CAT L1) accredited, supporting assessment and applications for AAC systems.

I am a registered member of:

New Zealand Speech-language Therapists’ Association
Assistive Technology Alliance New Zealand

Tricia

Speech Language Therapist

My journey into speech and language therapy began during my time working in mental health and as a children’s telephone counsellor. Supporting tamariki through emotional challenges opened my eyes to how vital communication is for wellbeing, confidence, and connection. This inspired me to pursue Speech therapy, completing a Master of Science in Speech and Language Therapy at the University of Auckland, after earning my Bachelor of Science in Psychology.

I began my career as a Speech and Language Therapist with the Ministry of Education, where I worked with a paediatric caseload across early childhood and school settings. This gave me the opportunity to work alongside whānau, teachers, and other professionals to support tamariki with a wide range of communication needs. Additionally, this gave me skills in supporting whanau through transitioning their children with additional needs into schools.

Now in private practice, I continue to work with children and their families, offering therapy that is practical, play-based, and tailored to each child’s unique strengths and interests. I have experience supporting children with speech sound disorders, language delays, social communication difficulties, neurodiversity, and multilingual backgrounds.

I’m especially passionate about supporting bilingual and multilingual children. I work closely with families to support language development across all languages spoken at home. My goal is to celebrate each child’s linguistic identity and help them thrive as confident communicators in every context.

I believe in a collaborative and holistic approach, where therapy fits naturally into everyday routines and empowers the adults around the child to feel confident in supporting communication at home and in the community. My goal is always to make therapy engaging, meaningful, and above all, fun—for both tamariki and their whānau.

I am a registered member of:

New Zealand Speech-language Therapists’ Association