Our Story
Being able to talk to others to create friendships and relationships, speaking up clearly for yourself and your freedoms, reading for fun or work, all of these important life experiences can be impaired with communications disorder.
Ibtissam Mustaq realized the value of speech therapy to help others experience a higher quality of life and opened Andalusia Speech Therapy in 2015 as a one-person clinic. The clinic now operates multiple clinics in Ontario, offers online therapy throughout Canada, and works as a social enterprise to advocate for human rights and equality from the framework of language and communication. Read the blog to see the clinic's latest endeavours and join our journey!
Our Mission
Help others communicate by providing quality speech therapy to individuals of all ages, economic and cultural backgrounds and geographical location, and participate as an active member of our communities.
Our Ethics
Quality
Our standards for customer service and efficacy of assessment and treatment methods are to strive for excellence. We bring kindness and professionalism to our admin side, and evidence-based methods to our therapy. Our therapists continually engage in further training individually and as a team.
Honesty
When a client makes progress on a therapy goal, we celebrate with them! When they are struggling, we support them with honesty and a direct approach, be it a new strategy, break, or another referral. Our client's success is our priority.
Privacy
While always important, privacy is a legal obligation when working in healthcare. We abide by the Ontario Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) and never share personal information outside of our clinics. Our clients trust us to keep their information private and we have training, checks and balances to ensure we maintain it.
Our Values:
Respect
Our team and clients come from all walks of life. We welcome the diversity and strive to respect each other's life experiences, feelings, wishes and traditions. Things can be tough. We are here to listen and support others respectfully, without judgement, and request the same at all times.
Community Advocacy
We are a grateful to be a part of our Roncesvalles and Danforth community. We give presentations on speech therapy tips, partner with local businesses to sponsor someone's therapy, offer reduced fees and pro bono services to those in need, and advocate with local politicians for more public funding for services.
Team
Our team is committed to supporting each other, personally and professionally. We highly value each other's clinical skills and share professional opinions. We support each other through challenges and celebrate each others' successes. We also like each other and get together regularly and bond at our annual retreat!
Anti-Racism & Inclusivity
Inclusion of those who might otherwise be marginalized is at the core of our clinic! Our founder is a woman of color and our core services are helping individuals with communication disorders or disabilities. We ally with many communities including: LGBTQ2, BLM, refugees, immigrants, and other minorities groups. We are a safe space.
Land Acknowledgement
The team at Andalusia Speech Therapy is passionate about sharing the gift of free speech and creating safe, welcoming spaces for all. We want to acknowledge that across all of our clinics in Ontario , we operate on the traditional territories of many diverse Indigenous peoples, the first caretakers of this land. We recognize the beauty and importance of the languages native to these communities and we pledge to do our part in preserving them.