We are a team of passionate professionals working together to provide high-quality, individualised therapies to every patient – regardless of age or ability.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, contact the TLC Centre at (02) 9558 2901, email staff@tlccentre.com.au, or visit our contact page.
Discover how our speech pathology services can make a difference in your child’s life. Visit our homepage to learn more about our approach and services.
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Address: 325 Homer St, Earlwood NSW 2206
Phone: (02) 9558 2901
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Elizabeth Lucas
BAppSc(SpPath) (CPSP)
Director/Speech pathologist
Elizabeth is the founder and director of TLC Speech Pathology, which is now known as the TLC Centre.
Elizabeth graduated from The University of Sydney and is a current member of Speech Pathology Australia.
She has been working as a Speech and Language Pathologist for over 12 years. She takes a family-centric, hands-on approach with all of her patients. She works with children and adolescents who have difficulties with articulation, auditory processing, language and literacy skills.
Elizabeth works closely with parents and teachers to ensure the best therapy outcomes are achieved for every client.
Samantha Saleh
BBus
Practice Manager
Samantha commenced as a practice manager for over 2 years.
Starting off as a Practice Manager for TLC Speech Pathology in 2020, she now overlooks both the speech pathology team and the team of our allied health therapists within the TLC Centre.
Tammy Nguyen
BAppSc(SpPath) (CPSP)
Speech Pathologist
Tammy is one of our most experienced Clinicians, having been part of the TLC family for over 5 years. Tammy has a Bachelors of Applied Sciences (Speech Pathology) from The University of Sydney and is a current member of Speech Pathology Australia. She is also an SOS trained Feeding Therapist and has been a Clinical Educator for univerisity students for the past year.
Tammy provides tailored therapy for her clients and collaborates with families to create effective and meaningful interventions for their kids. Her expertise includes working with children who have articulation difficulties, language delays, literacy problems, stuttering, and social communication difficulties.
Tammy is devoted to working closely with families of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, including Vietnamese. She is passionate about creating fun and engaging group therapy sessions and language workshops for school-aged children and teens through the popular tabletop role-play game Dungeons & Dragons.
Suny Pereira
BPsychSc MSLP (CPSP)
Speech Pathologist, Clinical Educator
Suny is a Speech and Language Pathologist and Clinical Educator at TLC Speech Pathology. She has a Masters degree in Speech and Language Pathology, and a Bachelor degree in psychology and linguistics.
Suny is passionate about providing tailored therapy to a range of clients with communication and swallowing disorders across the lifespan. She works closely with clients and families to address all client’s needs in a multidisciplinary approach.
Suny’s areas of expertise include voice, articulation and swallowing. She is passionate about working with the LGBT+ community with an interest in advocacy, support and service provision in voice and swallowing therapy.
Suny is additionally certified in Voicecraft and is a current member of Speech Pathology Australia. Her interests include computers, video games and coding.
Antoinette Michalopoulos
BSpHLSc MSLP (CPSP)
Speech Pathologist, Clinical Educator
Antoinette is a Speech and Language Pathologist and Lead Clinical Educator at the TLC Centre. She has a Masters degree in Speech Pathology and a Bachelor’s degree in Speech, Hearing and Language Sciences from Macquarie University.
Antoinette has experience in administering assessments and providing therapy to a range of children and adults with communication difficulties. Antoinette takes a holistic, family-based approach to therapy, guided by the individual’s interests and needs.
Antoinette is passionate about making therapy fun, as she believes this is integral to success. She is particularly interested in working in the areas of early language and speech sound disorders.
Antoinette has received additional training in DIR Floortime, Gestalt Language Processing and Responsive Feeding for feeding intervention in children. She is a current member of Speech Pathology Australia.
Patrick Jason
Bsp (CPSP)
Speech Pathologist
Patrick completed the Bachelor’s of Speech Pathology from Australian Catholic University, North Sydney. Patrick has a background in working with teenagers and adults with autism, traumatic brain injury and other disabilities as a disability support worker.
Patrick is passionate at supporting children and adults in achieving independence and confidence in their communication skills.
Naomi To
Speech Pathologist
BMedSci, MSLP (CPSP)
Naomi To joined the TLC Centre team in 2022 as a Speech Pathology Assistant and is now commencing her career with TLC Centre as a graduate Speech Pathologist. Naomi graduated with a Bachelor of Medical Science at Western Sydney University and a Master of Speech Pathology at UTS.
Naomi is passionate helping clients with their communication needs, particularly in the areas of speech and language disorders. She loves watching her clients do their best and reach their goals and is an advocate for those who need help in this area by striving to make sure they have the best possible care.
Naomi is fluent in Chinese Cantonese and loves working with families from multilingual backgrounds.
Linday Underwood
Speech Pathologist
BSpPath
Lindsay completed her Bachelor of Speech Pathology at the University of Newcastle in 2012 and is a certified practising Speech Pathologist (CPSP) with Speech Pathology Australia. Lindsay grew up in the country and prides herself on developing close working relationships with her clients and colleagues, seeking harmony and maintaining a positive attitude. She has had an adventurous career living and working in Wagga Wagga, Orange, Canberra, Port Macquarie, Nowra & now Sydney!
Over the past decade Lindsay has provided paediatric services for speech, language, stuttering, voice, literacy, pragmatics and feeding in clinics, preschools/schools, outreach centres and via telehealth. She has a special interest in speech sound disorders and early language development. She is very organised and able to work flexibly with clients to incorporate their individual interests and needs.
Lindsay has also worked extensively with adults in acute hospitals, outpatient services, private practice and palliative care, with a special interest in swallowing (MBS/VFSS trained) and language rehabilitation post-stroke. Lindsay is passionate about empowering and educating parents/carers, student speech pathologists, colleagues and educators about communication through mentoring and coaching, to achieve goals that improve the quality of life for all.
Angela Smalios
BSpHSc
Administration/Speech Pathology Assistant
Angela has been Administration Support for TLC Speech Pathology since 2018 and is now head of Administration for the TLC CENTRE.
Angela is in her final year completing a Bachelor of Speech Pathology and has been offering Speech Therapy Aide work to a caseload of clients. Angela chose speech pathology as she is passionate about helping children and their communication abilities.
Angela works closely with clients to ensure they have paired up with our multidisciplinary therapists appropriately.
Alfred Man
BAppSci (Speech Patholoy)
Speech Pathology Assistant
Alfred, currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Speech Pathology at the University of Sydney, originates from Hong Kong, adding a valuable multilingual dimension to his role as he is proficient in both Cantonese and Mandarin.
His extensive experience working with clients from diverse linguistic backgrounds has honed his ability to connect with families from various cultural and multilingual backgrounds. Alfred possesses a strong sense of empathy and approachability, placing a high priority on creating a comfortable environment where clients and families feel heard.
Alfred is dedicated to offering personalized therapy to individuals of all ages dealing with communication and swallowing disorders. Furthermore, he is delving into an Honors program specializing in voice therapy – sharpening his skills in this specialized area.
Sophie Connell
B.A. (Hearing, Speech and Ling)
Speech Pathologist Assistant
Sophie joined the TLC Centre team in 2022 as a Speech Pathology Assistant. Sophie is currently completing her Masters in Speech Pathology at UTS.
Sophie has a strong background in theatre and performing arts and taught young children in her later years.
Sophie’s love of working with children, and interest in the stage and how the voice works is what inspired her to decide to study Speech Pathology.
Stephanie Anne Duque
BSc (Occupational Therapy)
Occupational Therapist
Stephanie is an enthusiastic occupational therapist with a passion for making a positive impact on the lives of her clients. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy in April 2011 from the University of the Philippines.
Before emigrating to Australia, Stephanie worked across a range of adult and paediatric settings, including acute hospital and rehabilitation settings for adults and children; paediatric private practice; schools; community and home health; and academe as a lecturer and clinical supervisor.
Since moving to Sydney in March 2017, Stephanie has worked in both paediatric and adult multidisciplinary clinics. Stephanie has worked as a clinical team leader for a multidisciplinary practice, navigating the NDIS and advocating for her clients, prescribing assistive technology and assistance animals, and helping her clients achieve their therapeutic goals.
With over a decade of experience working as a paediatric occupational therapist, Stephanie has adapted a play-based, relationship-based, trauma-informed, and neurodivergent-affirming approach to her therapy. She has a deep passion for learning and loves having fun in her personal life and when working with her clients!
Rita Tawil
BPsych (Honours), MPsych (Professional)
Registered Psychologist
Rita is a registered psychologist with a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) and Master of Professional Psychology.
Rita’s main areas of interest are:
• Men’s mental health
• Problem-solving and behavioural approaches
• Anxiety reduction
Rita has extensive experience in disabilities, particularly providing therapy to those on the spectrum, and has been building her experience in other presentations such as:
Depression
Anxiety (including phobias)
Trauma backgrounds
Schizophrenia
Dissociative identity disorder
Workplace stress reduction
Rita believes everyone can better themselves and make meaningful change in the right direction. She works to empower the individual to take control of their own life and give them the skills to do that!
Rita prefers cognitive-behavioural approaches. This approach looks at how our thoughts and feelings affect our behaviour, and how we can change these for the better. This includes reactive techniques in the short-term to deal with stress management while doing the cognitive work on a longer-term basis.
Rita often uses this approach while looking at what can be changed in your environment to help you to move forward, as the issue never lies solely within the person, but in what may be surrounding them as well.
Psychometric Assessments: Rita is also able to administer assessments to determine IQ, functional capacity, and mental health diagnoses. This includes (but is not limited to): intellectual disability, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and many more.
If you like colours and drawings and photos, Rita loves to use a whiteboard to draw/write what she is explaining to you – she likes therapy to be interactive and collaborative, putting you back in the driver’s seat with her as a guide to push you when you need it and slow down when it’s necessary. She will meet you where you are and walk at your pace.
Dr Alan Barclay
Cert III(Commercial cookery), BSc(Nutrition and food science), Grad Dip Dietetics, Ph.D. (Nutritional epidemiology)
Dietitian
Alan has worked as a clinical dietitian providing Medical Nutrition Therapy to children and adults since 1994 in public hospitals, community centres, fitness centres and general practice,throughout Australia.
He helps people with a range of food and nutrition related conditions including food allergies and intolerances, anaemia, high cholesterol and triglycerides, high blood pressure, coeliac disease, diabetes (type 1 and 2) and pre-diabetes, and overweight/obesity.
He is the co/author of several books including Reversing Diabetes, Low GI Diet: Managing Type 2 Diabetes, The Good Carbs Cookbook, and The Ultimate Guide to Sugars and Sweeteners.
Accredited Practicing Dietitian Australian Diabetes Society Royal Society of Medicine
Daniel Abou-Sleiman
BExSc | MCEP | ESSAM | AES | AEP
Exercise Physiologist
Daniel is an experienced senior Exercise Physiologist and has a passion for rehabilitating chronic injuries or illnesses that have impacted an individual’s life. Daniel incorporates neuromuscular reprogramming techniques into his holistic rehabilitative exercise programs to address full body movement dysfunctions and asymmetries. With a vast experience working with children as well as disability centres and within both private practice and hospital/aged care environments, Daniel has built extensive experience in the prevention and management of conditions including but not limited to cardiovascular disease, obesity, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, stroke, osteoporosis, diabetes, arthritis, disabilities, and surgical interventions.
Playing professional Rugby League and Rugby Union at an elite level has enabled Daniel to implement his experience in the management and programming of strength and conditioning programs for his high-level athletic clients. The incorporation of rehabilitation principles into his strengthening programs enables Daniel to ensure his athletes stay injury free whilst performing at their maximum physical potential.
Dr Katelyn Dyason
PhD (Clinical Psychology)
Dr Katelyn Dyason is a registered psychologist and clinical psychology registrar with over 7 years clinical experience. She holds a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) and a combined Masters/PhD in Clinical Psychology. She has worked as a psychologist in both the private and public sectors, across outpatient and inpatient settings, including private practice, clinical research trials, hospitals and headspace.
Katelyn loves working with children and young people and has experience working with a variety of presenting problems. She particularly enjoys working with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), ADHD, anger/rage, autism, anxiety, depression, parenting, stress and studying/university difficulties.
Katelyn works from predominantly cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT) approaches, but utilises aspects from other evidence-based approaches to best meet the needs of each individual client, such as attachment perspectives, narrative therapy, brief-solution focused therapy, and play therapy.
Katelyn believes fun should be part of any successful therapy encounter and loves engaging with clients on their level, using humour, fun and games. Katelyn is neurodiverse-affirming and LGBTIQA+ welcoming. She welcomes all people and all feelings – no matter how big or small.
Lisa Raad
B. Health Sci, M. CVS (Orthoptics) USYD
Vision Therapist
Lisa is an experienced Orthoptist for over 10 years. Lisa completed her undergraduate degree in Health Science then went on to complete her Masters in Clinical Vision Science (Orthoptics) at Sydney University in 2011.
Over the last 10 years, Lisa has been treating patients in several settings including hospitals, private practice, at schools and in clinic. Lisa has a special interest in children’s vision and treating common visual skills dysfunctions with therapy rather than glasses or surgery.
Lisa is often quoted as describing Orthoptics as “Physiotherapy for the eyes and brain” – and when she’s not seeing patient’s she is often at primary schools across Greater Sydney presenting to parents and teachers on the important role Vision plays in learning.
She works very closely with local Optometrists to make sure her patients have access to a wide range of tests and services.
Vicki Fretwell
Administration Support
Vicki has been Administration Support for TLC Speech Pathology since 2018 and is now providing support for the TLC CENTRE’s multi-disciplinary team.
Vicki has extensive experience in property development administration. along with 20 years of optical administration and project trainer experience.
Vicki is a mum of 2 who has been living in the Earlwood community for the past 30 years. Vicki loves seeing clients progress with their treatment and providing a client centric experience for everyone entering the TLC CENTRE.
Monica Gimeno
BSci
Administration
Monica is an administrative assistant at TLC Centre. She has a bachelor’s degree in science majoring in Psychology at UNSW and is currently writing a thesis while undergoing her honours year in psychology at Monash University.
Monica is working towards registration as a psychologist following the completion of a Psychology Master’s degree.
Monica is passionate about mental health issues in adolescents and young adults and is aiming to begin work as a provisional psychologist in the near future.
Monica chose this pathway as being able to provide support to those in this group experiencing mental health related issues and challenges is a cause that is close to her heart.
Helen Ganis
BEd (Special Education)
Behaviour Therapist
Helen’s remarkable career spans over 3 decades with the Department of Education beginning her career in 1986 at Chester Hill North PS as a teacher.
Since this time she has worked in many schools across Sydney across all regions and was targeted early on in her career as an excellent Behaviour Management Practitioner and received the Director General’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and for her specialist knowledge and presentations at Beginning Teacher Conferences and Primary Principals Conferences across many years.
Helen enjoys sharing her expertise in behaviour, wellbeing and inclusive best practices and has conducted extensive training and development courses for staff, students, parents and carers.
She continues to lead case management style interventions for students at risk, requiring learning support, inclusion engagement and attendance and wellbeing. Her qualifications extend beyond the classroom and has Special Education qualifications and vast experience in leading teams and schools across Sydney.
She has worked in Region Offices as an Assistant Principal Learning Support for many years providing specialist behaviour support to Primary and High Schools.
Career highlights include: worked on the G.A.T.E. program in Western Sydney which targeted at risk students across several high schools to complete TAFE courses, held leadership positions in Primary Schools, including relieving Principal for several years.
Her empathy, passion and dedication to her students, parents and community is remarkable. Her practical hands on approach is based on evidence based practices with 35 plus years of working experience and schools across Sydney.
She joined TLC Centre Earlwood in 2022 and has continued to develop her expertise including Parenting Programs – Coaching and Support, Mental Health and Wellbeing Programs, Social Skills Programs, Anxiety based and School Refusal Interventions Emotional Regulation – Anger Management, Growth Mindset Coaching, Developing Interventions for Life Skills, Healthy Habits Wellbeing, Conflict Resolution and Mediation Coach.
Helen holds strong values of inclusion and kindness and is passionate about making a world of difference to lives of her students and clients!!
Learning Support, Inclusion and Wellbeing
Wellbeing Coaching and Parenting Coach
Founder of Rainbow Parenting©
