ROSALIE MARTIN HAS A WAY WITH WORDS

SUBJECT

Rosalie Martin

OCCUPATION

Speech pathologist

INTERVIEWER

Nathan Scolaro

PHOTOGRAPHER

Remi Chauvin

LOCATION

Hobart, Australia

DATE

August 2018

ANTIDOTE TO

Inability to speak

UNEXPECTED

Can control larynx muscles

The “about” page on Rosalie “Rosie” Martin’s website leads with the line: “Everyone is a story.” It’s a subtle play on words, but a powerful one, and one that says a lot about Rosie—both her precision with language and her deep belief that we are the stories we tell about ourselves. For Rosie, who’s been a speech pathologist for more than 30 years, the more words we have to tell our stories, the more able we are to articulate our sense of self and the world around us. We can do a better job of “colouring the picture in,” so to speak, which in turn makes our lives and the world more colourful.

Rosie is particularly interested in working with people who have limited vocabularies: children from trauma-filled backgrounds, teenagers who fell out of line with the education system, adults who were never given a chance to use their voice. As a trained criminologist, she works regularly with men in prisons, restoring their self-worth and confidence by helping them to read and feel into their potential. “Giving people words really is powerful for changing their opportunities,” she says.

Growing up on a small farm in South Australia, with all of its expansiveness, wonder and possibility, Rosie has always felt a strong sense of freedom. She moved to Tasmania as a young speech pathologist and fell in love with the mountains and cool, fragrant air, laying down her roots and carving out a career in which she could share the freedom she believes is everyone’s birthright. Through her organisation, Perfect Pitch, she helps women break down fears when it comes to public speaking and owning their voices, and as a facilitator for the Centre for Courage and Renewal (founded by Issue 44 profilee Parker Palmer), she helps people engage in deep listening, inner work and openhearted communication for bringing about individual and collective healing.

“If we don’t have a word for something, we actually can’t identify or connect with that something. When we have the word it’s like a little screwdriver that’s just the right fit to unlock the concept and connect it to another.”

In 2017, Rosie was awarded Tasmanian of the Year for her pro bono work at Risdon Prison. “It is work worth talking about,” she says. “Giving skills and dignity to others enlarges and enriches us as individuals and as community. Not doing so diminishes us all.” For Rosie, self-awareness, kind communication and listening to one another without judgement are the pillars that hold us and enable us to flourish. Human agency, she says, derives from our loving interaction with one another, and from putting aside our own stories for a moment to allow someone else’s to be heard and understood.

NATHAN SCOLARO: I thought we’d start with something that I’m thinking a lot about lately, which is how the words we use shape the world around us. I feel like I’m getting more and more conscious of the language that I’m using and the impact that it’s having—on other people, on myself and ultimately on what we create. And it’s central to what I can see in your work. So I wanted to hear your thoughts—how you’re understanding that relationship between language and who we are.

if we can think of using language that doesn’t contain violence and be really mindful about that, I think we do have the potential to