With more than 20 years of service at Holland Bloorview, Lisa Kakonge has built a career grounded in compassion, innovation and collaboration. Starting as a pediatric speech-language pathologist on the brain injury rehabilitation team (BIRT), Lisa stepped into the role of collaborative practice leader in November 2024. In this role, Lisa supports multiple teams including speech-language pathologists, communicative disorders assistants, dietitians, therapeutic recreation and life skills specialists, and assistive technology consultants.
Lisa’s passion for speech-language pathology began early, inspired by her brother’s positive experience with a speech-language pathologist when they were young. That spark led Lisa to pursue her education and career with a clear goal: to work with children and make a difference.
Reflecting on her journey, Lisa shares: “My journey at Holland Bloorview so far has been filled with opportunities for personal and professional growth. I love working with clients and families to support cognitive-communication needs after brain injury, while collaborating with amazing colleagues to deliver interprofessional care and innovative therapy programs.
Read on to learn more about Lisa.
How did you come to be part of Holland Bloorview?
While volunteering at a public school in Toronto during high school, I would take the TTC westbound bus along Sheppard Avenue and often saw the sign for Bloorview MacMillan Children’s Centre - the former name of Holland Bloorview. Curious, I researched the hospital and set my sights on working there one day.
I went on to pursue my Master’s degree in speech-language pathology in Albany, New York, where I had the opportunity to work with mentors who specialized in brain injury. After graduation, I worked in the Boston Public School system before applying to several speech-language pathology positions at Holland Bloorview – the rest is history!
What inspired you to pursue a career in collaborative practice?
I was encouraged to apply by Salma Kassam, a supportive colleague and occupational therapist on BIRT, whose belief in my potential was deeply motivating. The collaborative practice role aligned perfectly with my academic and professional journey – especially including my PhD work supervising students in conducting scoping reviews on topics such as patterns of referrals to speech-language pathology and executive functions in multilingual children with an ABI. This highlighted the importance of interprofessional, culturally responsive care.
In addition, I’ve always been passionate about pursuing excellence in clinical practice, and my involvement with professional regulatory bodies such as the College of Audiologists and Speech Language Pathologists of Ontario, has reinforced the value of collaborative standards and shared learning.
For those unfamiliar, how would you describe collaborative practice and what it involves?
Collaborative practice is an approach to care where professionals from different disciplines work both interprofessionally to advance standards of care and collaboratively to provide holistic, client- and family-centered support. It involves reviewing and updating standards of care, making shared decisions about therapy tools and approaches, and exchanging clinical and educational insights.
As collaborative practice leader, what key initiatives are you and your team currently working on?
One key initiative is the Interprofessional Education (IPE) program for Health Discipline Professionals (HDPs), in collaboration with Teaching and Learning. This new program is designed for HDPs with less than five years of pediatric experience and was co-created to strengthen interprofessional collaboration and enhance clinical reasoning through case-based group discussions. This helps early-career professionals feel better equipped to contribute meaningfully to interdisciplinary teams.
What do you find most rewarding about your work?
Collaborating with diverse health disciplines and regularly learning from their unique perspectives is incredibly rewarding. I also value engaging with HDPs and operations managers to better understand and support their clinical practice needs. And I especially enjoy facilitating recognition initiatives like the STAR and Jake’s awards, which celebrate the everyday excellence and creativity of our teams.
Are there any upcoming projects or changes in your area of work that you’re particularly excited about?
I’m especially excited about our growing focus on becoming a learning health system as it emphasizes continuous improvement through data-informed decision-making, collaboration and reflection. All align perfectly with the goals of collaborative practice!
What are your interests or passions outside of work?
I prioritize spending quality time with my daughters, who are both navigating exciting life transitions - one in university and the other in high school. I especially enjoy window shopping with my eldest daughter and cheering on my youngest at her volleyball games, which often includes a lot of driving and sideline support! I’m also working on rediscovering personal interests that took a backseat during my PhD journey, such as journaling, participating in book clubs and physical activity.
Learn more about the collaborative practice of health professionals at Holland Bloorview.
