I am nearing the end of teaching Advanced Neurological Diagnostics Seminar to graduate speech students at San Franciso State U (SFSU). I just finished grading some of the projects turned in last week. I continue to be amazed by so many of these women (there are only 2 men and 1 of them is struggling). Some of them have exceptional grasp of the material as well as creative and intuitive minds. The fact that I have helped some of them cultivate this knowledge and intrigue warms my heart. Teaching is such a joy for me. I love sharing stories and imparting info. I also probably like to listen to myself!
A handful of these fabulous students I hope to keep my eye on that they may come and work for me in my clinic of the future.
dreaming, dreaming, dreaming
I feel confident that I am becoming somewhat known in the community professionally and that that will continue to increase. As well, there is a great demand for speech services with long waiting lists. This coupled with a GGRC contract puts me in a good position to create a clinic that would be busy. The tricky part is that there is a shortage of SLP's - so getting staff to staff a clinic can be tricky. I am hoping my connecions of new and recent grads at SFSU and knowing other SLPs would give me some options.
The other hard part about considering opening a clinic is-how much do I want to work? How much should I work in terms of taking too much time away from my family and myself, more specifically the kids. mmmmmmmm. Hard to know.
My vision of my clinic currently includes:
-a separate free standing building, ideally house downtown, that has a welcoming and fun feel. Not a stark, white walls and bad carpet feel.
-adequate parking in a safe area.
-a play structure
-focus on early intervention (my part)
-0-3 grps thru GGRC
-parent seminars
-parent support groups
-lending library of books and articles for families
-the ability to barter services and flex fee schedules to meet various families needs
-Double trouble and hubby to work w/me to pull in bilingual families for above services and education
-offer CFY's (and student internships as possible)
-have SLP students work in the office
-a staff of intelligent, loving, flexible, intuitive and good humored individuals
Thoughts from anyone out there??? Can also email me
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Hey Amiga, I think this is all totally do-able. Except maybe for the free standing building part with dream environment. But we could come close, and definately set up a welcoming atmosphere for members of our lost tribe. And you've already taken some real giant steps to get there. And once K. is in school full time, you may find yourself with even more availability to take on clients and supervise students/interns, and eventually be able to hire other therapists. I think a hugely valuable service too is to provide trainings and consultation to home program teams, who have 1:1 hours and could go a long way with a little bit of guidance on how to support speech and language acquisition. You go, chica.
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