Ahh...I hope you're enjoying your summer! We are loving ours. My favourite job ever is to be a mom to my kids, so to get the chance to do that full time for two months makes me a happy mama! I will certainly confess that they drive me nuts at times, but getting the chance to work with them through their difficulties, love them in lazy days and fun-filled days is amazing. I also love getting to think about my home and clear out closets and junk drawers and cupboards and reorganize our home...I'm noticing most places have items from last summer in them, making me realize it has been a year since I had a chance to do any of that home stuff. I'm very thankful for the chance to get to be home with my kids this summer - my husband and I save up all year for it to be possible, so it isn't something I take for granted!
However, this summer is extra special! It is really great to have ConnectSLP officially as part of our lives now. I think for a couple of weeks in early July, I just had to sit with it for awhile - I couldn't come to this blog or my website or anything, I just had to let it sit. I really did it, I really left my secure job to leap out into this venture! I had to mourn a little for what I left, and process a bit that things were shifting even though I have not had any doubts about the wisdom of this decision for my life. I met up with a few people who weren't so happy and supportive about my changes and that was also good for me to work through. Life has its ups and downs, and the only person we can do anything about is ourselves! Good reminders. :) Some of my creative big happy plans I put on hold a bit to make some agreements and plans for the fall, which are also happy, just things I won't know more about until the fall. I have secured work for two days for the fall, which is all I wanted for this year while my littlest one is in Kindergarten. I'm so grateful that some colleagues have taken me under their wing and welcomed me in, and I'm really excited about what I can learn from them in the coming year about how this all is done! In my home re-organization I'm finding places for work materials, searching out which tests to buy, thinking through my process for the fall, and my bookkeeper (my husband) has been enjoying learning about that and setting us all up for success. We have an accountant and are getting some other of the financial things settled up this summer too. So, that's an update here. As August approaches, my mind is thinking ahead. It is going to be fun this fall, doing something new and different, even though much of it will be the same and similar. Maybe more of life is like that than we realize, and it's mostly perspective that makes the difference. Regardless, the adventure awaits!
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I had the duty to write a bio about myself this week for a work opportunity. It's quite the experience, isn't it? I really felt like I should have said, "I make mistakes every day and wish I was better at keeping up on paperwork". Instead I said, "l consider it a great honour to have been invited to that program." My true bio would talk about being human and having discouraged days and wishing I could take back words I spoke. But it is good to also remember the encouraging, perspective-changing days and the times that I made a positive difference for someone.
It is an interesting and valuable thing to look back on one's life, and I find myself doing that often lately as I transition to a new phase of my work life and write things like bios and resumes and websites. :) Did I focus on what matters? Did I empower more than enable? Did I collaborate more than compete? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I'm think I'm good with that - at least I'm better with it than I used to be. I've been working on that lately - living with the successes and mistakes, living in the now and being OK with imperfection and vulnerability and forgiving myself for my past. Writing a bio makes me think of things I want to improve, but it also reminds me of how very many things I have experienced that I am SO grateful for. I've had some great supervisors and colleagues along the way, and some great colleagues that collaborated with me and empowered me as I grew as a clinician and learned about ways to intersect my personality with my profession. I've had some discouraged days in the last few years where I was ready to leave my career behind. I should have written a bio on those days, as I think it would have renewed my hope and reminded me that seasons don't last forever. Do you need some hope and perspective in your work life these days? Maybe write a bio! And remember that life is all about seasons that change and have beauty at some level even in the dark days. Bonnie Baxter began her career as a Speech Language Pathologist in a small town in Alberta after graduating from... Life is full of the push and pull...the pros and cons...the positives and the challenges...the arriving and the leaving.
I had some good reminders today about why this private practice is an excellent idea right now at this point in my life. I was wanting to do some wrap-up work outside of regular work hours and was strongly discouraged from doing so by my supervisor, which is understandable given some of the parameters she has to work with. But, it's going to be great when I can do my report writing and creative work in my creative hours, from about 9-midnight. :) In the meantime, I'm working like a hound dog when I'm at work, trying to get everything wrapped up well before I go...not many days left! I also am going through that agonizing 'leaving' process. Parts of it are quite freeing and my joy helps with the sadness. But other parts are just sad, no other way to look at it. I have met some amazing clients in the last few years. Like, to be really honest, I sort of love them, and if life took that path I would even consider adopting a couple of them. Thankfully they're in happy homes with people who love them and advocate on their behalf. :) So I can joke all I want. But I will really truly miss those students, especially the AAC ones - the ones who have no words but whose eyes light up when I come in the room and who show me with their laborious yes/no answers that they have a lot to say. Oy, I'm going to make myself cry here. It has been powerful and really magical work that I've been so honored to do. It really is an honor, even though I have stumbled through so much of it and made many mistakes. I won't name them here of course, but I will carry them in my heart and hope that our paths cross again in the future. I didn't do any of this to get away from them, as they gave my work life meaning. I am seeing the last of those clients this week, so I'm just feeling kind of melancholy about that. I'm going to miss having coworkers as well, I do know this. I am going to have to work to create professional community around me I think, and find new ways to connect, as connecting is really important to me (thus the name of my practice!). I know many of them will be my friends after I'm done, but it isn't the same as getting to work together, and I'll miss that a lot! We live in a pretty 'small town' city, so I know our paths will cross lots, it will just be in a different way. So now, I continue the leaving part - packing up, writing notes and lists and having transition meetings. It's good to embrace the leaving, even as you reach forward to the arriving. I had no idea building a business would be this much fun! Seriously, every day I think of some other idea to add to my repertoire or someone else I should call to make contact with or some feature to add to my website, and it makes me SO.Happy. At this rate, I'll be working three full time jobs. Oh wait a second, I have to get someone to pay me first, ha! :) I will need to read this in November when I'm plugging away at the day-to-day-ness of life and things are all routine and getting dry.
But for now, the creativity is just bubbling around here. I've been trying to think about ways that I can take what I love to do, and blend that with what the agencies around me need and with my own personal priorities. Any ideas are welcomed! I've been cold-calling agencies and school district people and making a pitch about working together in some way, throwing ideas out there to the wind to see if there are any bites! So far there has been lots of enthusiasm and 'atta girl' talk, which is fun and encouraging. A little while ago I added workshops to 'what we do', as I really love working with people in a learning environment. I do like sharing ideas, but what I really love is seeing the light go on for other people and seeing them come up with their own ideas to tie in with their current values and beliefs. I'd love to do some of that, and can think of some great speakers around here I'd love to partner up with, but that isn't really a 'steady income' sort of gig usually, so I'm going to just float it out there and see where that goes. Then today, a ball got rolling in my head, and just couldn't stop! I was thinking about the preschools I know around here, and one of the most engaging things they have going on is the beloved Mr.Plait. He's a music guy and comes in monthly to do a little music session with the kids. My son thinks Mr.Plait might want to come to his birthday party and see his stuffies, that's how much he loves Mr. Plait. :) And it's more complex than most people realize - he is teaching some really great concepts to the kids and the staff while he's there in my opinion, in the context of being super-duper silly. It got me thinking about how I'd love an effective way to reach out to the kids as a group about language ideas, and model to the teachers different ways to read books - partly to build literacy in the little ones, but mostly to build language skills in the kids and capacity in the staff for integrating language therapy ideas to the play and centres and activities. I could offer a monthly session that lasted throughout the school year, and come in and read to the kids on a different learning theme each month - social skills, numeracy, prepositions (under, beside, over, etc., in case you needed a brush-up on grammar, ha!). I've heard that I'm good at reading books - all I know is that my kids love it, and I love it! I could leave some ideas for the preschool to integrate the book ideas in their centres after I leave, and send home a nice handout to the families about ways to keep those ideas building at home. Then I thought about a persona and how maybe I could be the Word Lady. Is that crazy? Ha, yes a little! But it might be fun! My mom suggested maybe I could get an oil company to sponsor the program and give the kids a copy of the book to take home each month, wouldn't that be cool?! Maybe another idea to float out there and see where it goes. I've also been thinking about where to make the biggest difference in my community within my strengths and abilities, and was thinking about some agencies that provide free services for families with little ones and have worked really hard to be accessible and open and helpful. So I'd love to be able to do some free work there too, volunteering with baby-and-me classes or something like that, and being able to provide some support to someone who might never be able to pay for private therapy. Most people ask me for a poster or brochure when I call them, so I need to get some sort of deliverable ready and take them around. I'm not a fan of brochures, I know it's weird. I don't like the folding, flipping thing and the long narrow columns...they just bug me. So maybe I'll make a poster and a postcard/bookmark or something? Any other cool ideas you've seen? Maybe something quasi-useful while still having some advertising and useful info on it. And cheap, I'm cheap, so that takes out free playdoh in a can or something. Hmm, I'll have to think on that. I'm starting to get the idea about why people are so happy for me when I tell them I'm starting a business...they talk to me like they did back when I was expecting my babies! They must know what I didn't know...that this is a whole lot of fun! Thanks for sharing the journey with me...would love to hear ideas or needs that you know about! One reason that I named this practice 'ConnectSLP' is that I believe that communication growth happens primarily through relationships - through connecting with others. Other factors play a role, but the key is not drills, not apps, not formulas, not programs, not philosophies, not theories...the key is relationships. Lots of what we do is almost natural...my friend Brad says that our work is deceptively simple, and he's right. The ideas we share with parents sometimes seem too simple to be as powerful as they are.
That's why I'm a strong supporter of keeping a child in a natural setting, such as their classroom or their home or in the presence of their parents during therapy and that working together with the parents or teacher will come up with a much more powerful formula to help a child with delays or struggles than if I was sitting in a little room with them by myself working on some sounds once a week or so. Don't get me wrong, I've done that plenty through the years, in fact I did it just this morning for some /r/ words with two little girls! SLPs like to joke about the tiny therapy rooms we've used...bathrooms, hallways...I even remember sitting on a stack of bulk water bottles as my chair as the little closet room was too small to fit another chair! Good times. But it is tempting for us SLPs to enjoy looking like we have all the answers, and I know that is almost never the case. :) You'd think this philosophy of working together with the child's team would be welcomed by the masses, but often I really have to convince a parent or teacher to be a key part of the treatment. Parents are often grieving about their dreams for their child, or really afraid about seeing some significant difficulties in their child, and that's a really tough space to be in. Also, I think sometimes all of us would like to just drop our kids off and come back with them all 'fixed', and it sometimes doesn't feel like therapy to a parent when the SLP talks to the parent for a good portion of the session. I don't say that to be condescending, as this is true for all kinds of parents that I have met through the years, including myself! But that time spent working with parents is really purposeful for me, as I really believe that training the parent will help the child more in the long run than a bit more pull-out treatment time. That being said, I feel really alive when I'm working directly with a child with speech and language difficulties, and it is exciting to see that connection and build their confidence and watch them grow. I have often said it's like magic, and it is magic to me, even after all these years, to see the light come on for a child as they realize the piece that they've been missing! At ConnectSLP, I want our relationships to be humble, to be in partnership with others, to realize everyone has something worthwhile to share, and to be targeting what is truly useful for the child and their family from a holistic point of view. Lots of people are asking me what ConnectSLP will look like, and I just say, 'I don't know yet!'
I think for the first year I'd like to do a contract with a school or preschool as I'm only looking for a couple of days of work at first and that seems like a good way to get my feet wet in the private practice scene. I have some leads on that and have been looking into that as a first priority for now. But anything's possible! I have had people asking me about individual funding contracts as well as individual therapy. At this point I'm not looking to open a full clinic or hire any staff but am in the process of set up a home office and may see some clients in my home. And as for the future...I kind of feel like the sky is the limit, ha! I'm a dreamer like my dad. :) I might do some work with universities/colleges, or some long distance therapy, who knows! I have lots of ideas for summer camps and ways to use this platform to make a difference in our community, so stay tuned! Welcome to ConnectSLP! This is a very exciting welcome for me!
I have worked for the past 16 years as a Speech-Language Pathologist in the public health service in both Alberta and BC, and feel so thankful for the many opportunities that came my way and all the interesting people I had the good fortune to work with and learn from. Since my beginnings in a tiny health unit north of Edmonton, a lot has changed! The world has smart phones and wifi and Skype and bluetooth. Personally, I got married and had two great kids, paid off student loans, changed locations a few times, and turned 40. Life keeps moving along! My career needs a change too, so I am thrilled to announce this new venture in my life. I decided to take the leap and open a private practice in our city of Medicine Hat. Some of my goals for my practice are personal - to help provide for my family and spend lots of time with my kids, and others are professional - to have autonomy in my work choices and to have a platform to make a generous difference in my community. Thanks for your interest in ConnectSLP - have a read through the information on the website, and if there is anything we can do to help you and your loved ones, please give us a call or an email, we'd be happy to help! |
ConnectSLPBonnie Baxter, M.S. R.SLP, S-LP(C) is a Speech-Language Pathologist in Medicine Hat, AB and the founder of ConnectSLP, a local private practice. Archives
January 2015
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