The People We Serve Deserve Quality Services

Speech - language pathologists have more opportunities than ever for exciting, rewarding work with persons of all ages. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected growth of new jobs in our field of between 10-19%; this growth would be spread ideally across all the work settings where SLP's are found. In healthcare and in the educational arenas, there is so much good work to be done; so many inroads to be made with both children and adults in all settings; - so many opportunities for persons served from all socio-economic groups to improve their quality of life. If it were the case that new graduates, or vetted professionals looking to change their work setting, moved to fill all the positions that needed filling - it would be a wonderful world for our field.

But new grads often go for their perfect job at clinical fellowship time. They're often the "sexy" speech jobs, one that have the glamour afforded them by high technology being used, or the most "romantic" diagnoses being explored, or in the work settings that are exciting places to be - often, an urban center. Some clinical positions require, or their job requirements demand, more autonomy and initiative then a clinical fellow or new professional may be equipped. Some worksites are less than desirable for persons seeking a job, due to the physical surroundings, the demographics of the patient mix, or the budget available for an SLP to do her/his clinical work. With limited space to address all the issues related to - not having enough quality SLP's in all the work settings that need high quality professionals - ; all that need be said is: everyone deserves quality SLP services, be they in the educational or the healthcare sphere; low or high socio-economic status; child or adult. But how to achieve - the parity that is needed among work settings!

There are time-tested strategies for attracting both new professionals and vetted ones, to less than the most sexy work settings. Grants augment salaries. Student loans can be reduced or forgiven. Benefit packages swell and shrink, as a function of the largesse of the institution's governing body. Travel? Free housing? Continuing education budget? These budget gems disappear from budget lines as quickly as they appear - from this blogger's experience. So if you are the successful candidate for this job - you have had some incentive waved like a carrot before your face. Beyond that, you have to love those jobs you start, so the difficulty in filling the jobs remains high.

I can only speak for myself. Being in a clinical job that I want to continue, means that I have found a sense of mission about the work. Mission often compensates for the lack of benefits, or of glamor or of sexiness in the work setting. Working with a sense of mission helps you see the operation of a clinical setting, above and beyond the day to day contact with patients/clients. You see what keeps the lights on, and you see the interplay among professional, skilled and semi-skilled labor that heightens your awareness of how cultures work - cultures like THIS work culture. How it works, when it works best, for the persons served - is that you as a professional do, what needs to be done.