u/honeylemonade96

I’m a speech therapist that works in an elementary school and I wind down by smoking every night.. for some reason I always feel guilty or embarrassed about it, especially because I am 30 and feel like I probably should have kicked this habit by now (I don’t think I ever will lol). But we work with KIDS so I feel like most people would understand lol. Idk, just curious to know if any other professionals that work in a school or with children that smoke as well? Or even other professionals that find comfort in a smoke sesh at the end of a long workday? How are we feeling?

What are we doing for the first day/week of school? I think I might have to see kids my first day and I’m panicking as the first day is tomorrow and this is my first time in a school setting 🫠 (also, I got hired late and I don’t even have my room decorated, it’s quite embarrassing how clueless I feel)

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with being an SLPA ever since I graduated and got my first (horrible) experience as a home health SLPA, and even thought about giving up on it completely.. BUT, I have been offered a direct-district position at a small district, great pay, great benefits, and I can’t wait to see how this will develop my career and hopefully make me fall in love with the field again.

I heard the first year is the hardest so any tips, advice, or recommendations for “must-have” activities/supplies would be greatly appreciated!

I was taking a break or “fasting” shall I say until I found my dream job and I did! I celebrated this weekend with a toke and missed it dearly. The goal was also to take a break and come back to it when/if I was ready. Last time I smoked, my body rejected it and I felt awful, but this past weekend made it feel like the first time and it was enjoyable!

I figured I would set a schedule of only smoking on the weekends as a treat for making it through the week. I thought I’d accomplish this by getting one of those timer lock box things. Any tips you have for making it through a hard day without resulting to smoking? That’s where I feel I may back track, but I want to stay strong and not fall back into old habits (smoking everyday and at any little inconvenience).

I already have my license and in the process of leaving my first SLPA job in home health and transitioning to direct district hire..

So, back story, I started in March and have had ONE direct in-person supervision.. everything else has been phone calls (not even video supervision).. I finally sent in my resignation notice and had a phone call with my supervisor and she said that usually companies charge to do supervision/observation hours (she ready knows I’m licensed), but I would need to talk about this with the other SLP regarding my hours and my license.. she’s “retired and part-time” and stated she doesn’t know the details and to wait to talk to the other SLP (they are all co-owners of this company)..

One of the reasons I’m quitting is due to the lack of direct supervision from their end.. are they just saying things to try to get me to not leave? I just don’t want this to jeopardize my license and new opportunity with this school… I’m so confused.

Not looking forward to it but I’m here! Let’s get this bread! 🥴😭

I work overnights on the weekends only, and currently work as a speech therapist assistant during the week (daytime of course).. however, I realized I thrive during my night shifts and would like to find a more sustainable career (my current overnight does not pay well for it to be full time). My degree feels very niche and I don’t think it will translate to many overnight gigs and I don’t necessarily have the time, money, or quite frankly the motivation to go back to school since I JUST graduated last year. I’ve applied for medical dispatch, coordinator for a community with adults with disabilities, and a few others. Do y’all have any other recommendations for some jobs I should apply for during this big transition/job hunt I’m trying to achieve? Thanks in advance!

TLDR: Which is better for wanting to leave a terrible HH company with salty supervisors upset that I’m leaving - 2 weeks or 3 weeks notice?

I’m leaving home health and when my supervisors received an email for a reference check, they freaked out. They called me and these were a few responses I got from them: “This better not be for a job”, “we have medically challenged children and they cannot go without services”, “Make sure you get extra visits so the clients don’t miss out on any sessions”…. This was about two weeks ago when they found out I was applying to other places. My mistake was putting them as references (I know, I’m big dumb).

So I guess I already left a bad taste in their mouth and I haven’t even sent in a resignation letter yet… but I’m deciding to do so now. They just haven’t made this process easy and they have been, imo, very unprofessional about the matter. I have a second part-time job (non speech related) which is willing to give me extra hours while I search for something else, so I want to send in my resignation letter for this terrible HH company.

They have made me feel cornered and I don’t want to upset them further by only giving 2 weeks; I feel more time is needed for them to find someone new to take on my caseload (9 kids total). What would be the ideal notice for my situation? I was contemplating giving a 3 weeks notice but I desperately just feel like I want to give them 2 weeks.. I need out 😞

Has anyone ever jumped around like this and found it more fulfilling the second time around? I did ABA for 6 years prior to going to school, been out of the ABA game for about 2 years, and have been an SLPA for a few months but realized it’s no sustainable, no matter what setting (for ME, personally). I currently work in the home health setting but realized I enjoy clinic setting way more but speech clinics are far and few in my area. It’s easier for parents to drop their kids off for a few hours rather than go to a 30min session for speech.

Now that I have a B.S., I feel like I would be compensated more as an RBT if I choose to go back, and it just feels more sustainable imo… anyone have any experience in this switch? Anyone wanna talk me out of it or into it? Lol. TIA!

Has anyone ever jumped around like this and found it more fulfilling the second time around? I did ABA for 6 years prior to going to school, been out of the ABA game for about 2 years, and have been an SLPA for a few months but realized it’s TOO pink-collar for me, personally, and I decided it’s not the right fit, no matter what setting.

Now that I have a B.S., I feel like I would be compensated more as an RBT if I choose to go back… anyone have any experience in this switch? Anyone wanna talk me out of it or into it? Lol. TIA!

Hello, I hope this is a good place for this post! I’m currently working as an SLP-A and attempting a career pivot early on in my career. I previously worked as an RBT for 6 years before going back to school to become an SLPA. However, a few months in, and realized I’m just burnt out on hands-on therapy. With that being said…

I came across a job posting for a CD at a ABA clinic. The requirements are “Bachelor’s degree or higher in psychology, special education, social work or related field; licensure or certification as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) is highly preferred.”… again, I am NOT a BCBA; but should I test my luck and apply?

Any insight from any ABA clinical directors would be helpful and what I could expect if I shockingly make it through the application process? TIA!

I only work overnight weekends and I actually slept a decent amount but I’m dyinggg today. Can’t even read my book because it’s making me sleepy 🫠 4 more hours to go! how’s your night going?

I actually really enjoyed that mode and I still can’t get over that it’s gone, I’m still grieving 😭

That is all. Lol.

I posted here about 2 weeks ago stating I smoked because of dental pain. I ended up getting an extraction/bone graft so I didn’t smoke within these past two weeks.

I hit boredom a few days ago and decided to smoke the little weed I had left and I was excited - it was cool, I played my game, felt chill. But I noticed that I didn’t like the way I felt after a while, and it’s something I don’t think I’ve ever experienced or noticed after I smoke… I was more aware of how irritated i felt I guess and started having what I call the “smoke sweats” just getting super sweaty and wasn’t able to fall asleep, and when I woke up, the nauseous feeling and headaches came back.

I’ve also decided yesterday that I wanted to apply for a different job (mostly hospital/healthcare based jobs) so thought this was a good time to continue the “break”. But honestly, I don’t know if I want or will go back to smoking. Not even “just on the weekends”. Idk, this time just hit wayyyy different. I’m gonna wait until I snag the job I want and circle back to the thought of “maybe just the weekends or special occasions” but for right now (besides the whole job thing) the thought of smoking actually makes me sick. 🥲

I work overnight in the weekends for my part time and during the week I’m an assistant speech therapist but I think I want a career switch 😅

Just wondering if there are any sleep techs in this sub that can enlighten me on which route you took to get yourself there? Any requirements/qualifications required or is it more of a hands-on type of training? In the therapist settings, we take data, and look at graphs etc., so I feel like I wouldn’t be totally useless as a sleep tech lol. Any insight will help, thanks!

I know there’s a million posts on here about this topic. I went to good ol’ Chat GPT and came up with a few ideas lol. I’ve zoned in on the idea of clinical research assistant. Might not be as high of a pay, but it would be CONSISTENT pay. (Will accept any other ideas as well, and would LOVE to hear experiences of those who also switched and ran away from being an SLPA).

This post is just kinda a rant as to what led me to this decision. I worked ABA for about 7 years, went back to school for speech therapy and realized the last semester that this isn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. But I finished the degree, got licensed, and FINALLY found a job. All of it was really hard work, as we all know. So I’m kinda grieving that part of it all.

But now that I’ve been working as an SLPA for a few months, I realized I’m burnt out on therapy based settings. I realized I’m too much of an introvert to deal with inconsistent days, talking to parents, SLP supervision (or lack of), cancellations, and simply just not making enough for what I’m giving out. I love my clients but I’ve had major imposter syndrome since I’ve started and it doesn’t feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be. I thought I would give it a few years but why put myself through this for that long?

I’ve been feeling really guilty about letting my clients, parents, and SLPs down but at the end of the day, it’s just me paying my bills and it’s my life. Again, I’d love to hear anybody who has went through this experience and found the light at the end of the tunnel. ☀️

I’m in PAIN! My tooth started driving me crazy these past two days and I caved and bought some weed. However, I don’t feel terribly guilty because I do feel like I’m using it as a tool. Tylenol helps slightly but nothing gave me as much relief as when I decided this might be the solution. I feel the pain, then I smoke. Plus I started my period and my body is just super overwhelmed and screaming at me. I made a dentist appointment today, so once it gets resolved, I’m back on my break, I swear to myself 😭