"Again?!", you ask.
Yep, that's right. I found another job, and the best part is that it's right here in town! No more driving 1 hour each way. AMEN. Before I start telling you about this new job, I should tell you that I didn't quit my previous one. I still work PRN for them. When I took my last job, I knew it would be part-time/PRN, and that the distance would be temporary for the summer. By the time August came around, I could barely take the drive. Even though it was only 2 days a week, I was filling in at other clinics on other days, and it was just too much. 9 hour days + 2 hours on the road = not much time at home to relax. So the timing of the new job was just perfect, as I finished my committment at the other job on August 30th.
So, how did this new job come about? Before we left North Carolina, and when I was first job searching here in Idaho, I googled "speech therapy" in our town. An official company name did not come up, but a person's name did, so I just assumed she was a solo SLP who gave private therapy. I moved on and figured there was nothing in town, and I started looking in Boise.
Come June or so, as I'm driving down the street in town, I passed by an office that said speech therapy on the window. Shocked that I wasn't able to find the company on the internet, I wrote down the phone number and made a mental note to call them. I tried to do some online searching about the company, but couldn't find much. I kept putting off calling for another month or so, and finally, as I was driving into Boise one day, I thought, "Why not? Just give them a call. It can't hurt."
It just so happens that I was able to reach the owner of the company on that very first phone call! We hit it off and she told me that my timing was perfect. She had just hired another speech therapist in July, but her schedule was filling up quickly, and they could use more help. We set up a time to meet in person, and she told me more about what the company had available. They offer private speech therapy in the clinic, as well as home-health (adults), Infant-Toddler (Early Intervention...a lot like what I did in NC), and contracts in the schools. The particular position the owner was looking to fill was in a middle school and an elementary school. Not
exactly what I was looking for, but I said I'd try it out. I felt like I could give up my "dream job" in a hospital for the shorter drive. It would take me about 10 minutes to get to work now! Awesome!!
School was starting a little more than a week from the time I met with the owner. Since then, I've been working 3 days a week. I do my testing and see kids 2 days a week at the middle school (5th & 6th grades), and then travel a little farther to an elementary school (K-6) 1 day a week. I have an assistant at the middle school who helps see the kids while I do testing, and she helps with a little bit of the paperwork. The way the company has set things up with the school, we only treat articulation (speech sounds) vs. language (vocabulary, following directions, etc.). Usually it's the other way around, but I won't go into that. Anyway, I LOVE articulation, so this job is turning out to be perfect for me! I love the extra time I have at the end of the day, I love the shorter drive, and I love helping the kids learn to say their sounds better! I also work Tuesday through Thursday, and I can't tell you how nice it feels to have Monday off. Sunday is not such a bad day after all!
I'm so glad I was able to find this job. I'm really liking it so far, and I have a feeling I'm going to keep liking it! Plus, since it's a school position, I'll get holidays and summers off, with the option of working in the clinic if I want! LOVE IT! :)
