Professional(ish) Side:

 

I always find the concept of describing myself/my motivations to be kind of challenging, because it's the combination of many different events/experiences in my life that have formed my interests, but I'll give it a try! I have been a speech pathologist since 2020 (as we all know, the best year to start one's career) and have had a longstanding interest in exploring and learning therapy approaches for people who stutter, as well as in neurodiversity informed approaches, working with gender diverse clients, and cognitive-communication disorders. My interest in stuttering began from taking one of my first undergraduate classes in this area, as well as from attending a camp for children who stutter as a volunteer in 2016, and then subsequently as a graduate student/SLP. Having worked in so many settings since I began, I've had the experience of trying out many different subareas in the field and building competence in them, including AAC and dysphagia evaluation/therapy as well. The common thread I've found is that with almost any client, building a relationship with them is really the key to achieving any further work.

 

Currently, I work for a large outpatient facility in the Seattle Metro area, where I see a wide variety of clients, as well as mentor graduate students. Due to my interest in affirming approaches to stuttering, as well as my connections at Camp Shout Out and lived experiences in the theater community, I hope to explore in my individual work/projects how using character work/play, such as improv, scripted theater, and role-playing games can be applied therapeutically. I am also curious about, more broadly, utilizing neurodiversity-based approaches in therapy, as well as the benefits socially of targeting these areas in settings such as summer camps. I care greatly about promoting communicative confidence and improving quality of life via participation and shared joy, as well as encouraging spontaneity in speaking.

 

I have had the wonderful opportunity to teach the Multicultural Issues in Speech Pathology course at Eastern Washington University (EWU). I have worked hard on this course to include not only comprehensive information about bilingualism in terms of assessment/treatment, but also, elements such as information about neurodivergence and LGBTQ+ populations that are essential to our work as clinicians. I recognize the position that I am in is one of privilege in terms of my intersectionalities as a white cisgender woman, thus, I aim to uplift voices of communities that I do not have lived experience within. I have linked within my resource tab some important members of the community that I follow and would encourage others to follow as well. I ultimately hope to pursue a career in academia in the next 2-3 years to work on conducting some of my own research around these topics, as well as teach at the university level.​

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Personal(ish) Side

 

 

 

Despite the novel written above, I definitely enjoy my non-work time just as much as the elements of work that motivate me. I greatly enjoy travel and experiencing different places, cultures, and lifestyles, even at the level of individual neighborhoods.  I love coffee and trying out different cafes/shops whenever I travel. I honestly think it's a bit of a comfort/routine thing for me, but whatever the case is, it seems to help keep me motivated and moving. Thus, my blog features a different type of coffee that I liked for each post. I am also very social, with a great love for my friendships I've developed over the years, and married to a wonderful human, who is my fellow pet parent to two dogs and a cat.

 

I also really enjoy participating in local theater-- not just due to the beforementioned academic curiosities, but to facilitate my own joy and self-esteem/personal growth. Mainly, this has been improv (both in Portland/Seattle), but I am hoping to branch out into doing other forms of theater (e.g., scripted plays/sketch comedy) in the near future. I was first introduced to acting when I was 10 in my hometown and haven't been able to put it down since. I've had to take some pretty significant hiatuses from it (e.g., SLP grad school + COVID pandemic), but I always seem to find my way back! Under Projects, I have information about anything I'm currently involved with locally. I just really love telling stories.