Feeling like I made the wrong career choices/feel hopeless

[Anonymous]

Bring in your Porcupine, see if she likes animal massage then.

[Anonymous]

Your neighbor’s coldness reflects poorly on her, but it does not make you a loser.

[Anonymous]

OP
I should clarify that she is working at a place with a hydrotherapy pool for dogs and gets in the pool with them to give them the hydrotherapy. Dogs with injuries or diseases or recovering from surgery can benefit from it. I don’t think pet insurance covers any of this though because they are not overseen by a vet or within a vet’s office. I think the idea of it is really amazing and I wish I could do it.

I’m just not sure how a person can stay in a heated pool for a full day of work or how practical that is to work in a pool all day long. That’s the main service the place provides. But it is also insanely expensive. If I had a business doing that I would want to make it more accessible so that more people could afford to help their dogs in this way. They are charging $120 for 1 hour to have your dog swim in a heated shallow pool with them. They are small massage therapists.

[Anonymous]

OP, I get not wanting to work in a school, but it could give you the experience needed to get another position elsewhere. My cousin is a speech pathologist and worked for maybe 3-4 years in an ES before getting a job at a children's hospital in her area. Another family member was able to take a break from the field when her kids were little and jump back in. I envy that flexibility.

[Anonymous]

So be a speech pathologist during the school year and train dogs during the summer. That way you still get all the health benefits and retirement etc. of being a school employees.

By the way, that's what my mom did. Speech pathologist who worked with show dogs during the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So be a speech pathologist during the school year and train dogs during the summer. That way you still get all the health benefits and retirement etc. of being a school employees.

By the way, that's what my mom did. Speech pathologist who worked with show dogs during the summer.

I get what you’re saying but it’s not quite the same. I want to help injured or sick animals, not show dogs for profit. I’m an introvert and I will inevitably burnout from being an SLP. I always wanted to work with animals but I have an ethical dilemma that I feel when it comes to profiting off of helping animals… which is why I didn’t choose to go into that and I chose to foster instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So be a speech pathologist during the school year and train dogs during the summer. That way you still get all the health benefits and retirement etc. of being a school employees.

By the way, that's what my mom did. Speech pathologist who worked with show dogs during the summer.

I get what you’re saying but it’s not quite the same. I want to help injured or sick animals, not show dogs for profit. I’m an introvert and I will inevitably burnout from being an SLP. I always wanted to work with animals but I have an ethical dilemma that I feel when it comes to profiting off of helping animals… which is why I didn’t choose to go into that and I chose to foster instead.

For an introvert the basically one-on-one work of a SLP is great. You need to reframe your thinking OP. You seem to have crap-colored glasses.

[Anonymous]

OP I can understand you. I am a PT who did 5 years Bachelor, 2 years Master and plus various specialized certifications. I feel at times ..,, in USA the PT/OT/SLP profession is undervalued .. especially constant payment cuts and changes in Medicare and contracting companies make our lives miserable . I have friends in UK NZ Canada and Australia and though they have their own struggles , they never feel like they are not called . Atleast you are lucky that you don’t have any assistants. But PTs and OTs have assistants and in job market , they are willing to hire a PT assistant than a PT . I can’t help but feel at times why I made this career choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So be a speech pathologist during the school year and train dogs during the summer. That way you still get all the health benefits and retirement etc. of being a school employees.

By the way, that's what my mom did. Speech pathologist who worked with show dogs during the summer.

I get what you’re saying but it’s not quite the same. I want to help injured or sick animals, not show dogs for profit. I’m an introvert and I will inevitably burnout from being an SLP. I always wanted to work with animals but I have an ethical dilemma that I feel when it comes to profiting off of helping animals… which is why I didn’t choose to go into that and I chose to foster instead.

For an introvert the basically one-on-one work of a SLP is great. You need to reframe your thinking OP. You seem to have crap-colored glasses.

It’s not always one on one. That’s what I thought too before i began my clinical rotations. Schools are over flooded with kids needing and qualifying for services. The SLP will often have to see kids in small group or push-in to the classroom in order to support the student. In other settings (nursing homes and private practice), small groups are also common. And it’s becoming more necessary because so many people need services and in order to serve them all, they can’t always be seen one on one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP I can understand you. I am a PT who did 5 years Bachelor, 2 years Master and plus various specialized certifications. I feel at times ..,, in USA the PT/OT/SLP profession is undervalued .. especially constant payment cuts and changes in Medicare and contracting companies make our lives miserable . I have friends in UK NZ Canada and Australia and though they have their own struggles , they never feel like they are not called . Atleast you are lucky that you don’t have any assistants. But PTs and OTs have assistants and in job market , they are willing to hire a PT assistant than a PT . I can’t help but feel at times why I made this career choice.

Yes, it can make you feel very undervalued. SLPs do have SLPAs, but all of these assistants have to be directly supervised by an SLP or whatever the respective field is.

Oh the contracting companies… nothing in grad school ever prepared me for how awful these companies are. They feel predatory and I wish they would all just go away. I find it so wrong that they can take a chunk of our salaries when we worked so hard to get the education and skill set. They also basically harass via phone, text etc. sometimes they call me and it turns out they don’t even have a job in my area or even know what city I’m in.

[Anonymous]

I’m in a helping profession. Are there things I might enjoy doing more? Sure. and I do some of them on the side. But don’t discount the amazing feeling you’ll get from helping others. A speech pathologist changed my life, no exaggeration. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do today without s of support I got from a speech therapist. Please consider the possibility that you’re just having the “down” that can come with hitting a goal and not having the intense high you expected. Life is long. An older version of yourself will thank you for doing the legwork you did to get that degree. And maybe you can bring a therapy dog with you to appointments with kids! Or older individuals!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So be a speech pathologist during the school year and train dogs during the summer. That way you still get all the health benefits and retirement etc. of being a school employees.

By the way, that's what my mom did. Speech pathologist who worked with show dogs during the summer.

I get what you’re saying but it’s not quite the same. I want to help injured or sick animals, not show dogs for profit. I’m an introvert and I will inevitably burnout from being an SLP. I always wanted to work with animals but I have an ethical dilemma that I feel when it comes to profiting off of helping animals… which is why I didn’t choose to go into that and I chose to foster instead.

So why are you jealous of your neighbor who works only with dogs whose owners can afford massages? You think the dog spa at 70 bucks an hour treats the poor abandoned dogs?

[Anonymous]

Pp here. Actually 120 an hour so my point stands even more.

Also, you have to be an extrovert to make any money Beyond being a minimum wage grunt providing pet related services because it is all about selling services to rich owners and communicating with them about their dogs’ needs. You are very, very much selling an unnecessary good to people.

[Anonymous]

Are you the same SLP who keeps posting here - changing diapers and driving on an interstate as part of the job description?

[Anonymous]

Have you looked at nursing homes? My relative is at a wonderful nursing home and helping the elderly with swallowing. She finds it very rewarding.