Speaker: Emily Clifford Foster, Speech Language Pathologist, Ivy Rehab for Kids
Emily Clifford Foster: Hello. My name is Emily Clifford Foster. I am a speech language pathologist and I have been working with Ivy Rehab for Kids for about two and a half years. I started right after I graduated with my masters in December of 2021. Started working in January of 2022.
Take us through a day in the life of a clinician doing their residency with Ivy.
Emily Clifford Foster: Day to day didn't change too much during the residency. I did change my hours a little bit. So instead of working five days a week, I worked four tens. That way, I was off on Fridays and I could attend all the classes and meetings that the residency needed. During the four days a week that I was there, I was still just kind of like any other clinician difference being that I was learning so much every week that I could see my sessions changing week to week. Some of the parents even commented on it like, "Oh, that's new. on it like, "Oh, that's new! You're doing things differently." And I would talk about some of the classes that I took over the weekend and, how excited I was to use it with their kiddos. So day to day, schedule wise, things change just a little bit. But I did notice changes in myself. Throughout the course of the residency program.
What is something you get to do at Ivy that you might not be able to do anywhere else?
Emily Clifford Foster: I feel like our residency program is unique to Ivy. I've talked to a couple of my other friends in the field and none of them know of anything similar at their jobs. I think at Ivy they really do encourage you to learn and grow in whatever areas that you want. I knew nothing about pediatric feeding at the beginning of the residency. And now I'm trying to specialize in it. I'm actually taking a CLC course to get my certification in lactation counseling. And my boss 100% stood behind me, encouraged me to do it. Ivy really does a good job supporting their employees and letting them grow however they want to grow. And I think that's something that a lot of companies don't do or put time into.
What advice would you give to someone considering Ivy’s residency programs?
Emily Clifford Foster: If I were talking to someone who's considering one of Ivy's residency programs, I would encourage them 100% to do it. I kind of fell into the residency. I didn't know exactly what it was. But Kate Dalman, who's in charge of the speech therapy residency, actually came to my clinic to help another SLP out with something. And she mentioned the residency and I asked her a couple of questions and just, I was in. So I would say 100% do it. I learned so much within that year. I was still a pretty new grad. I was only a year out of grad school. And it completely changed my view of everything in our field. Speech therapy is such a huge wide field. I mean, we can do so much, we can language or arctic or feeding or cognition. I mean, y'all know we cover everything and their residency was really well rounded. We learned a lot about autism, a lot about feeding, a lot about AAC. I just, I feel like I can apply something from the residency to every single kid on my caseload. I really can't say enough good things about it. It's completely changed my view of our field and how I do my therapy in general. Just do it, take advantage of it, take every opportunity that you can to learn and grow, especially you new grads. Please do it.
In your words, what makes Ivy such a special place to work?
Emily Clifford Foster: For me, I feel like the thing that makes Ivy such a special place to work is just the employees and the people that they hire. That's what sold me on the company. That's why I'm still here. I just, I, I have yet to meet a person that is in my chain of command or that I work with at all that is not an outstanding person, um, both in and out of the office. So I feel like it really is just the people that make the workplace.
