Today we’d like to introduce you to Crystal Burnett.
Hi Crystal, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
For the last six years of my career, I was a speech-language pathologist working in the public schools. As most SLPs know, working in the public school district can be incredibly challenging and stressful. You work very long hours trying to make a difference in the lives of students who have significant needs. Daily you are faced with contentious meetings, constant interruptions, and distractions, which cause you to spend so much of the day solving problems. Then the rest of the time you spend trying to get caught up on testing students, writing reports, and writing up IEPs. You eventually end up taking most of the work home and spending hours completing what you couldn’t finish at work. It was exhausting! Then during the COVID years, I would say things got about 5 times harder with distance learning. I felt stuck, drained, burnt out, and also sad because I felt like with all of the things I was required to do, I couldn’t do the thing that I wanted to do the most–provide excellent speech therapy for my students. I did not do a bad job; my students did make progress. But I felt like I could have done so much more for them if I didn’t have so many distractions.
Within this period of time, I also had my daughter. After she was born, I took an extended maternity leave and started to realize that continuing with the workload I had was not going to be something I could see myself doing for the next 20-30 years. I also didn’t want to miss being around during my daughter’s early developmental years. So the wheels started to turn for me. I began to think about what I could do to that would allow me to be home more with my daughter, reduce the level of stress in my life, and also work with children with communication needs in the areas of speech therapy that light me up. This is what pushed me to pursue starting my own private practice. I needed independence, flexibility, and fulfillment in the thing that I was going to commit to doing every day. Because of my private practice, I am able to have these things.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My road hasn’t been entirely smooth. There are a number of avenues you can pursue for income when working as an SLP in private practice. One is contracting with school districts. When I first started really working on figuring out which path was for me, I decided that I did not want to start off accepting insurance because it just seemed very overwhelming and my whole purpose in doing this was to avoid the burn-out. So I decided that I would try my hand at school contracting because although I didn’t enjoy working for a school district, there is much more control over your workload as a contracted therapist. That didn’t turn out so well. I quickly found out that there are a ton of hoops to jump through that I did not anticipate, from knowing what districts are willing to pay in my area to being required to have certain certifications and specific types of insurance before the district would even consider working with me. It was an emotional rollercoaster, as I would become hopeful when a district contacted me and then was let down when I realized that I didn’t meet all of the requirements. The scary part was this process took so much of my time that I felt like a failure for spending so much time on this without it working out. I also felt like I had let my family down. But I am learning this is part of being a business owner–everything is unpredictable. But If I don’t try things, I will never learn. If I could do it over, I would have educated myself a bit better before moving forward. The good thing about it is that I have learned so much from this and will pursue it again in the future with a clearer vision.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Technically speaking, Blooming Communicators is a boutique speech therapy private practice. The clients who bring me joy are children who need support with improving their speech intelligibility (including apraxia, articulation, and phonological disorders), children who are users of augmentative & alternative communication (AAC) systems, and children with autism who are gestalt language processors.
Generally speaking, I work with children who have difficulty speaking clearly, children with autism who communicate in unexpected ways, and children who use technology to communicate! Providing treatment for children in these areas brings me so much happiness. I would love readers to know that if you find a therapist that loves treating what your child needs, do not let them go! They will work hard to ensure the most progress for your child and also will go above and beyond to support your child and you along your journey.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I think the easiest place to start is online! Luckily speech therapists are a supportive group of people who would look out for another fellow SLP that they have only met online. I have gotten wonderful guidance from SLP vets just by approaching them (kindly) on IG or Facebook!
Additionally, I have invested in a private practice coaching program called “Start Your Private Practice” from a company called “The Independent Clinician”. This program has been absolutely incredible in guiding me on my private practice journey. I would highly recommend it to any SLP starting out.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bloomingcommunicators.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bloomingcommunicators/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BloomingCommunicators/
