Ep. 127: From TikTok to Therapy: An Inspiring Story of Private Practice with Melissa Perez

In this episode of SLP Full Disclosure, Michelle interviews Melissa Perez, a passionate speech-language pathologist and business owner. Melissa shares her journey into the field, from discovering her love for working with children to starting her private practice, Honeybee Speech. She discusses the challenges she has faced, including navigating insurance, building client relationships, and growing her practice. Melissa also highlights the role of mentorship and how TikTok has helped her share knowledge and connect with clients. Her story is one of resilience, determination, and the belief that anyone can achieve their dreams with the right support and mindset.

Timestamps

00:00 - Introduction to Melissa Perez and Her Journey
03:01 - Finding Passion in Speech Pathology
05:54 - Transitioning to Private Practice
09:04 - Starting Small: The Private Practice Journey
12:07 - Building Client Relationships and Referrals
15:08 - Navigating Insurance and Billing Challenges
17:58 - The Impact of TikTok on Professional Growth
20:46 - Lessons Learned as a Business Owner
24:04 - Advice for New SLPs and CFYs

Show Sponsors

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About Melissa

Melissa Perez, M.S. CCC-SLP, is a pediatric speech-language pathologist and owner of Honeybee Speech, a private practice based in El Centro, California. She specializes in early intervention and speech sound disorders, and is passionate about helping little ones find their voice. Melissa also enjoys supporting other SLPs as they navigate the private practice journey. She has built her career on resilience, mentorship, and love for helping children. Through social media platforms like TikTok, Melissa shares her expertise, connects with clients, and inspires others to pursue their dreams in speech pathology.

About Michelle

Michelle Gage, MA CCC-SLP, embarked on her journey in speech-language pathology during her undergraduate studies at the University of Mississippi, where she also worked at North Mississippi Regional Center, gaining invaluable experience in various therapy approaches. Following her Master's Degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Central Florida, she has dedicated 25 years to empowering children and families in improving language skills and overall development. Currently residing in Mississippi, Michelle extends her expertise through telehealth services. Additionally, she proudly serves as the host of the SLP Full Disclosure podcast.

Outside of her professional commitments, Michelle is the proud mother of Mia, an accomplished middle school math teacher and all-around amazing human. In her leisure time, she indulges in her love for travel and cherishes moments spent with family and friends.

Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:00.152)

Hey y'all, it's Michelle with SLP Full Disclosure. Welcome to the podcast today. I'm so excited. I was scrolling on TikTok last night and on my For You page popped up Honeybee SLP, which I'm sure many of you have heard of her. It's Melissa Perez. Melissa, thank you so much for joining us today. I told you I saw it last night on my For You page and I got so excited. I was like, I get to talk to her tomorrow. So welcome to the podcast. Thank you for joining us.

Yes, thank you for having me. I'm so excited.

Yes, so we have Melissa on today. She is a speech language pathologist in California, and she is also a private practice owner. So we are going to be talking to her about her journey as a speech language pathologist and opening up her own practice at such a young age and what inspired her to start posting on TikTok and having this amazing presence on TikTok and all of the things related to that. So I'm so excited. Let me tell you guys a little bit about Melissa.

Melissa is a pediatric speech language pathologist and the owner of Honey Bee Speech, a private practice based in El Centro, California. She specializes in early intervention and speech sound disorders and is passionate about helping little ones find their voice. She also loves supporting other SLPs as they navigate the private practice journey. Wow. So private practice owner, business owner at such a young age.

Let's get started, Melissa. Tell us what is your why of becoming an SLP? Did you always know you wanted to be a speech language pathologist?

Speaker 1 (01:31.118)

Oh, great starter question. So no, initially, I mean, I was never strong academically. mean, I've mentioned it on a TikTok video. I barely passed high school. I think my senior year I had a 1.9. So it was not my strong suit. Okay. And then around that time, all of my friends were going into nursing. So I thought, okay, I'll go into nursing. And I found that science is not my strong suit. Science and math. And then I remember waking up one day and I'm like, I don't want to

being a nurse. And it was that exact night that I had a cousin who brought up speech pathology. And she said, it's this great field, you get to work with kids, you get to make a lot of money, it's easy. And I go, oh, okay. And then I found that my cousin, my husband's cousin is an SLP. And so I observed her and I immediately fell in love. My memory, I feel like I have a memory of Dory from Finding Nemo. But I remember that day so vividly and I knew

That's exactly what I want to do. And so I went into, I found an undergraduate program at San Diego State University and I found that it is not easy. It is a difficult field and it is very expensive. Pretty much everything opposite to what she said, except for that you get to work with children, which is like what I love. And so I, again, remember my academics was never strong, but once I found speech pathology, I

was able to like skyrocket my grades. I would cry if I didn't get an A. I had never been in that, like that in my life. So I knew this was the field for me. And I had loved it since the first day I observed. Her name's Jackie. She's a speech pathologist in San Diego. That was over 10 years ago and my love has never wavered. And now I'm here five years later as a speech pathologist, owning my own private practice and still the love is still there.

love it. I was the same way I was gonna do dental school and I was taking all of the chemistries and the bios and all of that stuff and I was like, this is really hard. And when I transitioned over to speech pathology, I had a 4.0. It just came easy for me. You're right. It's just when you find what you love and what you're passionate about, that's what makes it easy. And that's exactly how I got in the field. I love it.

Speaker 2 (03:56.034)

So have you not always been in private practice? Where did you start your career?

I graduated right when the pandemic started. I applied to a clinic that's based in Palm Desert. It's about an hour 45 away from me. And I had initially wanted to commute, which crazy, I don't like to drive more than like five minutes anywhere, but I was willing to because there was no clinics in my area. But the pandemic hit and all the positions transitioned over to teletherapists.

my goodness.

Speaker 1 (04:26.656)

I did that my CFY and then after that I just continued. allowed that the teletherapy positions to continue. So I agreed and did that for two more years. And I love the place that I worked at. I mean, I love the, colleagues, everyone was so sweet. It's just being online, looking at the screen eight hours every five days a week was so much. And it was impacting my mental health. I have to be very honest.

And it was around that time that I thought I need to transition away. And for me to like leave my position, I wanted a clinic setting. I wanted a place where I can work one-on-one with clients. pediatrics. I worked with adults before, but it wasn't for me. And I wanted only to work with speech, sound disorders and early intervention clients. And I found one where it was just EI clients, but I'm like, I want this other population.

I'm like, doesn't exist here. What if I make it? That's where the idea started. was April of 2023. I purchased Jenna Castro's Start Program. And I didn't start all the coursework right away. I was still a little hesitant. And then I finally started to watch the videos, take all the steps, and then I opened July 17, 2023. And since then on, I...

my goodness.

Speaker 1 (05:54.51)

I was on a podcast with her as well and I got 30 clients in three months. it just all happened so fast. And I was able to leave my job, I think about a month and a half later. And I never looked back. Because this is the setting that just feeds me. I mean, I've tried to work with fluency and language. It doesn't make me excited. being able to work with the clients that I have on my case, I'm excited.

The smile on your face. You love your job. I'm the same way now. I've been practicing for 25 years and I had gotten into a lull. So I was at a point in my career where I did not have that excitement that you have now. And that's when I made that transition over to AMN and started working doing contracts. And I have that same passion that you have now. Again, this late in my career.

I absolutely love my job. And I love that you knew what you wanted to do and what clients you wanted to work with and it didn't exist. So I'm going to just create it. I'm just going to make it happen for myself and for the community that you live in. That is absolutely so inspiring, Melissa. I love that. What is something you wish you had known before opening up your own private practice? Is there something in particular?

It's that I feel like when people think starting a private practice, they think you have to go big. You have to buy this brick and mortar. You have to purchase all these materials, spend hundreds, maybe, or tens of thousands of dollars. it's like, it's not, it doesn't have to be that way. I started by renting the waiting room of a dentist office, which sounds so funny. Mind you, this was a recently renovated office. It was beautiful. There was a door.

separating the waiting room from the other offices where I don't want to touch all the dentist equipment. But, it worked for me. It was $50 a day and I was only there on Saturdays. And I thought, oh my gosh, my clients are going to think this is so weird going to a dentist office. But I remember my first client, she walked in, I told her, you know, this is just temporary. I just got to figure out what the response is going to be like. And she was like, oh, this is great. Like, let's get started. I'm like, okay. So.

Speaker 2 (08:10.369)

Yeah.

I feel like just, I want to tell anyone who's thinking about starting a private practice, you don't have to go big. You can start small. Rent the room of a pediatric office or anybody that's connected to speech pathology, but you don't have to spend thousands of dollars. I think I spent maybe around a thousand dollars. I bought new toys. You don't have to buy new toys, but you can slowly build. I feel like that, that's the biggest piece of advice that I would give for anyone starting again. You don't have to start big, start small.

I that. And you were renting an office space in a dentist's office. Wow. And you started out with just a few clients on Saturday. You were still working your other job. You were just trying to kind of test the waters and see what it was like and what kind of response you were going to have in your community. What is your favorite thing about owning your own private practice?

Yes.

Speaker 1 (09:04.622)

Starting later in the day, I'm a morning person as much as I would love to be. I can't wake up early. I wake up at 8.30 every day. My first client, since the beginning, doesn't start until 10, 10.15. Sometimes when the 10.15 cancels or 11 o'clock cancels, I'll move the 10.15 to 11. I start here in the day. I think that's one of my favorite parts.

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:29.016)

Setting your own schedule.

Yes. And a lot of my clients' parents I build such a great rapport with. So when I say, hey, I need to change a stake, does that work for you? I always get, yes. I love Or if like, you know what, that doesn't work for me. I'll give you another time. And it's, oh, I would say like 99 % of the time it's a yes. Like they love coming here and they're as flexible as I am, which is so nice.

Yes. Where do you get your referrals? Are you getting referrals from pediatricians? Are you getting referrals from just word of mouth? Where do those referrals come from?

great question. I'd say yes, pediatric referrals, a lot of word of mouth, especially now, a lot of word of mouth. I have not done a great job at marketing because I never really needed to. I just had a parent call me two days ago and she had mentioned that she's been trying to find speech therapy services for her son for the last year. And she had no idea that I existed. And I totally forgot to figure out how she found me.

but she was like, you should reach out to this other organization because they have tons of kids that need services, but they don't know who else to refer to. So they've been sending them out to San Diego. And I go, you. That's another way of getting, it just comes to me. It really, it does, it like falls into my lap, all these opportunities. So I'm a big believer in a higher power or just being kind to people. And even when people call me and I'm like, you know what, they're a

Speaker 1 (10:59.192)

child has a fluency disorder. I'm like, you know what? I don't work in that area. I would love to refer you to this other clinician. And they're leaving positive reviews on Google just because they referred them to somebody else. And I feel like that positivity and kindness, it spreads. That's how people get to know me or just know about my business.

Yeah, it does.

Speaker 2 (11:20.312)

Have you gotten a lot of referrals from your TikTok? We're gonna talk about TikTok later, but have you gotten a lot of referrals from TikTok?

Yes, in terms of like the mentorship that I offer, but not clients. I don't think I've got any clients from there.

All right. I'm glad you mentioned that. Let's talk about the mentorship that you do with other clinicians in your area. Do you have CFYs that come and work with you?

I mean, the mentorship is more for the individuals who want to start a private practice and want to know kind of what is needed to get started. But for here, I have supervised so many graduate students and SLIPA students. I just hired one of my graduate students to fulfill a school contract. And then this past Wednesday, I hired my SLIPA student to help me here in the clinic.

I love that. So you have a school contract as well. Talk about that. How did that come about? my gosh. That's amazing.

Speaker 1 (12:14.382)

That is so crazy. So quick backstory on that. I had gone to Sedona in February and I didn't realize that's a very spiritual place. There's a lot. I didn't know that. we were driving around and we'd see all those tarot card readers and I'm like, I want to get out of the car. I'm lazy. But then we went to our hotel and in the lobby, there was a tarot card reader. And I'm like, I'm already here. So long story short, one of the things she said was that.

love Sedona.

Speaker 1 (12:43.316)

I see so much success in your business. But one thing I want you to try to do is she's like, have you ever talked to schools or reached out to schools? And I go, no. She goes, I think you should. I think that's going to be a really big opportunity for you. And I go, And then I think a few weeks later, a parent came in, her child needed, she wanted an evaluation for him. And when we were speaking, she said that she was on school board for a local school district. And she had mentioned that the school has a

virtual speech pathologists and that there, she's not happy pretty much with the services. And I go, would the school be interested in partnering with someone local? And she said, say, And I go, I would love for you to share my flyer with the superintendent. Well, a few days went by and he hear anything. And then I got an email from the superintendent wanting to meet. And then within two months, we got the contract signed of me filling the position. And what's crazier is that

I thought we were going to negotiate, go back and forth. So I started my rate high and I'm like, start high, go low. Right. They accepted the high number. We did not even negotiate anything. And I'm, I think I made a video on TikTok where I was just stunned.

Wow, just the doors are just opening for you. Everything you touch is turning to gold. love that.

I got a second school contract and I lost it. I might get another one and I'm not sure. So what I want to tell other people who are thinking about starting a private practice is that there's going to be rejection and don't let that deter you or stop you from continuing to try. trying. I ran so many nos when I found that the dentist office, that was the ninth call that I've made to try to get a space.

Speaker 2 (14:30.253)

Right.

No, we don't have an availability. No, we don't have a spot. Maybe try this other place. No, all our spots are taken. Okay. Thank you so much. Call the next person. No, Fernanda.

call another person. Just keep going. Keep going. Just keep going. Yeah. Wow. I think we talked about this in our intro call, and I know this is probably something that a lot of SLPs are going to wonder about, and it's the billing and the insurance. I've had people tell me, I live in a small town in Mississippi. They're like, why don't you open up your own private practice? And I will be honest, Melissa, that's the number one thing that has always, in my entire career, deterred me away.

from even considering it because I'm like, don't even understand my own health insurance. How am I going to understand the billing process of actually how to bill insurance for speech and language services? How did you learn all of that?

my gosh, great question. So I initially, so I was receiving clients to San Diego Regional Center and there was, I guess services got disrupted between them and I. And I thought, okay, where else can I go? insurance. And the thought of insurance was so daunting. I had to do it on my own, but insurance, feel like has a special jargon that after the first or second sentence, it lost me.

Speaker 1 (15:50.366)

Right. I go, no, no, no, I can't. And I sought out a company to help me with the credentialing process. And I think for them to help me get credentials with one insurance company, was going to be $700. And I said, absolutely not. No. So I was talking about this to one of my client's parents and she happened to know how to get providers credentials with insurance. And I'm like, how funny is that?

So she initially started helping me, but she was working multiple jobs. She wasn't able to continue, but she directed me to the person that I have now, Angela. And Angela has been a god said, this woman was like, what insurances do you want? Give me this information. She got me insured and networked with five, four or five different insurance companies. And I told her, I want you to walk me through the process. want to figure out like, what, what does this mean?

Yeah, don't just do it for me. Teach me what you're doing. Teach me your ways.

So then she got me a network. note, just because you're credentialed with an insurance company does not mean you're in network. Two different things. once I was in network, I'm like, okay, how do I bill? And again, I told her, show me step by step of what you're doing and why. What if I get denied? What do I have to do? What if I made an error? How do I figure out where...

guess you learned that the hard way. I did.

Speaker 1 (17:17.624)

what part of the claim that I make an error on, how do I resubmit? She taught me everything. And now when people are like, billing's so scary, I'm like, show me, show me what's scary and I will simplify it. I'm not scared of asking for someone to dumb it down. Dumb it down for me. I don't care if I look stupid. I wanna make sure I understand it so that can teach someone else. Deductible, copay, co-insurance. It took her like four, five times to explain it. I'm like, say it again, I don't get it.

registered and now I can explain it to so many parents who don't understand what a deductible means and when I explain it they're like that's what that means

Yeah, it's terminology that we all hear every day and we're just like, yeah, and we kind of act like we know what it is. You said something in our intro call. You said, you are not afraid to ask. And I love that. You've got to ask people for help, just like you were talking to, I mean, it sounds like all of the doors that have opened for you have just been from people that you were talking to and just asking advice from. And then that led to one more thing, which led you to one more person and one more person. I love that.

That's amazing. What an amazing story. So now let's talk about your TikTok because I love it. You are so fun to listen to. I love your videos. You're so engaging. What influenced you to start posting on TikTok? Did you do it just for fun? And did you do it where you focused on, want to help people, parents, caregivers, or were you more toward SLPs and providing that advice? What influenced you to start?

Yeah. So I, I still have videos of when I first started to try and it was always in the beginning year towards parents. wanted to educate parents. And then I feel like a couple of my initial videos were about like more towards parents of like the, the toys that I use during therapy, things of that sort. But then I got more questions about how do I start a private practice? How did you find your space? How much did you spend to start?

Speaker 1 (19:25.484)

And I'm like, okay, people are really interested in. And I'm like, okay, let me, let me kind of pivot that way. And it really started to grow then. And there's another TikTok creator who started talking about her finances. I love talking about my finances. And I think it's so important because at my previous employer, I thought I started off at a great rate. And then I.

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:43.415)

And I'm like.

Speaker 1 (19:53.656)

to another clinician who we had the same amount of experience and he was getting paid, I think about $10,000 more than me. And I'm like, and it's because he had asked for hire and I did it. And we wouldn't have known that if we didn't talk about it. So I think it's important to show clinicians who want to start a private practice. Like it is possible for you to make over $10,000 in a private practice, but it's also possible to not have good months.

support.

Speaker 1 (20:23.438)

up and down, a lot of up and down, especially this week. But I wouldn't change it for the world. would, I, even if I had a month where I only made a hundred bucks, I'm going to keep trucking and figure out how I can get all that money that I made back. Cause I, see the potential. I hear everyone telling me how wonderful the services that I provide are. It, it's just that there's nothing else I would rather do.

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:48.524)

Yeah, so it's the quality of service, but you also love what you do. You love your clients, you love your job, you love getting up and going every day, and that makes a difference. And I love your transparency too, speaking of the finances, because a lot of times when you work for an employer, whatever it may be, whether you're contract, whether you're school, I mean, if you're school based, mean, anybody can look up your salary and know what you make, but that's usually such a topic that is not spoken about.

I love your transparency about it. I think the one that I saw last night, you were talking about the month of July and how much money you had made, even though you had taken a week off of vacation and you had not seen clients for an entire week and you were still making all this money and that it had been a great month for you and you were so excited.

And I feel like once I started the TikTok page, other streams of revenue started to come in. And I feel like I wouldn't have been able to learn about all that TikTok can bring if I didn't start my private practice. Cause my first video is me introducing myself and this is my first day. And I just saw my first client and I got all these other referrals. I look so so brand new.

I just, was still same amount of excitement, but it was just like, I, I see if I, again, if I didn't start this private practice, I wouldn't have made that first video and then I wouldn't have wanted to continue. It's just so much has come out of TikTok. So many different other business ventures that the income that I made is not just from my private practices from, from these other parts of my business, but

Wow, your story is absolutely the most inspiring story I think I've ever heard. I love it. And I love your energy. I love how open you are and how much you love your job. And I just cannot imagine if I had a child that was needing therapy, I would definitely want to bring them to see you because I can just tell the love and just everything that you have you put into your job. And it's so apparent just talking to you. So a couple of last questions.

Speaker 2 (23:00.342)

What is the biggest lesson that you've learned from being a business owner? That's a question.

It is. I feel like it goes back to not letting no stop you from trying. I feel like that's one of the, I guess characteristics that I've really learned to love about myself in this journey is that I will figure it out. How do I offer real 401k? How do I offer health insurance?

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 (23:35.31)

I don't know, but I'm going to figure it out. I'm going to keep asking people. And if they tell me, I'm like, we're not the people. Great. Thank you for telling me. Can you direct me to who can help me? I'm just not afraid to be told no. And some moments I'm kind of looking forward to it. Where it's like, no, okay. You tell me, no, how can I get it to a yes? Or how can I have you help me to get someone else that'll tell me yes. Something else I want to share.

And this was in the beginning when I was starting the insurance process is I had called the representative at insurance company and I was asking for something and the representative told me no. And I was so defeated. And I told my mom, I'm like, can't figure it out. And she goes, call again. And I go, no, mom, they told me, no, they don't know. Call again. You don't know if that's the representative's first day. You don't know if that's the representative's like an area that they are not really a hundred percent sure about. Call again.

And I did, and I was able to figure it out. The second representative was able to help me. And it's like, if I just took that first no, I would have been so defeated and just maybe had to rely on Angela or something. And it's like, no, no, no, I can do it. Don't be scared of no.

I love that. Don't be scared of no and don't be afraid to ask and know that you are capable. You're capable. Look at all of the things that you've learned and you are so capable of doing this. So amazing.

And I know I guess one of the other parts is you don't need to know everything to start a private practice I feel like many people think you have to be a specialist No, do we have how many disorders that we know how to treat with a nine? start off Targeting all of them and then slowly start to figure out. Okay. You know what? I really love voice I really love fluency and then just go all in on that and then if you work on fluency

Speaker 1 (25:34.616)

say for a year and you're like, you know what, I'm really falling in love with like, crystal language processing. You can add it on. can make so many adjustments to your private practice. And that's what I love about it. Not only can you be flexible with the schedule that you have, how many kids you see in a day, but what you target. There's so many, so many different things that you can start off with a private practice, but you don't have to be a specialist.

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:58.582)

Yeah. You knew what you loved. You knew you wanted to do early intervention and speech sound disorders. There wasn't a place for you to work. So you were like, you know what? I'm just going to start one myself. Yeah. So inspiring.

I even made a video like I knew when I first started that if I got a client, knew at least whatever they were, if it was in the speech sound disorders or EI realm, I knew what I was doing at least majority of the time. I think it's going to be some little ones where you're like, what is going on? Go to your, there's so many colleagues I'm sure you have or other connections or that's a good moment to start building connections so you can help the client. But you're not going to know everything. You could probably sell it like 15, 20 years.

of experience and there's still going to be a client that stumps you.

Me, absolutely, I've been doing this. And I think that that is of all of the SLPs that I've had on the podcast and myself included. And now you, we all say the same thing. You can't know everything about everything. And don't be afraid to say, I don't know and ask. Ask someone because if you don't know, and that's what I've learned. And I learned it pretty early on because like you said, speech pathology is so diverse.

There's so much out there. We can't possibly know everything about everything. So finding those people that you connect with, starting a TikTok, gosh, start a TikTok and say, hey, I'm a speech pathologist and this happened, what would you do? I I think that would be a great way to connect. What advice do you have for SLPs or new grads, CFs who are new to the profession, maybe clinical fellowship year, what advice do you have for them?

Speaker 1 (27:43.19)

Ooh, I feel like it's just going to keep going back to don't or ask if you need help ask. This is our time to learn because after that, oftentimes you're on your own. And what we deal with as speech pathologists and there are so many disorders, especially in the school, you get such a variety.

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:05.898)

Yeah, you can get anything and everything on any given day. Yeah.

Yes. And so you have a clinician there who hopefully has a couple years under their belt who can support you. This is your time to get that support. Don't be scared of looking dumb. You are a student. Even five years in, there's times where I'm like, I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing. I know. And I'm asking for help, but I'm not. But I'm not afraid to ask. I don't care if in this moment I don't look as smart as I would hope to.

Bye!

That's what I use. like maybe I asked this person about apraxia or my, think this is apraxia. I'm not a hundred percent sure. And they can direct me to another resource. I'm like, that helps a lot.

Yeah, and that's how you grow. That's how you grow as a clinician.

Speaker 1 (28:54.286)

100%. And I'll also be open to constructive criticism. Hopefully that's how it's been, I guess, said to you in a way that's positive. But I always try to tell my students to seek out different resources because I give all my students homework or like a task. Like early intervention, feel like parent coaching is so hard. is a very difficult.

It's very different. Yeah, and I love it. It's my absolute heart. I love it

But I will say in the beginning, I did not sound as fluid and as smooth in the way that I was communicating certain strategies as I do now, two years later. So, especially I feel like face-to-face is so much different than on camera. just thought I felt so awkward. But now I'm just like, me in front of any parent, I don't care. But I give these students that I have homework and I tell them, pick three strategies, you're gonna tell me one a week and explain it to me like I'm a parent.

Right. And we build off of that. And it's like, you know what? You used a lot of jargon in that, where if I was on the speech pathologist, I have no idea what you said. And we don't want to make our parents feel inferior. So it's a lot of adjusting. Yeah. And they're like, they love how I explain it. I'm like, great, use my script. I don't care right when I say them. Or if you don't like how I explain this certain concept, use another one. But just try to get as much info or knowledge that you can from me and then make it your own.

And you have to be able to ask and observe these other clinicians if you can to really pick out what you like and make it your own.

Speaker 2 (30:30.966)

Yeah. And I love what you said about being able to accept that constructive criticism because I always tell my, I think we've talked about it on the podcast before, as supervisors, an SLP, as a CF supervisor or a mentor in whatever capacity you're in, when you have to tell someone this is an area of weakness, it's a hard conversation to have. It's a very difficult one to initiate, start, have.

And it's not only hard to hear it, but it's hard for the person that's having to say it as well. had a CFY a few years, a few, many, many years ago and assessment just, it was just difficult for her explaining those scores, basal ceilings, standard deviation. All of it was just very difficult for her. And I remember the day that I talked to her about it and she cried and it broke my heart because I'm like, that's not what I wanted to do. But many years later we stayed in contact and she was like,

I learned more from that conversation than I did from any other thing that we talked about the entire clinical fellowship year. She said it was hard to hear. She said, I did go home and it was really hard to hear, but she said, you were right. And you know, that's part of your role as a supervisor. You have to tell them what they're good at and where they need to work on it. So, Melissa, you have been so inspiring. It has been so much fun talking to you and I am so excited. If you guys are not following Honey Bee SLP on TikTok,

You have to do that. And reach out to Melissa with any questions. But Melissa, gosh, thank you so much for joining us. I've learned so much about private practice. And I think the biggest takeaway is you are capable. We are all capable of doing anything that we set our mind to. And you are definitely an example of that. So thank you so much for sharing your story. And thank you for being here.

Thank you. I appreciate it. That was so sweet.

Speaker 2 (32:22.83)

Well, you guys have a wonderful day. I hope you've enjoyed the podcast. Go follow Honey Bee SLP on TikTok, follow SLP Full Disclosure on TikTok, and you guys have a great day. Thank you for tuning in to SLP Full Disclosure. You can learn more about this episode and our show on our website at amnhelfcare.com. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend and subscribe to our show on your favorite podcast platform.

You can also find show updates and SLP opportunities on our Instagram at AMNAli. Special thanks to AMN Healthcare for making this show possible. See y'all next time.