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Shadow Me Next!
Shadow Me Next! is a podcast where we take you behind the scenes of the medical world. I'm Ashley Love, a Physician Assistant, and I will be sharing my journey in medicine and exploring the lives of various healthcare professionals. Each episode, I'll interview doctors, NPs, PAs, nurses, and allied health workers, uncovering their unique stories, the joys and challenges they face, and what drives them in their careers. Whether you're a pre-med student or simply curious about the healthcare field, we invite you to join us as we take a conversational and personal look into the lives and minds of leaders in Medicine. Access you want, stories you need. You're always invited to Shadow Me Next!
Shadow Me Next!
12 - A Surprisingly Hands-On Approach to Medicine as a Speech Language Pathologist specializing in Autism and Early Intervention | MaKayla Elrod, SLP
What happens when a childhood dream of becoming a doctor takes an unexpected turn? Join us as we uncover the fascinating story of Michaela Elrod, a dedicated speech-language pathologist whose life was forever changed by a pivotal shadowing experience. This episode explores Michaela's journey from aspiring physician to discovering a more personal calling in the world of speech therapy, where she finds joy in transforming the lives of children and their families. Together, we delve into the profound impact of early intervention on child development and explore the unique challenges and rewards of fostering communication skills in children under three years old.
Michaela brings valuable insights into the practice of speech therapy, emphasizing the power of parent coaching and everyday interactions to build essential communication skills in young children. By moving away from traditional, authoritative models and embracing humility and vulnerability, Michaela shows us how speech therapists can effectively partner with parents during this transformative period. We also address the hurdles faced by these professionals, like maintaining energy and tackling complex client behaviors, all while savoring the rewarding nature of this work.
Our conversation takes a personal turn as Michaela opens up about her life outside of work, sharing her experiences as a medical spouse. We explore the sacrifices and joys of supporting a partner in the demanding world of medicine, and the importance of maintaining balance through self-care and quality time together. This episode serves as an inspiring resource for anyone interested in the medical and therapy fields, offering a rare glimpse into the joys and challenges faced by those dedicated to making a difference in the lives of others.
Virtual shadowing is an important tool to use when planning your medical career. At Shadow Me Next! we want to provide you with the resources you need to find your role in healthcare and secure your place in medicine.
Check out our pre-health resources. Great for pre-med, pre-PA, pre-nursing, pre-therapy students or anyone else with an upcoming interview!
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Hello and welcome to Shadow Me Next, a podcast where I take you into and behind the scenes of the medical world to provide you with a deeper understanding of the human side of medicine. I'm Ashley, a physician assistant, medical editor, clinical preceptor and the creator of Shadow Me Next. It is my pleasure to introduce you to incredible members of the healthcare field and uncover their unique stories, the joys and challenges they face and what drives them in their careers. It's access you want and stories you need, whether you're a pre-health student or simply curious about the healthcare field. I invite you to join me as we take a conversational and personal look into the lives and minds of leaders in medicine. I don't want you to miss a single one of these conversations, so make sure that you subscribe to this podcast, which will automatically notify you when new episodes are dropped, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook at Shadow Me Next, where we will review highlights from this conversation and where I'll give you sneak previews of our upcoming guests. And where I'll give you sneak previews of our upcoming guests.
Speaker 1:Today on Shadow Me Next, I am joined by the amazing Michaela Elrod, a dedicated speech language pathologist whose passion for early intervention is literally changing lives, one child at a time. Michaela shares her journey from dreaming of becoming a doctor to finding her true calling in speech therapy through a single life-changing shadowing experience. In this episode, we'll explore the vital role of speech therapy in child development, the unique challenges and rewards of working with families, and the profound impact of early intervention on a child's future. Stay until the end to hear Michaela's amazing perspective on how partnering with parents and embracing vulnerability can create lifelong change, not just for children but for entire families. Please keep in mind that the content of this podcast is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered as professional medical advice. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company. Hi, michaela, thank you so much for joining us on Shadow Me Next. I'm so glad you're here.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:I cannot wait to talk to you about what you do. This is such an interesting part of medicine and something that I think a lot of us have had experience with either directly or peripherally. I know a lot of friends whose children have benefited from working with a speech language pathologist, which is what you do. I can't wait to dive into that with you. We'll start at the beginning. What drew you to medicine initially?
Speaker 2:So when I was a little girl I would line up all of my baby dolls and I would pretend that I was their doctor. From a young age I've always known I wanted to go into medicine. My senior year of high school I really thought that I wanted to be an OBGYN. I love the thought of helping mamas and babies and working with babies all day. My cousin is an occupational therapist and her husband is a doctor. We got to talking about the work-life balance, of what it's like to be a woman in the medical field, and she's like I really think that you would be an excellent speech pathologist. I work with them every day. Because I was having doubts about going into the med school route, I decided to shadow a speech pathologist and from the first client I saw I was like this is exactly what I want. I'm still working heavily with parents and little babies, which is what I was drawn to. It took one time for me to shadow a speech therapist and I declared that as my major my freshman year of college and never changed.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic. I'm so glad that you determined what you wanted to do and you made that pivot based on talking to somebody else, because I think so often that's how we make that realization. Shadowing is fantastic in-person shadowing, but really just sitting down and having a conversation, sometimes with a friend or someone that you trust their opinion on, somebody that you know is going to be honest with you with what they do.
Speaker 1:So glad you said that. That's one of the big reasons why I wanted to start this podcast is, you know, it doesn't replace in-person shadowing You're not going to see them interacting with patients but it is going to give you that trusted experience, that conversation that you might not have otherwise. I'm really glad that you had that experience. It sounds like her story is very similar to yours. I know your husband is also in medicine. We're going to talk about that a little bit later. I am also really excited to dive into that because I do think a lot of times similar people attract each other, and in medicine you can see a lot of couples who are both in medicine, and it presents its own fair share of challenges. So, when it comes to speech language pathology, what does the schooling look like for that? Is that something after college or instead of college? What does that look like?
Speaker 2:Yes, so you will go to college and complete a four-year degree, typically in speech pathology my major was speech pathology and audiology and I had a minor in psychology, which I found very helpful. Then, after that, you will take your GRE and then you will apply to many grad schools. Then, after you get into grad school, that is two years of schooling and then you will apply to many grad schools. Then, after you get into grad school, that is two years of schooling and then you will complete a clinical fellowship in which you're working but also being supervised. They might not be at your site, but you have to get certain supervision hours. After that you will apply for your license and you are done. So it sounds very easy, and so it's definitely easier said than done, but yeah.
Speaker 1:Is it a master's program? Do you get a title?
Speaker 2:Yes, it is. It's a master's.
Speaker 1:Yes, speech language pathology was not your undergraduate major. Could you go to graduate school for that, or do you have to kind of retool?
Speaker 2:Yes, so you will have to take leveling classes. Different grad schools will call them different things, but there are some classes that you will have to take for classes that are necessary and you must have in order to go into grad school.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so interesting. So it's a little bit different from from being a PA, for example, right?
Speaker 2:So as a.
Speaker 1:PA, you can. You can major in anything and undergrad totally, and you could be an art history major. You can major in. You can. You can major in anything and under that it totally. And it could be an art history major. You can major in. You know pottery, it doesn't matter, you can major in anything. As long as you took the like the prerequisite classes biology, chemistry. It differs for different schools. If you took those, you can still apply to PA school after you take the GRE, things like that. So it sounds like in order to do speech-language pathology, you really have to have a keen idea early or retool and take those classes. Tell me about the schooling generally speaking. Was it incredibly hard compared to what you studied in high school?
Speaker 2:So in high school I took all of the AP classes AP biology, ap chemistry, biology, ap chemistry. I love school. I love to read. I definitely had a bit of a culture shock going from undergrad to grad school because in undergrad a lot of the topics came very easily to me. In grad school you're in a class or in a cohort of 40, typically girls. 40 girls are just as smart, if not smarter than you are. It's often very competitive. But you have to change the way you study. That's something I struggled with, because learning a complete new routine does a totally different look at studying, because you just have mass and mass and mass amounts of information that you have to know. We say speech pathology is a profession that's womb to tomb, so you really have to know the lifespan and it's a lot of information.
Speaker 1:I've really had to change my thought processes towards studying quite a bit in grad school, and that's interesting, especially coming from someone who loves school, and I think that you have people who go into master's level positions who do love school. You have think that you have people who go into a master's level positions who do love school. You have people, of course, who are just innately intelligent, but you also have people that really, really love school. And when you get there and you realize that the learning is very, very different, the way that they teach is very, very different. Sometimes it's a culture shock a little bit, and you know the fact that your class was competitive.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad for that because I do think that it sharpens us and it pushes us, but at the same time we're all learning how to learn a little bit differently. So I think, overwhelming at first, and then you find your groove, right I mean by the end of schooling you find your groove and then all of a sudden you're actually working and seeing patients and that sort of thing. So it all pans out, in the end, good. So tell me, I want to know about a day in your life. I'm so excited to hear about what you do on the regular. I think it sounds like you work so hands-on with your patients and their families.
Speaker 1:Walk us through what your day usually looks like.
Speaker 2:So I tell everyone I'm the type of person I would rather work out at 5 am than 5 pm. Typically my day starts at 3 or 45 am. I get up, go to the gym, come home. I like to have a little bit of a slower morning so I give myself time to do my devotional read and get ready for the day and not be so insanely rushed. Then I'll eat breakfast, drive to work and typically work from 9 to 5. I work in a private practice. Some days might be from one to four, some days might be eight to six, but typically it's nine to five. Then after that I will come home. My husband and I love to go on a walk every night, so we'll typically walk, make dinner, I will read or do something to kind of decompress at night and then we started all over again the next day.
Speaker 1:I love the rhythm of that. That's really nice.
Speaker 2:I'm a creature of habit. I love the routine.
Speaker 1:I have created. I do too, and I think that there's some people out there that are looking at us thinking how boring is their life. But that steadiness is what keeps me grounded, and there's enough chaos surrounding me and I think if I can kind of control my daily rhythms, that brings me joy.
Speaker 2:During my workday I sometimes have clients back to back and then sometimes I will have a little bit of breaks in there and I'll lesson plan or session plan, write notes, do my charting things, I will be talking to parents, so there's lots of little things like that that might go on during my day too.
Speaker 1:That's so fun. So, when you're working with patients, what are some of the conditions that you usually see? What are some of the things that you're treating?
Speaker 2:So one of my favorite areas or kind of areas of expertise, I love the earlier intervention and preschool age. Preschool and toddlers are my absolute favorite age. I just think it's so special to work with those ages because they are at a critical time of development. If you get in there early and get them the therapy they need and start strong from the start, get that parent education, you can make amazing strides of growth. Especially early intervention, getting in there as soon as you possibly can and getting your therapies can make a lifelong impact on a child. I love the early preschool ages.
Speaker 2:I work with children with developmental disabilities, autism, down syndrome, pretty much any type of disorder. I work with a lot of very interesting clients that might not have a disorder. We're trying to figure out what might be going on that we don't really know yet because they're so young, but we know something is not right, you know, and then also work with children that are just typically developing and they're just late talkers, you know. So I have a few of those as well. So I have seen quite a bit of different cases and things, but I would say I primarily work with children with autism.
Speaker 1:Amazing. So how does that work? Does the child's pediatrician if they have a pediatrician that they trust does the child's pediatrician make a referral? Or does the parent just find you and seek you out and say I think there's something going on with my child that I'd like to talk to you about?
Speaker 2:So I think by both ways. You know, parents can reach out to us and we have people do that daily, but also we get a lot of referrals from pediatricians and even referrals from preschools, referrals from other schools, so it can come in a variety of different ways.
Speaker 1:That's neat and I'm so grateful that parents have that outlet too, because I think a lot of times in the healthcare system we can feel very trapped because we feel like there's something wrong. As parents I am a parent, I have two daughters, a four-year-old and a two-year-old you can feel trapped because you're waiting on a referral, you're trying to convince your pediatrician, perhaps, that you feel there's something wrong, so I'm so glad that they have that outlet where they can reach out to you and you guys can work through it. Let's talk a little bit about early intervention, because I think that's a word that people might not be familiar with and it sounds like it is so important to your practice, so that is the age of birth to three, typically even birth to two.
Speaker 2:But that is mainly focused on parent education and a lot of our early intervention clients we see in the home my approach, at least when I'm thinking about early intervention. I want to talk to the parents and do parent coaching and give them strategies they can use throughout their day, whether that's breakfast time, bath time, little things they can embed in their day to make their lives not only easier but also get their child talking, their other child talking, and not only that. You know there's so many steps that go before talking. You've got eye contact? Okay, if we can't get eye contact, a child is not going to be talking in sentences at age two. But really it's just getting that parent coaching.
Speaker 2:If I see a child in the home, something I like to do is I do not take any of my own materials. I use everything in the home Because when I'm not there, I come in with all these bells and whistles and my bag of toys and of course the child wants to interact with me and they want to see what I brought that day. But when I'm not there they don't have those toys. I want to show the parents what they have in their house, whether it is literally a cardboard box, how they can make that work for their child. And this strategy through teens they can do with the toys that they already have and not making them feel like they have to go buy the next hot item. Giving them strategy they can do with what they already have.
Speaker 1:There's so much I want to say to that. This is fantastic. First and foremost, thank you for doing that, because, as you were talking about all the bells and whistles, I was thinking about all of the things as a parent that I would try to buy to encourage my child to communicate with me, and that gets so expensive. All the Melissa and.
Speaker 1:Doug toys, that I can think of everything that pops up on Amazon. I'll think, ooh, let me try that. Ooh, let me try that. The fact that you come into their home and use what they already have and you provide the parents with those tools of just things that are that are just laying around their house, thank you for that. That's huge and we all know kids would much prefer a cardboard box for the toilet. Comes in it anyway.
Speaker 1:As medical providers, I think and this is me speaking honestly I think as medical providers, we're very used to the limelight. We're very used to the spotlight. Right, we walk into the room and we have. We have our bright white coats on Sometimes they're like bedazzled with sparkly pins we have all the gadgets. We run the appointment. Obviously, we're communicating and we're working with the patient, but ultimately we walk in, we determine when we start and we leave, we kind of determine when it ends. We kind of are on center stage and I think a lot of medical providers like that you mentioned that you're trying to just kind of assimilate into their daily life. You walk in, you're not bringing a bag of fun stuff, you don't want the kid to be focused on you, you're just partnering with their parent, their caregiver, the person helping this child. It sounds like a really beautifully humble aspect of medicine that I think would resonate with a lot of people.
Speaker 2:Is that true? Yeah, I would definitely say so, and I think one thing about speech is we work so much with parents Parents. I don't want to say that they're desperate for information, but they are so hungry for information. They want anything they can get to help their child and I think it's you know. They are showing you one of the most vulnerable parts of their life. They're not going to tell their best friend that their child is not talking and really struggling with that, but they're going to be really honest with you and really vulnerable and being able to just be a source to them and let them know that you are there for them, I think is something that's really special.
Speaker 1:I love that and it's probably great that you minored in psychology specifically for that reason.
Speaker 1:I'm sitting here thinking about my pediatrics rotation in school and how much I loved working with children and how difficult I found it was working with their parents, only because I had 20 minutes and half of that time I was trying to evaluate their child quickly, head to toe, all the things. And then you're right, the parents are hungry for information and they're desperate to know and this can be a perfectly healthy child and they're still desperate for information. They don't have any concerns about their kid, but they want to know X, y and Z. I find that very taxing sometimes, but in your position you're equipped to answer all of their questions and to partner with them and walk alongside them through some really scary, complicated things, and you know, I'm sure, that they're frustrated that they're in that position, but they're so grateful to have your care. Tell us, if you can, about a particularly difficult situation, if you've ever been in one, and how it kind of changed the way that you view things or perhaps even changed the way that you practice.
Speaker 2:I think there's difficult situations every day. You're going to have a client that you just cannot figure out their behavior, or you might have a difficult parent that is questioning everything you do. For me, personally, it's something that I struggle with and I think is hard is keeping your energy levels up throughout the day. You know, I sometimes get down on myself because the speech therapist I am at 8am might look a little different than the speech therapist I am at 4pm, and I get down on myself because I want to provide that same quality of care at 4pm that I did at 8am, because that child is so deserving of that.
Speaker 2:So you know, I think learning how if you're a specialist, learning how to fuel your body correctly, you know figure out your, what you need to do in the mornings to get prepared for the day. But yeah, there's learning how to keep your energy levels up, because two-year-olds are very exhausting and I will say I do work with elementary school, I work with middle school. I've even had clients that are in their 20s, but typically I do work with the younger ones and even the kids in third and fourth grade. They want to do all the things too and I want you to be super high energy and they want to play pretend they want to do all the things. That is a difficult thing to balance.
Speaker 1:It goes back to what you were saying about your routine too. You know work is exhausting and work with a two-year-old and their concerned caregiver parent, and at the same time you're not just playing with the child, you are also evaluating the child, looking around trying to find the tools that you're going to use to teach the parents too.
Speaker 1:I think where burnout comes in this is a huge topic and you feel it towards the end of the day. It's this cycle and it just takes a little bit more of you every single day, but that's why it is so important to have that lifestyle that you have outside of the office. I think people poo, poo, hobbies and exercise and diet and say, well, yes, of course we want to be this perfect person because that's going to make us feel good, but that's also going to make us work better and serve our patients better and be able to get down on the floor with that two-year-old at four o'clock in the afternoon without having all of your coffee, and really perform and do your job and what you need to do. It's motivating. Thank you, it's very motivating.
Speaker 1:So when you have let's talk about autism a little bit, because it's something that can feel very mysterious If you don't have a child who has autism. It is a spectrum disorder, which means there are children who have a more obvious effect on their life from autism and then there are children who have a less obvious effect. Do you work with children on the whole spectrum? Do you get to pick and choose the severity of your cases? What does that look like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I have worked with children on the whole spectrum. I've never seen two children with autism look the same. Before I moved to Miami, I worked in a school with very low functioning children. Every child on my caseload was in a wheelchair or had some type of physical disability. Now I'd work with the whole spectrum. It keeps things interesting. They're the same. I work with low functioning all the way to high functioning. So much so you might not. If you met them, you might not know they have autism.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's really interesting. It is. I think it's a very difficult condition because of that. You mentioned that you've worked in schools too, michaela, so you've worked in a variety of different settings schools, private practice, home therapy. How do those environments differ, in terms of patient care, for example?
Speaker 2:Yes, so I also did a rotation in a hospital and I was on the acute setting. I've done that as well.
Speaker 1:Everywhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I've had a taste of everything. But this school is going to be focused more on group therapy. You might have 70, 80 kids on your caseload and you are doing groups of therapy in five, setting your five kids in your group, typically 30 minute sessions. They're kids in your group, typically 30 minute sessions. They're quick.
Speaker 2:In your private practice that is going to be your individualized care. You know I see some kids 30 minutes, I see some kids for an hour, I see some kids for two hours. They're typically individual sessions. So I do a lot of you know different things with that. And then the home therapy, the private practice I work out. Now we do home therapy but we also have contracts with school. So I've also had experience of being a contract worker in a school and not necessarily working actually for the school.
Speaker 2:And now I can say home therapy typically is your early intervention and then school contracts. It's almost like private practice but you're just going into the school and pulling the child out for the session. And then the hospital. Obviously I did acute care and then I did inpatient and outpatient rehab during that rotation. So, and obviously your hospital setting, which I had the three different kind of sectors in your hospital setting for your adults, but those are a lot more fast paced and I do think the school setting is lot more fast paced and I do think the school setting is definitely more fast paced than private practice because you have faster sessions.
Speaker 1:No, that makes sense. So when you're in the hospital doing acute care, you're obviously you're not bringing toys in trying to teach them how to speak. Is this after? Is this after like an injury?
Speaker 2:and they're relearning how to do things yeah, so well, that is more so with your adults.
Speaker 1:So I worked with adults that had strokes or traumatic brain injuries, things like that as a speech language pathologist, you can specialize in either age or disorders, which sounds like they probably go a little hand in hand.
Speaker 2:Yes, I tell everyone there's not much of a difference between a child and an adult. They both get excited by a lot of the things that we get excited by. So there's a lot of similarities I've found over the years between the two settings, even though they seem polar opposites it sounds like such a fun job.
Speaker 1:After every single episode I go and I talk to my husband I'm like, listen to this speech, language pathologist. And he goes Ash, you're not changing careers. I said I know I don't want to. I love being a PA, but just getting to speak with you about what you do and seeing how passionate you are about it, it gives me so much hope for medicine and for those interested in medicine. I think, like you said, once upon a time, we were all playing with our Dr Barbies or our Dr GI Joes if that was your thing and we didn't, really nobody ever said oh, you should be a PA or oh, you should be a speech language pathologist, you know something we had to discover later, more as an adult.
Speaker 1:So thank you again for shedding all the light on all of this. I am so excited about it.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about quality questions. This is a segment in the show where we talk about something that you've been asked, or something that you have asked that's been just really memorable. Do you have a quality question Before we hear what Michaela's quality question is? Keep in mind that there's more interview prep, such as mock interviews and personal statement review, over on shadowmenextcom. There you'll find amazing resources to help you as you prepare to answer your own quality questions.
Speaker 2:Whenever I was applying to grad schools. I applied to LSU and one of the interview questions they asked me was what was the most recent book I had read that was not related to speech pathology For the GRE. I was trying to get into grad school. I'm trying to read all of my textbooks, do all the things. I had not touched an actual book for fun in so long.
Speaker 2:I was so thrown off by that question and I was at this time this was in 2020. So I was looking around my room like what is the most book? You know finding a book around my room. But it made me realize you need to have hobbies and something outside of your profession. Obviously, you will go through seasons where you are busier than others, but I try to read before bed every single night. Just carving out even five minutes of your day to do something for you can make a huge difference. I thought that was such a good question because it threw me off, because I was so prepared to answer why I wanted to go to that school and why I want to be a speech therapist. I was not prepared for a question about myself related to my hobbies, so I thought that was a really good one that is a great one.
Speaker 1:Thank you for sharing that, and I think in the same seat I probably would have panicked as well. I probably would have said Harry Potter or the Bible or something like that If I were asked that question now. And I'm not a really avid reader now. I love listening to audio books. It's one of my favorite things and I like reading books that will give me information. I've listened to a couple of fantastic finance books recently my husband's in finance, so part of the reason is so I can speak intelligently with him, and part of the reason is everybody needs to know about finance. If you're making money, then you should probably know how to manage it.
Speaker 1:But a lot of those questions about hobbies that are specific tell me about a book you've read or a trip you've taken. If that is not your thing. And the interviewer is asking you that people pivot Say I understand that people really love reading and they're passionate about reading. That does not bring me joy, especially at the end of the day when I've had my nose buried in a textbook for 12 hours. What brings me joy is exercising or sitting down with my friends and watching trash TV, and let me tell you why that actually is important to me and I think, you can spin it really well, but in the moment it does feel very well.
Speaker 1:It kind of makes you feel bad about yourself, like oh.
Speaker 2:I haven't read a book Right and, like I said, LSU was one of my top grad schools. I was really prepared for this interview. I was so nervous, but it was just not on my radar at all. But I ended up getting into LSU, so my Bible response did work. I guess, but I was not expecting it for sure. Definitely expect a few off the wall questions in your interviews.
Speaker 1:That's a really good point and I think that's why I love this quality question segment so much is because you do get to hear some of the things that threw us for loops when we were doing interviews. Michaela, when you were looking at LSU as a school, if you can remember what were some of the things that you researched or some of the things you looked at when you were trying to prepare for that interview, so there were a lot of different things I looked at.
Speaker 2:I applied to eight different grad schools. A lot of people don't know this, but it is very competitive to get into grad school for speech pathology because so many people are applying. I looked at grad schools I knew people at so I could ask about their experience. I knew a few people that had gone to LSU so I'd ask them about their experience. They had amazing experience. So I was like, okay, done. But I also looked at their facilities and not necessarily like, do they have places that I can internship at? Because you have to do a certain amount of internships, externships. Some grad schools will make you find your own and then some schools will place you with people. They were one of the ones that placed you where you needed to be, so I didn't have to worry about that. So that was a huge pull for me.
Speaker 1:Absolutely the same for PA school and in many other schools I think it is to go and try to find these rotations and I'm not sure about for you, but for PAs are supervising physicians on. Our rotations are not compensated financially most of the time, so it's voluntary for them and having a student for however long and training that person for free or, as I like to say, for pride of profession, it's a big undertaking for them. So it can be quite difficult to find that. So thank you. I know we didn't discuss it, we're going to talk about that, but it's a really great thing. Let's pivot a little bit. I want to talk about your spouse, if that's okay, what it looks like for you to have a spouse in medicine, because I think being a medical spouse is challenging. Tell us a little bit about your husband and his journey, but, more importantly, how you're feeling and how you're supporting him.
Speaker 2:Yes, so my husband is a third year medical student. We live in Miami, Florida. It is very hard. I think a lot of people see the glitz and the glam of being a doctor but people do not understand the sacrifice that goes into that. My husband studies pretty much every waking hour. Even on our honeymoon this past May he studied every single morning because he had his board exam the next month. It's so much sacrifice. We lived down here in Miami. We left all of our friends and family and then we will move again for residency.
Speaker 2:A lot of people don't realize the sacrifice, not only financially but also personally, being away from so many people. But I will also say it is fun at times because he understands my profession. I understand his profession. We've had so many fun conversations over the years about different experiences that a lot of spouses don't get to have. It is very hard on me. I want to know that I'm supporting him enough and I get down on myself and I'm like am I doing enough to support him Because he's going through a lot? It's hard, it's challenging and I don't think people talk about it enough until I had talked to other spouses and they're like, yeah, it's very hard. So yeah, what are?
Speaker 1:what's your recommendation for somebody who's going to find themselves in that position, whether they're medical or not, you know, perhaps they might not know specifically what it is about, what their spouse is studying that is making their life so hard, but if you know your spouse or your significant other or your partner, you should know that they're having a hard time. What's your recommendation when you kind of see that? What's your first step?
Speaker 2:Something I do before I even get to that point is we try to carve out at least 10 to 15 minutes of quality time every night. We like to walk every night. We have a little walking trail that's by our apartment. We always eat dinner without our phones, even if that's just the only time we have during that day to sit down and look at each other and have a conversation. Carving out 10 minutes every day to get that quality time in, then I think you can ask those questions like how are you feeling? How can I support you, how can I be a better spouse and being honest both ways, him knowing that he can be vulnerable with me, but also I know that I can ask him also for the same things. But yeah, I think, just spending quality time together and being honest, and before you even get to that point where you're desperate for that support.
Speaker 1:Thank you for speaking so much on this because it's so important and I know in previous episodes we've talked a little bit about mentorship and how mentorship really guides us. A lot of times it supports us and motivates us, and then our partnerships and our relationships are just mentorships on like super duper, uber steroids. Exactly Whether you work in the same profession or not, you are witnessing each other's hobbies. You're witnessing that person being constructive or destructive with their time. Just as I expect my mentors to step in and say, ash, let's move back this way a little bit, I also expect that from my spouse, family and friends as well.
Speaker 1:I think we speak about mentorship like it's just one person and it's some old gray haired guy that went to school 50 years before you did. But that's not true. I have mentors much younger than me as well. Obviously, my spouse and my family are one of my biggest places where I seek that mentorship and guidance. Thank you for speaking on that. I think it's great to hear that you're laying very strong foundations. So, while we wrap up, what advice would you give to someone interested in medicine, just generally speaking, because you can speak on that, your husband and you have navigated that whole road. And then, what advice would you give specifically to someone who's been listening and who says that sounds fantastic. I want her life, I want her job, I want to do what she does.
Speaker 2:So my number one answer would be to shadow, which is so funny shadow me next but to go and shadow what you think you want to do. My husband shadowed many doctors. He really wants to do orthopedic surgery but he didn't know he wanted to do that until he shadowed several different people. I mean he's shadowed dermatologists. You need to really think about what you might want to do. Go shadow a few, then, after those first few, they might guide your next. Let me try this so you might pivot a little bit, I think, with speech. I would recommend shadowing PT, ot and speech and then also figure out your why. That can really direct your path. You might be a speech pathology major your freshman year and you might graduate with a degree in business because of things pivoting. I just really think about leaning into that why and then also shadowing other people and getting thoughts from other people. I would never be a speech therapist if it wasn't for my cousin redirecting my path and shadowing some.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm so glad you said that because I created this podcast for that exact reason. I had student after student for 10 years of practice that I hosted as shadows, while I was confident in the experience I was providing them. I have two daughters and one day they'll come to me and say mom, I love what you do, but I don't know if I want to be a PA. What else is out there? This is all I know how to be a PA.
Speaker 1:A part of this podcast was me realizing there's more out there. I always knew I wanted to go into medicine, specifically wanted to be a PA, and I'm very satisfied with that. But in order to be a better PA, a better medical provider, to do right by my kids and my friend's kids, exploring these avenues was on my heart and the students who have the opportunity to shadow in person shadow me next does not replace that experience. What I'm hoping is, by listening to the stories on shadow me next, they will realize hey, this sounds like me.
Speaker 1:This sounds like where my heart is. This sounds like something I want to do. I'm going to start researching speech language pathologists close to me. I'm going to be specific with my requests and see, and then maybe I'll shout on orthopedic surgeons, since we talked about that too, just to compare. Comparison is going to be the biggest thing for these people and I'm so glad you brought that up. This is amazing. I want to go hug my kids now. I want to make sure, like I hug all the parents, just because you've motivated me so much to be good and be better.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:It's been such an honor, so thank you for having me Thank you so very much for listening to this episode of shadow me next. If you liked this episode or if you think it could be useful for a friend, please subscribe and invite them to join us next Monday, as always. If you have any questions, let me know on Facebook or Instagram Access. You want stories you need? You're always invited to shadow me next.
