According to novelist Simon Sinek, your motivation and desire to do something despite the challenges that may lay ahead is considered your “why”. We were honored to be featured by our alma mater, the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Institute of Health Professions, in a community email this week, in which alumni shared their “why”. Read the feature below to hear our answers about why we started our practice, what’s been most rewarding, the challenges we’ve faced, and what’s been most surprising.
Two Classmates States Apart Start Practice Together
Little did Katherine (Donovan) Noyes, MS ’11 (pictured left), and Caitlin (Barrett) Chambers, MS ’11 (pictured right), know whey they met in their first class in 2008 that they would go into business together a little over ten years later. Caitlin lives in Massachusetts and Katherine in Maine, yet they have joined forces to offer telehealth services to adults in their communities. Read on to learn about their “why”.
Why did you decide to open your own business/private practice, and what are you aiming to accomplish?
We started our own SLP practice, called Lotus Speech and Wellness, to fill an unmet need in the brain injury community: we specialize in person-centered, functional, holistic speech teletherapy for adults with neurological impairments to improve communication and cognition, and we incorporate yoga and mindfulness to increase mind-body wellness in recovery. After 10 years of clinical experience since graduating from the IHP, we wanted flexibility and freedom to run a practice that best serves our clients’ needs, and also allows us to create a healthy work/life balance and focus on our clinical areas of interest.
What qualities/skills do you bring from the IHP to your private practice?
In addition to the academic and clinical excellence we gained from the IHP, we bring our strong interprofessional skills and ability (eagerness!) to collaborate with others.
What have been your greatest challenges thus far?
The biggest challenges thus far have been the non-clinical areas of private practice: building a website, marketing, and navigating health insurance.
What have you found most rewarding?
After all of the time, energy, and heart we put into starting our private practice, it was really rewarding to get our first client and be able to help them improve their communication, cognition, and quality of life through our unique programming. Being able to confidently tell potential clients and other providers and community members that “we specialize in the service you’re looking for, and will help you meet your goals” affirms that we made the right decision in starting our private practice.
What advice would you give other clinicians wanting to open their own practice?
Start small, one step at a time. Know what you’re most passionate about as a clinician, and identify your niche in your community. Make connections and keep an open mind. Be brave, and believe in yourself.
What has surprised you most about having a private practice?
We had expected that going out on our own and having a private practice might make us feel more isolated. On the contrary, we feel more connected than ever with an amazing community of like-minded SLPs, clinicians, yoga and mindfulness instructors, and so many others serving the brain injury community, which has been so unexpectedly wonderful!
You should feel free to connect with Katherine in Maine, Caitlin in Massachusetts, or both if you would like to learn more about how they run their practice, their clinical approach, or if you know of clients who might benefit from their services.