1 Year of Branch Out Therapy!
Branch Out Therapy is officially one year old! Truthfully, it's been a little over a year, but the beginning of the school year always feels like the true beginning of the new year.
In June 2023, I resigned from my position in the public school system after 12 years. I had previously worked in private practice part-time, seeing clients after school, and was eager to delve deeper into private practice. During my first year on my own, I was also able to get started with school contracting while working with Northrup and Associates and partnering with Metro Early College Middle and High School.
It felt like a big leap initially, but this past year has been extremely rewarding. My passion for speech-language pathology has been revitalized. I’ve enjoyed researching best practices for clients so much that I earned my first ACE Award this past year!
To celebrate, I’d like to share a few takeaways from this past year.
Parents ROCK
Working with parents might be my favorite part of private practice. I feel so fortunate to have families collaborating with me as a team. Parent intuition is so powerful! I love receiving text messages from parents with updates on how their child is doing, new words or sounds they are using, or a strategy that they have found to be helpful. I have also found that parents are eager to learn and soak up all the information they can to help their children. This is important because there is only so much I can do in the short time I can spend with each child. Carry-over is essential!
School services are still important
As much as I LOVE working with families, how children communicate with peers is also important! The children I see making the most gains have a strong team at home and school. With over a decade of experience working in schools, I know speech therapy's limitations and benefits in the school setting. I am a strong advocate for ensuring my clients are getting the support they need at school by writing letters for parents to share with their school describing the support they need, providing specific recommendations in evaluation and progress reports, and being in direct contact with SLPs or other school professionals with parent approval.
Kids learn best when they’re having FUN
I strongly believe that therapy is most effective when it is FUN! I’m always striving to create meaningful, enjoyable therapy experiences to provide the best environment for learning. Whether I see a child at preschool, home, or the Branch Out Therapy office, I tailor activities to the individual child.
What’s next?
Branch Out Therapy is so proud to be a member of the Be Well Collective and surrounded by many wonderful, supportive, family-centered professionals. I currently see clients at my office at the Be Well Collective several nights a week. Branch Out Therapy also provides speech therapy throughout Columbus and Central Ohio in homes, daycares, and preschools. This past year, Branch Out Therapy has provided services for clients in Dublin, Hilliard, Reynoldsburg, Westerville, Lewis Center, Worthington, Upper Arlington, Grove City, and Columbus.
Branch Out Therapy is now in network with Medical Mutual, Anthem, and Molina insurance companies to extend speech therapy services to more children.
In addition to seeing private clients, I am excited to be working with Madison Christian School in Groveport, Ohio, this year!
Branch Out Therapy has openings for private clients and school contract work. If you are interested in speech therapy, complete the contact form, and I will contact them as soon as possible!
Branch Out Therapy can also help your school stay compliant and support positive student outcomes! If your school is seeking support for evaluations, medical leaves, or to cover other speech therapy needs, please complete the form here or email Victoria at Victoria.Cook@branchouttherapy.com.
A huge THANK YOU to my clients, family, friends, and colleagues for their support and for helping this practice have such a great start. I’m so excited to see what’s next for Branch Out Therapy!
