Dahlia Kalvinek

The best career advice I ever received came from a few key moments in my journey. First, when I was exploring whether speech therapy was right for me, a principal told me to visit and shadow three different speech therapists and spend half a day with each of them to see if I liked it. That was great advice because it helped me discover my passion before committing to the field. Then, when I was ready to give up on speech therapy entirely after some traumatic experiences in nursing homes, an EAP counselor told me not to give up after working so hard for my degree. He said to make a list of what I needed in a workplace and make sure my next job had those things. I thought it was impossible, but he encouraged me to just try, and it worked out. He helped me realize I needed to find people who would let me ask questions and who would appreciate my strengths. The key lesson I learned is to find the right match, find people who are going to nourish you and mentor you, people who see your strengths and help you be the best version of yourself. And critically, don't be afraid to ask questions and find the people who have experience and knowledge in the skills you want to learn.

Look for the right match, but also remember that people come and go. Sometimes it might not be the right match at the moment, but other people can change, so you don't always have to switch immediately. You can wait a little while and see if the situation improves. Try to spread the positive - I've made it something I really focus on. If I hear someone say something good about someone, I try to repeat it to them instead of repeating the negative. I think it's human nature that we focus on and repeat the negative, but I consciously try to repeat the positive instead. Also, question the negative, and stay humble - that's really important to me, and it's a red flag for me when people don't stay humble. Look for people who aren't burnt out and who have a lot of experience, and try to attach yourself to people who have experience and who are knowledgeable in the skills you want to learn. Ask those people questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions - that was crucial for my success. Find mentors who will appreciate your strengths and help you be the strongest version of yourself, because when you have that, you know you're in the right place. And when you don't have that support, don't stay for the wrong reasons like benefits or pay, because it will drain you. You might think you're helping yourself because of the benefits or the pay, but in the long run, it drains everything.

One of the biggest challenges in my field is that sometimes in education, they put a lot of pressure on speech therapists to fix kids alone in a vacuum. I don't feel like that's realistic, and it's way too much pressure. The key to success, and really the biggest opportunity, is when we all work together as a team. We're going to achieve so much more when we're all on the same page and working together on the same goal. I've taken this passion from my work in early intervention and preschool - this team approach where we collaborate with teachers, parents, and other professionals. It's about finding that right team that's willing to work together, rather than being isolated in a silo, which is unfortunately how the profession often operates.

The values most important to me are empathy and continuous learning. I have this deep need to help people - I realized that about myself when I was spending all my extra time helping my Russian neighbors instead of feeling fulfilled in my insurance job. I knew I needed to do helping work professionally. I'm also passionate about not giving up and finding a way forward, which I learned through my own difficult career journey. Teamwork and collaboration are essential to me - I feel strongly that we achieve so much more when we all work together as a team rather than trying to work alone. I always wanted parents to come in and be involved in therapy sessions, to have that team approach, even when other therapists didn't do that. I value asking questions and continuous learning, and I look for people who will let me ask questions and who have the experience and knowledge I want to learn from. Staying humble is really important to me, and it's actually a red flag when people don't stay humble. Finally, I try to spread positivity - I consciously make an effort to repeat the positive things I hear about people instead of repeating the negative, because I think it's human nature to focus on the negative, but we should fight against that.