As speech-language pathologists (SLPs), developing strong self-awareness and understanding our personality traits, strengths, weaknesses, values, and motivations is essential for providing the highest quality of care to our clients. Writing an “owner me” type self-analysis essay can be an illuminating self-reflective exercise that allows us to gain insight into how we can best serve our clients and work effectively as members of interprofessional teams.
In my owner me essay, I will analyze my personality using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) framework. Taking the MBTI assessment, I received an ENTJ personality type – extraverted, intuitive, thinking, and judging. As an ENTJ, I am goal-oriented, decisive, and thrive in leadership roles where I can strategize solutions and drive results. I enjoy analyzing problems from a systems-level perspective and coming up with logical, efficient plans of action. Some weaknesses of my ENTJ personality include becoming overly critical and impatient with others who do not work at the same fast pace, as well as struggling to acknowledge other viewpoints that differ from my own analyses. To maximize my strengths and mitigate weaknesses in my work as an SLP, I must cultivate strong active listening skills, patience, and an openness to different perspectives.
Beyond my personality type, my core values as an SLP align with advocating for clients, empowering individuals with disabilities, and facilitating meaningful communication. I am driven by my belief that effective, ethical, evidence-based practice can significantly improve people’s quality of life. Growing up with a sibling who has a communication disorder sparked my initial interest in the field. Witnessing the positive impact that early intervention speech therapy had on my brother’s language development and self-esteem solidified my passion for this work.
In analyzing my knowledge, skills, and experiences, I believe I am well-suited to work in both medical and educational settings. My undergraduate degree in neuroscience provided me with an in-depth understanding of speech, language, and swallowing neuroanatomy and physiology – a strong foundation for evaluating and treating a wide variety of communication disorders across diverse populations. During my clinical fellowship year, I gained valuable experience working on an intensive medical speech therapy team at a large teaching hospital. There, I refined my skills in dysphagia management, working with ventilator-dependent patients, providing counseling and support to families during times of diagnosis and transitions of care. I also enjoyed collaborating closely with physicians, nurses, dietitians, and other allied health professionals as part of the hospital’s interprofessional model of care.
While in my medical placement, I recognized educational settings as another area of interest where I could apply my counseling and family-centered approach. During graduate school, I completed externships in both pediatric and adult developmental disability clinics as well as in elementary, middle, and high schools. In educational placements, I enjoyed facilitating classroom-based social skills and language groups, conducting educational assessments, collaborating on IEP/504 plan goal writing and implementation, as well as consulting with teachers and other support professionals. This complemented my medical experiences and reinforced my belief that both medical and educational models are needed to comprehensively meet all clients’ communication, academic language, social, and transition needs across environments.
Building upon my previous experiences, I am now interested in pursuing an SLP position that bridges medical and educational contexts, such as in an acute care hospital-based outpatient clinic or sub-acute rehabilitation facility where I can provide both evaluation and ongoing therapy to school-aged children with comorbid medical diagnoses like traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, genetic syndromes. I am drawn to roles where I can help optimize function for an interdisciplinary team and then facilitate smooth transitions of care between medical, home/community, and school environments. My long-term career goals are to gain increasing leadership and management experience – whether through developing and directing new programs, mentoring less experienced clinicians, or moving into administrative roles. I would also enjoy opportunities for consulting, advocacy, and continuing to contribute to the evidence base through research collaborations or publications.
As a new SLP, I recognize there is always more to learn. One aspect of continual self-improvement will be expanding my cultural competency through professional development workshops, staying abreast of current literature on culturally and linguistically appropriate practice models, and seeking clinical supervision and mentorship from more experienced clinicians working with diverse populations. I also aim to maintain a work-life balance by prioritizing self-care, practicing mindfulness, spending quality time with family/friends outside of work, and engaging in hobbies I find personally fulfilling like running, cooking, hiking and travel. My supervisor feedback thus far has highlighted my strong work ethic and initiative; areas for growth include learning when to delegate tasks and ask for assistance from others as needed to avoid burnout.
In closing, through self-reflection in composing this “owner me” essay, I have gained insight into how my personality preferences, values, strengths and experiences align well with my passion for working as an SLP, particularly in bridging medical and educational contexts. I aim to continuously strengthen my interpersonal and cultural competencies while also cultivating work-life harmony through self-care. The field of speech-language pathology provides rewarding opportunities to advocate for communication rights, facilitate engagement and independence, and positively impact quality of life. I look forward to drawing upon my assets and growing in my career as an agent of change for clients, teams, programs and the profession.
Andrew Stroud