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In this State by State episode, Dr. Jeanette Benigas talks with Emily Bromer. MS/SLP, from the Speech-Language-Hearing Association of Virginia (SHAV), about what a state membership organization actually does and why it matters for SLPs.
They discuss how SHAV supports Virginia SLPs and audiologists, the benefits of state association membership, CE opportunities, student leadership development, how advocacy priorities are set, and details about the 2026 SHAV Annual Conference in Richmond, Virginia, including a special discount for nonmembers using the code FIXSLP10.
If you’ve ever questioned whether joining your state association is worth it, this episode offers a practical look at how state-level professional organizations build community, shape policy, and support clinicians.
Learn more about the Speech-Language-Hearing Association of Virginia, and don't forget to use code FIXSLP50 for $75 off the non-member registration at the SHAV annual conference, March 30-31.
In case you missed them:
➡ Ed Bice, M.Ed./SLP, acting president of the Speech-Hearing Association of Virginia, discusses SHAV's petition to eliminate provisional licenses and grant full licensure to new grads immediately upon graduation in episode 93.
➡ Ed Bice, M.Ed./SLP, acting president of the Speech-Hearing Association of Virginia, discusses SHAV's petition to eliminate provisional licenses and grant full licensure to new grads immediately upon graduation in episode 93.
➡ Listen in on an open and honest conversation about burnout, fear of mistakes, productivity pressure, and why so many clinicians feel like they’re never doing enough, even when they’re doing everything in episode 106.
🛠️ Stop paying to track ASHA-approved CEUs. Save your money and set up for a FREE CEU/PDH tracker with Speech Therapy PD. While you are there, get $10 off a professional subscription with the code FixSLP10!
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Creators and Guests
Host
Jeanette Benigas, PhD/SLP
Host of Fix SLP
What is Fix SLP: Advocacy & Accountability in Speech-Language Pathology?
Fix SLP is an SLP Podcast by Dr. Jeanette Benigas about advocacy, autonomy, and reform in Speech-Language Pathology. This show exposes credentialing gatekeeping, dismantles CCC requirements, and helps SLPs advocate for change. Each episode equips SLPs with tools to reclaim their profession. Subscribe now and join the movement transforming speech-language pathology. Follow @fix.slp on Instagram and TikTok. Visit fixslp.com.
Welcome to Fix SLP, the podcast shaking up the field of speech language pathology. We're calling out the barriers that hold clinicians back, fixing broken systems that limit our care, and giving the power of our profession back to the people who live it every day. This is where fearless clinicians come together. It's time to change the field with our voices, leadership, and advocacy leading the way. So let's fix SLP!
Jeanette Benigas:Okay. Here we go.
Jeanette Benigas:Hey, everybody. Welcome back. It's Jeanette. I have Emily Bromer with me from Virginia. I am head, neck, elbow, eyeballs deep in 92507 stuff.
Jeanette Benigas:And so I told her, we need to make this Fix SLP's first no edit podcast ever. So let's see how we do, Emily.
Emily Bromer:It's not gonna go well. I promise you that. Everyone get out your tallyers. We're gonna count the ums.
Jeanette Benigas:Listen. We are language specialists, Emily. We know not to use fillers. Okay?
Emily Bromer:Yeah. I kind of walk my way around that one sometimes. Yeah. It's okay.
Jeanette Benigas:Alright. We have just top of the episode. We have a super special, like, Fix SLP exclusive offer from Virginia for their state association. I don't know when we're going to give it, so stick around for that, please. But I want to start, Emily, I want you to tell us a little bit about yourself.
Jeanette Benigas:So who are you? What's your association involvement? What area of the field do you work in? What do you do for fun? Just tell us things.
Emily Bromer:My name is Emily Bromer, and I am a speech language pathologist in Lynchburg, Virginia. I am a school based SLP, and I just opened up my own private practice, Hill City Speech Services, where I do mobile speech therapy for kiddos in the area. I am also the vice president for professional development with the Speech Language Hearing Association of Virginia, and I have been on their board of directors for two years. And so I have been working very diligently over the past two years on planning annual conferences, and I'm super excited about this upcoming conference.
Jeanette Benigas:Do you like coffee? Do you have pets? What what's your thing?
Emily Bromer:So I have a cat named Lucy, and my husband's name is Tanner, and they are the love loves of my life and enjoy way too much coffee and energy drinks. I go to the gym almost every day, which is like a huge change for me, but it has been wonderful and keeping me going, keeping me steady. And I love reading books and just hanging out with friends and watching movies and all of that.
Jeanette Benigas:I very, very naively bought the latest Colleen Hoover book that came out a couple weeks ago. And do we think that I'm gonna get to read that little baby? No. Not happening.
Emily Bromer:You will get around to it in a while.
Jeanette Benigas:Not until 92507 is saved. So tell me, how did you get involved with the state association and what do you love about it?
Emily Bromer:I got involved when one of my old professors, Allison King, she came on when I was graduating from Longwood University in May 2020. And in I wanna say it was 2023, November 2023, she just randomly called me and said, I have an opportunity for you. And when one of your old professors who you're really close with says they have an opportunity for you, you don't say no. And I hope when she listens to this, she's she's laughing, because she knows it's true.
Jeanette Benigas:She's very scary too. I can't imagine that you would say no to her. I'm just kidding. She's fabulous. Got to meet her at Fix SLP After Dark at ASHA.
Jeanette Benigas:Hey, Allison. Okay.
Emily Bromer:No. She she's wonderful, and we have worked so hard on the board together. And, she was the president when she had invited me on, and we have worked tirelessly to make SHAV a really good functioning organization. And it always has been, but, you know, it's the goal of every board to make it a little bit better than it was the year before. And I love SHAV just for the people and the connections and the networking and being able to work and volunteer with other like minded individuals to make sure that Virginia SLPs get what they need and be able to access different resources and just be a community.
Emily Bromer:And so I've loved being able to be a part of the SHAV board family for that reason.
Jeanette Benigas:I want to be on SHAV when I grow up. You have a dream team over there. You guys are killing it. I told Ed that when he was on our podcast before, which I will link up in the show notes if anybody missed it. You guys are doing some really innovative thinking.
Jeanette Benigas:So, yeah, I'm jealous. Okay. What is one area of advocacy that the association has undertaken in previous years? So I guess this is something that's already been completed. What's one thing that you've done that has made a difference for Virginia clinicians?
Emily Bromer:So, SHAV has worked really hard, especially Melanie Joy Dorne, who is our vice president for political and government affairs, to work with our state delegates and senators in order to make sure that Virginia is the only state that self elected to remove the Cs from licensure requirements for our new grads.
Jeanette Benigas:Amazing. If you want to hear more about that, Ed Byce gives all the details in the episode he was on. Again, it will be linked up. But when Fix SLP started, there were four states four, that required the CCC for new SLP licensure after the nine month mentored experience. And now we're down to three.
Jeanette Benigas:Thanks to, you guys over there. So that was super cool. That was a good one. Okay. So what things are you looking towards for the future for SHAV?
Jeanette Benigas:Like, what's coming up for SHAV? What kind of advocacy things are you working on now?
Emily Bromer:We have really been working on increasing student membership and just student support. And so one of the things that I'm sure we'll talk about later when we talk about the conference is, like our student track day and our resource library that our member at large is putting together. So just really making sure that our members are able to access information and other people in the state in order to make informed decisions and just grow their network and be able to work collaboratively to increase the care of those we work for and with.
Jeanette Benigas:I can't wait. I can't Well, I can't can't talk about it yet. Okay. You might not know this because you're not Melanie. Again, also a Fearless Fixer.
Jeanette Benigas:Hey, Melanie. Melanie would be the person to ask, but you might know, how does the association set the agenda for the future? Like, how does Shaw have decide what they're going to work on in terms of advocacy and what needs to be done?
Emily Bromer:Yeah, so that definitely comes from our advocacy committee and Melanie's position. And just as a board, we do have our board meetings where we talk about what's going on and kind of how we can shape the future. And we do have a new board coming up after our March conference, and so they'll be going through policies and procedures and really looking at how we can shape the future of SHOV and advocacy efforts. But that would definitely be a question for Melanie in the future.
Jeanette Benigas:One other thing that I ask associations, and you might not know this, but you might, do you guys have a lobbyist?
Jeanette Benigas:We used to a few years ago, but our again, Melanie has been rocking it and killing it, and she has been making waves with advocacy efforts and her advocacy committee. And we actually do not have a current lobbyist that we're working with because Melanie is just running the show.
Jeanette Benigas:You don't need to spend the money. Spend it on other things. If I mean, how does Melanie rotate off your board or does she get to stay?
Jeanette Benigas:She is She's actually staying. She
Jeanette Benigas:She's a lifer?
Jeanette Benigas:No. She has just committed to another term on the board. So she is really committed to making Shaw and Virginia the best place to work, the best state to work. In every one of her emails, she has, let's make Virginia the best place to work as possible. It's the greatest, most empowering thing ever.
Jeanette Benigas:So if someone wants to join your state association, what can clinicians in your state expect if they join as a member?
Emily Bromer:They would have access to our CE library. We have four prerecorded webinars that are available to all of our members, and they talk about various topics such as supervision and DEI ethics, those types of things to help satisfy requirements for licensure. And, additionally, they would also be able to get a discount for any of our conferences that we put on. Historically, we have only done one conference in the spring, but we have actually decided to start doing more consistent conferences. So we have our annual conference in March and April of each year, but then we've also started doing rotating fall conferences.
Emily Bromer:So in October 2025, we ended up doing a educational based conference for SLPs in the Lynchburg, Virginia area. And in fall twenty twenty six, we're actually holding our first fall medical and audiology based conference at the at the Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia. And so every year, we're gonna be rotating between educationally based and medical slash audiology. So those are just really big events that they can look forward to.
Emily Bromer:Yeah, I'm excited.
Jeanette Benigas:It's going to be great.
Jeanette Benigas:No, baby, I'll be there. Who knows? I know every state does this differently. And if clinicians in your state have ideas or concerns, how can they communicate that to the association? And then how does the association handle those once they're received?
Jeanette Benigas:If anyone has any concerns or ideas, they're always welcome to go to our website, which is www.shav.org. Jeanette, if you could link that, that would be great. And, they can email our SHAV office email, which is tagged in the footer at the bottom. And all of our board members actually have linked emails in the board of directors page so they can reach out to anyone on the board. And the board is constantly communicating.
Jeanette Benigas:So once we receive a complaint or a question or concern idea. We're always communicating about the things that we receive from members. And so just ongoing efforts to increase that communication and reciprocity in conversation. So we would definitely get back to them or try and find the appropriate channels to make sure that we can assist them.
Jeanette Benigas:Big question. Are nonmembers welcome to use those avenues as well?
Jeanette Benigas:Absolutely.
Jeanette Benigas:And Amen, sister.
Emily Bromer:Yes. We are here for all Virginia SLPs and audiologists. And even if you aren't a member, we would still love to hear from you and see how we can support you.
Emily Bromer:And if that leads to you becoming a member, amazing. If it doesn't, that is totally fine. We are just working to make Virginia the best place for SLPs and audiologists.
Jeanette Benigas:How much does it cost?
Emily Bromer:It costs $85 a year for a membership.
Jeanette Benigas:Listen. You could cancel your CCC and membership and have Virginia membership and then enough leftover to go to their convention. Maybe not. I don't know how much it costs. But that's why we're actually here today is to talk about the Virginia convention coming up in March.
Jeanette Benigas:You wanna tell us about it?
Emily Bromer:Yes. And this is something that my co planner, Joanna, and I have been working so tirelessly over the past almost year planning with the help of our conference committee. And so we are going to be back at the downtown Richmond Marriott on Monday, March 30 and Tuesday, 03/31/2026. So I think when I saw a countdown, we were, like, less than sixty days away, and that makes me nervous, but I'm so excited. When we have everyone register, if you use the code FIXSLP, all caps, fifty, 5- 0, you will get $75 off of your nonmember registration.
Emily Bromer:So if you are not a SHAV member or if you are another state association member or a nonmember of another state association around Virginia, we would love for you to be able to come and participate in our event with $75 off your registration. And with your registration, you get breakfast on both mornings, and you get a lunch on Monday and a bunch of snacks. So food is included in that. And we have right now 56 sessions that span both days, and they are in five different tracks. So we have audiology, pediatric, medical, adult medical, school based issues, and professional issues. And our speaker lineup is amazing. And
Jeanette Benigas:But who's the most ex exciting speaker, Emily?
Emily Bromer:I am really excited for you to come and speak, Jeanette, and you will be coming and talking about your advocacy journey and really how to help other individuals be able to advocate for themselves and start their own journey, if it's micro advocacy or big advocacy. We're just really excited for you to be able to help people with their advocacy journey. And then also your other area of expertise, spaced retrieval. So super excited for you to be there. And we also have Todd Houston who's coming out.
Jeanette Benigas:My former colleague. I mean, we should carpool. We live less than forty five minutes from each other. He's gotta go by my house to get to your convention.
Emily Bromer:You should just text him and have him come pick you up on your way down.
Jeanette Benigas:We're not on that kind of communication level, but I will say that when I was at the University of Akron, when I was employed at the University of Akron, he was always so kind, and we were never really there on the same days, but we would see each other virtually in faculty meetings, and I'm thrilled that he's coming as your keynote speaker.
Emily Bromer:Yeah, he's going to be
Jeanette Benigas:And I'm excited. You can't schedule me during his talk because I want to go hear him talk.
Emily Bromer:Absolutely. And he's going to be talking on professional burnout and kind of how to make sure that we don't burn out. And, Jeanette, I know one of your, most recent Fix SLP podcast was about preventing burnout. And so it's just a huge prevalent issue among SLPs and audiologists. So I'm super excited for him to be able to come and talk about that.
Emily Bromer:We have Sydney Bassard from the listening SLP coming out, and she's gonna be talking about social media ethics and emergent literacy and skills. And so very excited about her. And Renee Garrett, who is the host of the Brainstorms podcast on speech therapy PD, she's going to be talking on the three different adult neuro rehab and caregiver education topics. And we also have one of our local SLPs. He's in the school.
Emily Bromer:His name is Nate Ellis. He's fantastic, and he loves all things speech sound disorders. So he's gonna be speaking on the new updated speech sound norms that have been out for a while, but just really tackling those and what that means, and then also doing a course on biostatistics. So we're gonna be revamping the way we look at standardized assessments. Yeah. And
Jeanette Benigas:Amazing.
Emily Bromer:One thing that we are super excited about offering this year is our student track where an entire day, so Monday, March 30, they are going to have a bunch of sessions just dedicated to topics that our student SHOV members have identified as areas of interest. And so those are things such as pediatric fees, MBSS, AAC, and feature matching. And then we also have the panel discussion where it's day in the life of an adult travel SLP, a school based SLP, pediatric their pediatric private practice owner and audiologist and also early intervention. And so it'll be an open discussion where people can ask questions.
Emily Bromer:And then we also have the Praxis School that we're hosting and student posters where students from across Virginia universities are gonna be presenting their research.
Jeanette Benigas:Why don't you have a day in the life of a feaser on that panel? You wanna be our Do we need to renegotiate a contract?
Emily Bromer:If you would like to join us, I would love for you to be a part of that.
Jeanette Benigas:Well, you know, I this maybe is on your list of things that you need to say, but you haven't mentioned Bunko. Aren't I play hosting Bunko or something?
Emily Bromer:Doing advocacy bingo on
Jeanette Benigas:Oh, Bunko.
Emily Bromer:Bunko was last year, and it was
Jeanette Benigas:I don't know what Bunko is. Whatever. It's some I'm doing some things.
Emily Bromer:Yes. No. Not Bunco. Bunco was last year, and it was very successful, and we loved it. But this year, we're doing advocacy bingo, and that is gonna be Sunday evening.
Emily Bromer:And so if you get to the conference early and would like to come and network and hang out with Jeanette and Melanie and myself and other Shaw board members and other Shaw members, it would be great for you guys to attend that. By adding the $10 to your registration fee, you get a ticket for that, and it's a free drink ticket as well. So Woo. Yeah. Can the host drink?
Emily Bromer:Absolutely. We'll get you whatever you need.
Jeanette Benigas:Perfect.
Emily Bromer:No.
Emily Bromer:I'm coming.
Emily Bromer:Excited for this event. It's my last conference planning, and so it gonna go out. Gonna go off without a hitch.
Jeanette Benigas:Yeah. Amazing. Alright. Emily, listen. It's so late right now.
Jeanette Benigas:We're gonna wrap this up. Absolutely. We're getting an episode to the people this week. Oh, one more thing at the convention, I'll have a little table. People want to stop and say hi.
Jeanette Benigas:I might. I was planning on having Fix SLP T shirts made because we're due for another round. But if I'm being completely honest, I don't know that that's going to happen because of 09/25/2007. But I'll have some of our older ones and some merch and stickers and stuff like that. So people can stop by and see me.
Jeanette Benigas:When I'm sitting there, you can stop. I don't have a plan. So all right, everybody. I am so thankful to shove that they were willing to entertain my crazy idea of giving non members a discount because Virginia is surrounded by other states. And, you know, maybe you're close and you want to go, maybe you want to hear me, maybe you want to hear Sydney, who's amazing.
Jeanette Benigas:There's so many good people. So I told Emily, if there's one thing in the world that Fearless Fixers care about, it's their money. Okay? It's their money. So she's giving you a discount.
Jeanette Benigas:Fix SLP fifty 5- 0 at checkout. If you are a non member, especially you guys from other states or in state doesn't matter. You get a discount. So thanks for doing that job. You guys are awesome.
Emily Bromer:Thank you. We hope to see you guys there.
Jeanette Benigas:Right. Unless there is some kind of surprise next week, we're talking West Virginia might be a similar offer. So stay tuned, because if you're not close to Virginia, you might be close to West Virginia. So, Emily, everybody at shop, thanks for everything you're doing.
Jeanette Benigas:I cannot wait to see you guys in like sixty days. And if you want to listen to anything we've talked about, just check the show notes. I'll have everything linked up. See you next week. Thanks for fixing it.
Jeanette Benigas:Thanks Jeanette!
Jeanette Benigas:Thank for listening to the Fix SLP podcast, the podcast shaking bit a more more supports our Fix SLP team. Don't just listen. Be a part of a the change. Share this episode and our social media content, and let's keep fixing the field one fight at a time.