Dr. Jeanette Benigas, SLP, discusses the challenges and myths of the hustle culture in the field of speech-language pathology. She reflects on her own burnout and the need for SLPs to reassess their priorities and workloads. Dr. Benigas criticizes ASHA’s role in perpetuating overwork and emphasizes that SLPs’ value is not solely determined by credentials or CEUs. She calls for SLPs to set boundaries, advocate for themselves, and consider the impact of unpaid work.
She also shares her realization that it’s time to take her own advice—setting boundaries, working smarter, and making strategic decisions about where to focus her time and energy. As Fix SLP continues to grow, she’s exploring ways to streamline podcast production and ensure sustainability without compromising the movement’s momentum. If you’re feeling stretched too thin or questioning the never-ending grind, this episode is for you.
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Creators & Guests
Host
Jeanette Benigas, PhD/SLP
Host of Fix SLP
What is Fix SLP?
Fix SLP is a grassroots advocacy firm here to challenge the status quo in speech-language pathology by driving real change—from insurance regulations to removing barriers to full autonomy like the CCC. This podcast is your space to learn, engage, and take action in the field of speech-language pathology. We don’t wait for change. We make it.
Hosted by Jeanette Benigas, PhD, SLP
Jeanette Benigas 0:00
Hey, fixers. I'm Dr Jeanette Benigas, the owner of Fix SLP, a grassroots advocacy firm here to challenge the status quo in speech language pathology by driving real change from insurance regulations to removing barriers that prevent full autonomy like the CCC, this podcast is your space to learn, engage and take action in the field of speech language pathology. We don't wait for change. We make it so let's fix SLP!
Jeanette Benigas 0:46
Hey, fixers, welcome back. It's Jeanette. It's only Jeanette. I'm so sorry to disappoint you. I know you all love Preston. He is like the heart and soul of this podcast now, but he had some things going on, and I invited Elizabeth on, and she's taking care of her farm, and it is 9:30pm the night before I should release the podcast. And you know what? It was go time I couldn't try to work it out anymore. So here we are, and I left what our planned topic was for another time when Elizabeth or Preston are able to join me again. So I came up with something else, something else to talk about. I want to say first that I sat down to start recording and I realized that it has been exactly a year since my very first solo podcast episode. I think we're due for a check in. You know, I'm going to start by reading a quick Apple podcast review. I can't remember if we did this one, but it was short, so I chose it. Maybe again. It's from zps1025, this person says opening Pandora's Box. Thank you for educating us. I have a different perspective of ASHA now. I like that one. I really do. Please give us a five star rating and review. It puts us into the suggestions for other people, and that's really what we need to keep growing this movement. Let's have some real talk for a minute. The Hustle is a lie. How many of us are exhausted from trying to do it all? I was sick a couple weeks ago. I shared this on the last podcast, maybe one of the most recent recordings, and as I laid in bed, thought, How did I arrive here? I really had to start taking accountability for the things I've been doing in my life. And I realized I really just can't do it all. Right? I can't do it all. I'm out of academia now. That was my full time income. I'm growing my mobile fees. Company. I am leading Fix, SLP, I'm doing a little home health on the side. I have kids. I'm a girl scout leader. So it's Girl Scout Cookie season here in Ohio, and I did 10 hours of cookie booths this weekend, plus a girl scout meeting, plus sorting, plus meeting my co leader at 11pm last night to swap boxes. It's a lot. Can't do it all, and neither can you so that's what started making me question my hustle. How did I get here? I don't get sick very often. How? Why am I sick? Other than okay, you know, bugs, kids and bugs. But I was forced to slow down. I had to kind of reassess what's been going on in my life. I've always wondered here and there if I'm burnt out, but I think part of it was some burnout. It was really hard, really hard for me to get back into all of the things that I do to the same level that I do them. And it's not that I didn't want to, but maybe this makes sense. I just didn't want to. I wanted to get back into everything that I do, because I love what I do, but I just didn't want to. I didn't have the energy. I was tired. I'm still tired, but it was kind of my aha moment. So I want you to think about if you're reaching that point, because I think we've all been sold a myth. I think we've been sold the myth of, if we just work harder, if we just get the right credentials, if we just check all the boxes, everything will work out. And spoiler it doesn't. There's always something else. The more is more trap in SLP, is awful. I just need more CEUs. I just need more certifications. I'm just going to do more unpaid work, but none of it actually makes us better, none of it actually makes us happier. And I have to wonder, what are we doing? I. What are we doing, you guys, what are we doing to ourselves? Ask yourself that question, what are we doing to ourselves? ASHA does play a role in that hustle culture. They're not solely responsible, but they play a role. We have to ask ourselves, how membership of ASHA, how the CCC, how all of the fees that people have to pay into CEUs, whether they're providers or whether they're taking CEUs, how they all make us feel like we have to overwork, how they all make us feel like we have to keep doing those things to prove our worth. And it's not true everybody. It's not true. We don't have to have the CCC to prove our value in this field. We don't we don't have to have 70 CEUs every cycle to earn the ASHA ace award to prove our worth. We don't have to do that. Our value is in the degree and our state license, and then we continue to improve our value by finding high quality continuing education, whether it is from ASHA, not from ASHA. ASHA approved from our state, from an independent provider, from a highly skilled person who's teaching about the things we need to learn to be more valuable. That's where our value is, Medicaid, credentialing, job market issues, there's a ton of unnecessary barriers that keep us overworking just to exist in the profession, and we have to keep reassessing, because some of us are making less than we were making 510, 1520, years ago. And so then our quality of life goes down, and that's what I find. Well, if we need more money, I'll just throw on more PRN. I'll just throw on more PRN. My daughter wants to dance. We got expensive costumes. I'll do more PRN. This week, my son wants to do something. I'll do more PRN. We're gonna go on vacation. Well, I'll do more PRN so we can afford it. This is crazy to me, and we have to slow down. This hustle culture is keeping us stuck. There is a lie of just pay your dues. How many SLPs feel stuck in low paying, high stress jobs, thinking it will eventually get better. SLPs with experience. You know it's not getting better. New SLPs in the field, it's not going to get better. Find your joy, take care of yourself, figure out your priorities and go serve your people. Go serve your kids, go serve your nursing home residents, go serve the people in your ICU. I was a professor for a long time, and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that SLPs are sort of type a, maybe not even sort of, it seems like it's just a personality type that this field attracts, and we end up being a bunch of perfectionists. I think Why do we feel like we have to know everything before we start advocating for ourselves and making a move. You know, when I ask people to lead fixer teams in their states, I think that is the most common response I get. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know how to advocate. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. And my response is, that's okay. We don't want you to know. Well, we would love for you to know, but we don't need for you to know. We're collaborating with you, we're walking beside you, and we're figuring this out together. When I started fix, SLP, I didn't know what I was doing. I thought some posts were gonna go out on Instagram, and a podcast of me yelling about stuff was gonna go out into the airwaves, and it would be fun for a while. I had no idea I would be helping to change Medicaid regulation in states. I had no idea I would be helping to put information out for people to use to get their employers to change the CCC requirement. I had no idea I was going to help change the trajectory of state licenses. I had no idea I was going to inspire state organizations to change what they're doing. I didn't know what I was doing, but I figured it out, and people came along beside me to help me figure it out, and it has been so awesome. It just brings me so much joy. But if I would have waited until I knew everything to get started, Fix SLP wouldn't exist. Yeah, so what's stopping you from making a move? What's stopping you today, what's stopping you at your job, what's stopping you from helping in your state, what's stopping you from joining an organization that might make a difference, what's stopping you from investing in a really high quality CEU that's going to make you better. What's stopping you? Do you have fear of leaving? Are you staying in a job, or are you staying with ASHA just because you think you have to? We don't have to. There are options out there.
Jeanette Benigas 10:42
I had a really smart professor once tell me, remember Jeanette, when you're negotiating for a job, they need you more than you need them. And boy, has that been true. And I know that not everybody has options. Some people live in really rural areas, and maybe you're stuck in a job because it is the only job, and we all just can't pick up and move right. That's that's not really an option. But I'd say the majority of SLPs have options for other jobs. You don't have to stay, you don't have to bend unethical requests. You don't have to listen to a colleague on who's going to be on your caseload, on what kind of therapy you have to give, on how many people you have to group together today. SLPs are autonomous. You get to decide and you get to leave. If you want to, you get to leave. We need to work smarter, not harder. And I have to wonder, what if we all worked smarter, not harder? What if we just started giving ourselves permission to do less, what actually moves the needle in your career, versus what's just busy work. What do you need to give yourself permission to do? What do you need to do starting tomorrow? Maybe you're listening on your way to work. What do you actually need to do today to move the needle in your career? Do you need mentorship? Do you need to get on the phone with somebody? Do you need to change the circumstances of your job? Do you need to start saving more money if you're a private practice owner, do you need to let somebody go? Do you need to hire someone? Is it time to hire that administrative assistant, to give up some of the work so you don't have to do as much? Sometimes outsourcing is better. So I want to give a little personal reflection there. I love this podcast. It has been such a fun, creative outlet for me. It has been a great way to get to know other people in the field, or get to know people related to the field. It's been a really cool source of connection. I think people are enjoying it. Our numbers show that people like it. We have incredible numbers for such a niche podcast, and that just makes me so happy that this podcast is well received. What I think people don't know is that at minimum it takes me four hours to get this thing ready, and sometimes it takes up to 10 so the prep, the recording, the editing, the scheduling of everything, the design of the tiles, if we're doing video previews, making those, it's a lot, and I do enjoy it. I do enjoy the creativity of it, but I think it's contributing to my burnout. So you're gonna start hearing some ads, and we have really rolled this around in our heads on how can we make all of this work? How can we make this work? And I think ultimately it is time for me to hire a production company, but I can't do that because I'm not going to use fixer money to produce this podcast, so I have to find another way to bring it in, and that one of those ways is through ads. I also need to pay the team, Preston and Elizabeth, aren't here today. I bet you, if I was paying them, they'd be here, right? People need to prioritize the things that are going on in their lives, and they had to prioritize a few things above this podcast today, because this is the fun stuff on the side right now. And I would really love to start paying people their worth. This might be a barrier to some people on our team right now, and so what I've seen them do is set some boundaries, and I get it. I get it. We have ebbs and flows and and right now there's a lot. Going on, and people can't give as much to this team, including me, I have to slow down. So if you're someone who wants to advertise, please get in touch with me. If you have any ideas of creative ways that I can pay this team, please get in touch with me. If you know some affordable professionals who might be interested in helping me to market or produce this podcast. I'd love to hear about them. I've been thinking about sharing this kind of stuff for a while, but I don't want people to think. I want people to feel bad for me or for us. It's just weird. It's weird to get vulnerable. It's weird to put myself out there to a bunch of people that I don't know, saying, hey, we need help. Personally, it's not hard for me to ask for help, to actually Fix SLP, but to ask for this kind of help is difficult, but it has been such a struggle for me to make happen by myself, because I don't have the consistent time to try to find ways to market and do all the things that need to be done that when I find something I love, I do it because I love it. And so that gets really hard, but I need to give myself permission to do less. I can't do it all, and I have a great team that helps. But it's time for me to figure out how to let the Home Health go. If I could let the Home Health go, I would have a significantly better quality of life if if I could find an affordable Podcast Producer, I would free up so much more time to give to my family, to myself, my health, and to Fix SLP. So this is a call. If you know of something that I need, please email me team@fixslp.com, or DM me. I think I mentioned boundaries, I kind of went off on a little tangent. There. There is power in boundaries. What if we said no to unpaid work? What if we said no? We talked a couple weeks ago about Val who sued her employer with a bunch of her colleagues because they were working off the clock. What would happen if you said no to unpaid work? Are you really going to get let go? What would happen if you said no to unrealistic caseloads, no to unrealistic productivity, no to toxic workplace expectations? What would happen? Probably not what you think. Sometimes we're good at really blowing up scenarios in our minds because of fear. Maybe I'm not sure. I'm not sure. So another little call to action, where are you overworking for nothing in return? I want you to think about that, and I've already thought about it. Am I overworking myself for fixed SLP, with nothing in return? And the answer to that is, no, I'm not. I get so much out of this. I'm getting goosebumps right now, because I love this movement. I love the fixers. I get so much in return, just personally, I'm personally encouraged. It's fun to see people win in their states. There is no greater joy than getting a phone call from a fixer in another state to tell me that something that we've been working on for a long time was successful, like in North Carolina, like in Michigan, there's no greater joy. It's amazing. The dopamine rush from that is maybe unmatched. That is awesome. I love it. But even though I am getting something out of it, at some point, I do have to find a way to make some money from this so I can give it everything that I want to give it, or hire an administrative assistant, hire that Podcast Producer and and pass along some of the work so I can focus again, on myself, on my family, on the things that Fix SLP really needs from me, and so I can pay the team so they can do some of the same. So what's what's one thing you can stop doing today to take back control? What's that one thing, think about it today. What can you do? I was thinking, this is Fix SLP, Fix speech language pathology. And there are great parts of this field, but this field is also broken. And the thing is, it's not broken because. Because of you, it's not broken because of me. It's broken because of decades of corruption, of fraud, of companies trying to squeeze every ounce of money they can out of their employees. It's broken because of people who have said yes to things they need to say no to because we're nice and we want to help. That's why it's broken. Decades of those collective things, plus more I haven't even named,
Jeanette Benigas 20:42
but it's not broken because of you or because of me, but we can start fixing it by refusing to play by the rules that don't serve us. I'm going to say that again, we can start fixing it by refusing to play by the rules that do not serve us anymore. It's time to change, you guys. It's time to fix this. So that's what I want you to do. Start thinking about what's not serving you. Give yourself permission to do less. Move the needle in your career, versus just busy work, and think about what needs fixed at your place of work, in your state, across the whole profession. And come join us. We're getting ready to roll out a nationwide employer education campaign. I need people to help make materials to give to employers. We have some templates. This isn't starting from scratch. We have a small team pulled together already. We got together in the fall and sort of got started, and then the holidays came, and then Asher renewal season came, and it went by the wayside. But we do have stuff in the Can we have some templates ready to go, and it's about time I get that fired up, because we're gonna have to get those loaded into our new website. I was thinking our new website would be out this month. It it's slow. It's slow, you guys, it has. The design process hasn't even started yet. We paid an awesome web designer who's doing the work, and there's just been a lot of back and forth, but it's going to be right. As soon as it's right, we'll release it. It's not right yet. One of the reasons why we're getting this new website is to hold all of this content. So if you'd like to join us for your state, we need a pediatric person. We need an adult medical person, and maybe a schools person. So up to three in every state, the willingness to learn how to use Canva, or if you already know that's even better, and the willingness to fill in some information into those templates. So let me know states@fixslp.com, put education in the subject, and then let me know what state you're in. I'll get you plugged in. I'd also love to know what's going to move the needle in your career, what's just the busy work that you don't have to do. What boundaries are you going to set? Are you going to say no to unpaid work? Where are you over working for nothing in return? Every time we drop a podcast that day, around 6pm Eastern, we have a tile that goes up that announces the episode. I want you to tell me under that tile, go look for it. Tell me these things. Let's hear from you. I bet you're not the only one who's thinking the things I bet I'm not the only one who has said the things that I've said today. Hopefully you're okay with me getting a little vulnerable. If you made it this far with just me. Thanks for sticking around and thanks for hanging out this year with me. A lot has changed. Last year, at this time, this week, where I recorded by myself, was one of the hardest podcasts I have ever done, and now I'm I'm starting to feel a little teary. I didn't know how I was going to continue, and people came beside me and volunteered, and 365 days ago, I would have never guessed that I would be sitting here doing another solo podcast today feeling the way that I'm feeling. So I also want to give you a little bit of hope that if you're feeling burnt out, if you're feeling afraid, if you're feeling like you don't know how to do the things I didn't know how to do the things a year ago. You guys, my co founder left, and she did everything I was the social media gal. I had to learn how to edit a podcast. I had to learn how to make transcripts for podcasts. Yes, I had to learn how to keep a website up, send a mass email, design mass emails. I had to learn how to get people to sign a petition. I had to learn how to talk to and hire lawyers. I had to learn how to edit photos. I had to learn how to talk to Congress people. I had to learn about Medicaid laws and Medicare laws. I needed to learn how to write blogs. I had so much to learn. And I'm a different person now I'm a different person. And thank you guys, thank you guys for being part of this community. Thank you for being a part of the movement. Thank you for caring enough about our field to want to make it better for the next generation. The seeds we're planting today will be harvested by people who aren't even freshmen in college yet, we're making a difference. We're doing it, you guys. How do we need to make a difference in our own lives now too? Thank you so much for hanging out. Thanks for sticking around this long. If you have before I go, I want to mention my friend Tim Stockdale, medically focused SLP, webinars and recorded courses. He has maybe about 15 to 20 hours of courses available. It is not a subscription service. You head to the website, you use our code fixslp for 10% off, that is an evergreen code. You can use it as much as you want. Every time you buy a course, you get 10% off. We also get a little bit back for using that code. So we really appreciate it. When you do that, you can go to swallowthegap.com/learn, or gap slp.com/learn. That will get you there. Fix SLP for 10% off. Go check him out. We will see you next week. Thanks for fixing it!
Transcribed by https://otter.ai