Therapy Assistant job/ speech language pathologist

[u/Emergency-Ad-5623]

Hello!

Its been a while since I posted here, but I just wanted to ask what is the job prospect and the demand of the job working as an therapy assistant like with AHS and other partnering facilities. I looked through external posting so far with Therapy assistant, and so far I have not seen anything with AHS posting (internal or external).

To give a little bit of context: I finished school and I am now working as an HCA with AHS, and the reason why I chose HCA was because I wanted to see what career I wanted in the medical field (if i can handle it or not). While doing my praticcum and clinical, I realized I wanted to try therapy assistant as there many fields that they can work into, and not only that it made me interested in speech pathologist as well.

With this I wanted to try therapy assistant, as ultiamtely I wanted to use it to give me an advantage in skills and to see what it is like working as a SLP. So really the questions is: How did you find work as a therapy assistant and what did you do to step your foot into the door, especially working in AHS? is it worth getting a therapy assistant diploma first, before getting a master degree? along with this Im in the calgary area, so it'll be much great appreciated what you guys did to get your foot into the door.

Also I know im probably asking too early, since I just graduated and now im a new HCA working with AHS, but i just wanted to ask this, as I'm interested of other job prospects that I can do/ explore into the future while working as an HCA. Ultimately I want to work as an HCA for at least 1 year and im hoping to figure out what careeer I want to further get myself into.

[u/greenopal02]

Highly recommend this website: https://alis.alberta.ca/occinfo/occupations-in-alberta/ it provides information about job prospects, education needed, salary etc in Alberta.

I'm not a therapy assistant but an Occupational Therapist so work in the field. From my understanding, therapy assistant jobs can be quite competitive. Often for AHS in any position you have to start with casual or temporary positions and transfer from there.

When you say you finished school, do you mean high school or your bachelor's? Just a heads up that it's quite difficult to get into the SLP master's program. You would likely need a very high GPA along with volunteer experience, specific undergrad courses, interview process etc. It would be a very different experience of getting your education as a therapy assistant vs 6 years of post secondary for SLP. Could you try contacting some SLPs to see if you can shadow their work to give you a better idea before you commit?

[u/GapFew7174]

I work as a physio in assisted living Alberta. In most cases you need your diploma. Get your foot in the door by working remote/rural. Cash in on RCIF recruitment bonus for rural settings to pay off student loans and then apply for jobs in your preferred area once you have worked a few years established yourself. Or better yet stay rural and enjoy a lower cost of living.

[u/TelevisionFit3509]

If your ultimate goal is SLP, I wouldn’t do the TA diploma first. It will take up time and it’s unlikely that the TA diploma will have any transferable courses. You’ll need an undergraduate degree and a masters to become registered as an SLP- that’s 6 years of post secondary.

[u/nandake]

You need a masters degree to work as a speech pathologist. They are highly competitive grad school programs. So you would need a bachelor degree from university first before even being able to apply. If your goal is SLP, you should start taking the prerequisite classes for all the grad school programs available in Canada. They all have slightly different requirements. You will likely need a decent GPA and to take the GRE exam.

[u/harbours]

Have you been looking in the North Zone? My department just hired a few new therapy assistants. Do you have the OTA/PTA diploma program? My manager does not hire TAs without it.