5 Goals to Achieve During a Clinical Fellowship Year for SLP

You’ve worked hard in school and reached the point where it is time to put your new knowledge into practice. Moving from the university classroom into a clinical fellowship is an exciting transition – giving you hands-on experience that will prepare you to start your new career.

Not only is choosing the right CFY program critical to your success, but also consider how your intention and efforts will affect your results in the future. As you step into this new chapter, hold onto clear goals so you can gain the best knowledge and skills during your fellowship year.

5 Goals for Your Clinical Fellowship Year (CFY)

This 36-week program prepares students to move into real-life career opportunities, with ongoing application and training that will support their future. This fellowship is required to achieve your Certificate of Clinical Competence for Speech-Language Pathologists (CCC-SLP) through ASHA, the American Speech and Hearing Association.

While it’s essential to complete the requirements to gain certification, there are other goals you will achieve through this program:

1. Integrate Academic Learning: After spending years in the classroom, it’s time to implement your education and skills. Moving into a practice environment helps you see real-world examples of how your new knowledge is essential for your ongoing career.
2. Hone in Areas of Opportunity: This hands-on experience provides clarity to help you identify your strong points as well as areas of improvement. The opportunity to work under supervision is a great way to receive feedback and advice to improve your skills and approach as an SLP.
3. Improve Clinical Skills: Understanding the textbook principles is just the first step in your education. Your CFY is the time to learn the clinical skills and techniques to use for patient care. Integrating the concepts and stratigies you learned in graduate school into managing a full-time SLP caseload will be a key goal of your CFY.
4. Transition to Independence: During your CFY, you will spend a lot of time working under the supervision of a certified SLP. This supervision creates the opportunity for transition to start working as an independent Speech-Language Pathology practitioner. By the end of your CFY you should have the tools and confidence to practice independently.
5. Complete Certification Requirements: The CCC-SLP requires you to meet specific requirements before earning certification, such as 1,260 hours of supervision, 80% of your time focused on patient care, supervision from an approved mentor, and an evaluation to measure core skills.

Why CBS Therapy for Your Clinical Fellowship?

Our team at CBS Therapy is committed to providing an optimal experience for Clinical Fellows. As you learn more about our program, you will see that our SLPs are working hard to provide the most comprehensive CFY program available in the industry.

We are proud to offer more than 13 years of experience supervising Clinical Fellows. Through every stage of your 36-week program, we provide ongoing support to help you build confidence through your training. In-depth training paired with personalized mentoring helps you apply your academic education to a clinical training environment. If you are interested in more information about this program, then we invite you to reach out to our team with your questions.