We’d like to turn the spotlight on Ian Quillen, M.S., CCC-SLP. Ian joined Sidekick Therapy Partners in 2019 and transitioned to the Ambiki team in 2021. We love his impeccable attention to detail and the energy he brings to his projects. He’s an expert at weaving together concepts from multiple perspectives.
Where are you from and where do you live now?
I am from Boston, MA, and now live in Nashville, TN.
Tell us a little about what you did before joining the Ambiki team!
I worked as a Speech-language pathologist for Sidekick Therapy Partners. I worked in schools, the clinic, and as a teletherapist.
What led you to become a therapist?
I did research in college working with patients who had aphasia (acquired difficulties with understanding & using language) after life events like stroke or brain injury. From working with them, I saw how these were people who have lives and stories they wanted to tell, and activities they wanted to do to participate in life, even after having aphasia. I realized I could draw on my own experiences with speech therapy in late middle and high school to walk with them in that process as a therapist. In graduate school and beyond, working with clients and especially people who stutter has reminded me that people with communication disorders and differences often have to cope with the emotions resulting from them. Working with them to develop those skills so they can still actively engage in life with what they want to do has been a profoundly fulfilling and humbling experience.
Where did you go to school and what did you study?
I did my undergraduate at Boston University and majored in Neuroscience while minoring in speech, language, & hearing sciences. I did graduate school at Vanderbilt University for my Master’s in Speech-Language Pathology.
What do you like to do in your free time?
Hiking, cooking & baking, crafts (e.g., origami, knitting), video games, volunteering with teenagers, AV support volunteering, reading, and watching movies
How long have you been a part of Ambiki? What do you do?
Since June 2021. I provide technical support to clinicians & provide consultation in the planning, organizing, & implementing technical projects with the development team for our partners.
How do you hope to improve the field with Ambiki?
My hope is that Ambiki reduces the overall burnout therapists experience due to all the background preparation and work they have to do on an everyday basis to provide therapy for their clients. When I did teletherapy, I remember being overwhelmed some days by all the planning & documentation I did before and after sessions with students to ensure therapy went smoothly. I want therapists to be able to dedicate more of their time & energy to what they want to do, like providing therapy and improving clients’ lives, while being able to do the other necessary parts of the job, like planning and documentation, more easily & efficiently.
What do you love most about Ambiki?
I love the collaboration between clinicians and developers that’s cultivated here at Ambiki. One of the biggest frustrations I had as a therapist was working with technical solutions that I sensed weren’t designed with therapists or clients in mind. Being able to work with developers as a clinician enables me to see their perspectives on solutions and collaboratively exchange feedback with developers to work toward making solutions that meet the needs of clinicians and the clients they serve.
What is something you learned about technology as it relates to therapy that you did not know before?
Working with the team in Ambiki has made me grow in appreciation for how much thought, strategy, and planning has to go into developing, maintaining, and improving technical solutions that allow us to provide therapy. Collaborating with developers regularly has made me greatly appreciate all the work they do on a regular basis to ensure that all the steps of therapy can be done, from scheduling to running sessions to documentation and more.
Read Ian’s profile to learn more about him and check out the resource library to see this speech sound assessment he made.
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