Amy Deas earned two master’s degrees and worked for 18 years as a speech pathologist. Then health challenges – physical and mental – caused her to leave the workforce. Now, after three years of being on disability, she is making the brave decision to return to the workforce. To prepare for the transition, she is completing the Medical Coding certification at Aiken Technical College.

After being the first in your family to graduate from college – go you! – it took a few tries for you to find your niche as a speech therapist. Tell us about that journey.

I was a middle grades teacher for about a year but decided that teaching in a classroom for that age group didn’t really work for me. I left that path and worked in retail and as a tutor for a while before deciding to go to grad school.

I considered nursing, media science (to be a librarian), and speech pathology (because I was interested in working with sign language and speaking). Nursing was out because I’m squeamish about gross things, and media science didn’t have the job opportunities that it does now. So I decided to go for speech pathology and earned my degree in 2000.

As a speech pathologist, I worked with people of all ages – from one year olds to 100 year olds – in schools, nursing homes, hospitals, and home health.

Early in my career, when I was working in one school system, I did therapy with a few deaf/hard of hearing (D/HH) students who received services from a teacher with the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind. My special education director offered me the chance to get certified in D/HH so I could work with those students in the same capacity, and I ended up getting a master’s degree for that in 2006.

Speaking of journeys… sometimes you had to travel from location to location to serve your students.

Yes. In my first year as a speech pathologist, I worked for a contract company and was based in Whitesburg, KY, which is right in the middle of coal mining country. I traveled among five different schools weekly. One school I went to was in a little community called Kingdom Come. It was basically the school and post office, with the houses spread out in the hollers. So I guess you could say I have literally been to Kingdom Come and back!

You enjoyed that work, especially in the school setting, but the overwhelming caseloads and inability to separate work and home life became too much, so you left the profession.

I was starting to suffer from chronic hip and back pain, which made it difficult to move around and get to my students. And my mental issues were affecting my ability to perform and keep up with so many caseloads, the huge amount of paperwork, and the constant deadlines.

I have dealt with depression and anxiety since I was a teenager. I didn’t get a lot of help when I was younger because there wasn’t much information available about how to treat younger people at the time, and my parents didn’t really know how to help me either.

As I’ve gotten older, my depression has gotten worse. There are times when it’s really bad, and it’s very hard to function. I have never tried to commit suicide or actively pursued it. But I have had passive suicidal thoughts, which is wishing to go to sleep and not wake up. It affects my concentration, my ability to interact with people, and even my ability to get out of the house.

That’s why I decided to see what Aiken Tech had to offer. I needed something that was mentally stimulating, could occupy my time, and would keep me from giving in to the darkness of depression. And I’d like to contribute to my family’s well-being by adding a little extra to our retirement savings, helping to pay bills, and getting things we need.

So you’ve opted to get your certification in Medical Coding. What drew you to that field?

Because of my previous medical experience and knowledge, Medical Coding seemed like an ideal fit. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the complexity of the program. I enjoy the challenge of extracting information from doctor reports and patient history and assigning codes to all of that information in order to process it for insurance purposes.

And what are you hoping to do with your new certification?

I’d like to work from home part-time as a medical coder. Honestly, the idea of going back to work is kind of stress-inducing. For one thing, I have to figure out how to describe my employment gap to potential employers. I’m also going to be starting at entry level, so I’ll have to figure out how to use my skills in whatever setting I’m in. If I can’t work from home, I’ll have to work outside of the home, and I’m not sure how that might go. I think the part-time schedule will be good for me though because I can work and occupy my time while still having down-time to recharge mentally.

And what are some of your favorite ways to recharge mentally?

I like to read romance and cozy mysteries. My favorite book is Pride and Prejudice. Lately, I’ve been reading Jane Austen fan fiction, which is basically different takes on the Elizabeth-and-Darcy story. I also like to listen to music. Being born in 1969, I feel like I grew up in a great age for music, and I’m especially into music from the 70s and 80s. I also have a few games installed on my tablet, and I enjoy color-by-number apps.

Thank you for sharing your story, Amy. We admire your courage and hope your story inspires others to see the value of education and meaningful work, even in the midst of physical and mental health challenges. Best wishes as you take the brave step to re-enter the workforce!