Communication is vital to our everyday lives. A person who has a communication disorder—whether it’s a physical impairment or an inability to properly express themselves in a social context—often experience exasperation and isolation.
Kathryn Burke and Cornelia McGiver help people overcome those difficulties. They are the co-founders of Communicate2Connect, a speech pathology practice in the Water Street Market in New Paltz. Certified speech pathologists, Burke and McGiver believe that although helping their clients achieve speech and language goals does entail hard work, a healthy dose of joyfulness doesn’t hurt.
“So much of life is focused on productivity, and how hard you can work,” Burke explains. “We became speech pathologists in order to promote meaningful communication. We wanted to restore a sense of joy to all of that.”
You’ll find children playing and interacting with their clinicians, enjoying the process without realizing they’re developing integral skills. “We let our clients guide us, and the end result is significant improvement in their speech and language goals,” Burke says.
That extends to the practice itself: The owners take care of the day-to-day administrative tasks, so the clinicians can do their jobs well. “We’ve been practicing clinicians for 20-plus years, and both of us have been in situations where we’ve been overworked and underappreciated,” McGiver says. “So we’ve created a place where our speech pathologists are just as important as the clients.”
Burke agrees: “The more we focus on the clinicians, the more they are liberated to focus on their clients. Providing support for our clinicians leads to improved care for the client.” This buoys their ultimate goal of offering excellent service to C2C clients.
Communicate2Connect evaluates and treats children and adults (“We work with clients from age zero to 100!” McGiver says) with a multitude of speech and language issues. Clients are treated at the Water Street Market office (top floor, but you can drive right to the door), in their own homes, at various school districts throughout Ulster County, or via telehealth. The practice is now accepting some insurance plans, which will greatly expand their client base. “We’re hoping to serve more people,” Burke says.
Communicate2Connect is open Monday through Saturday, by appointment only. Find them online or call (914) 388-2516.
