Hollye Dickey values seeing an individual experience a breakthrough or reach a goal. She has been hired as speech-language pathologist for Madison City Schools.

A native of Madison, Dickey graduated from Madison Academy. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history and secondary education at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn. and a master’s degree summa cum laude in communicative sciences and disorders at Alabama A&M University.

She couldn’t picture herself sitting at a desk all day. “I’ve always known that I wanted to interact with people and impact their lives in some way on a daily basis,” Dickey said. “I like to be around people, as unpredictable as it can be at times.”

Dickey’s patients have taught her lessons, based on their own experiences. “I’ve learned things about myself in the process. It’s hard to forget some negative experiences, but the times that a patient has smiled or thanked me for the simplest act makes me realize the value of my profession.”

As a speech pathologist, Dickey capitalizes on a person’s strengths when the situation may feel helpless. She has worked with patients with deficits in comprehension and expression. “You feel as if no communication or connection is taking place. Learning to work with what you have can ensure quality of life for the individual.”

Dickey’s feels her new job is “a scary and exciting new challenge. Something that attracted me to speech-language pathology was the opportunity to work with many different types of people in various settings.”

She is a member of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association and is certified by the Alabama Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. Dickey and her family are involved in prison ministry at Limestone Correctional Facility.

Her husband Chad works as an engineer at Teledyne Brown Engineering.