I have an idea

[Keddy]

This idea just hit me this morning-
My college degree that I'm working toward right now is in business management, which is not my first choice anyway. But I had the idea that I might want to switch to psychology. I think I might want to be a therapist or a social worker. I like talking to people and helping people, and I'm really caring. I also know what it's like to have gone through a lot of stuff and I think people could benefit from talking with someone who "gets it" and knows what it's like.
Just an idea. I hate business school, I don't want to be stuck with that for the rest of college and grad school as well. Ugh.
I was thinking of switching majors anyway.
What do you guys think?

[L]

It is a cool idea - I work in psychiatry and having past experiences myself have helped me in my career. Do remember the person you will be helping will not know of your past nor should they. I find psychology to be a very interesting area with many branches - developmental psychology is my favourite. I would just say look into it more, talk to people and good luck

[QuietCalamity]

I think you'd be good at something like that . I'm graduating in 2 weeks with a BS in psychology, although now that I'm job hunting I kind of wish I has majored in social work. I'm interning with social workers right now and I'm learning SO MUCH about all the different aspects of the mental health field. If I had done this earlier I would have had a better idea of what parts I like doing.

[Chantellabella]

I'm a Licensed Professional Counselor and I found when I was counseling that it was a very rewarding field. I worked in the Juvenile Delinquency field and in private practice doing Psychological, Educational, Developmental, and Intellectual testing and really enjoyed my work. There wasn't much reward though in my field of study because basically my clients were incarcerated or in trouble. But in the many years of doing work, I helped many teens and young adults. I will actually get an email or phone call occasionally from one of my past clients, telling me that the seeds I planted in them turned their life around.

The biggest thing about counseling is to get your stuff worked out. My graduate program required that we go through counseling the entire time while in graduate school. The purpose was for the students to find out what would trip them up while counseling. Like I know I can't work with abuse perpetrators because of my past background. I actually got matched with a kid one time like that and after about a week, I had to find him another therapist.

So if you're not in therapy now, you'll probably have to go through some to get your degree.

I still have my license, but I no longer practice. When I moved to Texas, I was ready to find another career. It was just getting too hard to deal with other people's stuff while I had my own stuff building up. I use my counseling skills in my present job, but I'm pretty much done with ever wanting to go back into private practice.

Sorry.............you didn't ask for all this, did ya?

[QuietCalamity]

Sorry.............you didn't ask for all this, did ya?

Wait! I want to know more!! I want to get my LPC and work with kids, too. Did you go straight to grad school after your undergrad? How did you get into a private practice? Did you need to get a doctorate to work with kids? Or was it just intake assessments? What were some of your first jobs?

[Keddy]

Sorry.............you didn't ask for all this, did ya?

It was very helpful to read all that, Cindy
I liked hearing about your experience and your perspective on things. No need to apologize!

[Chantellabella]

Wait! I want to know more!! I want to get my LPC and work with kids, too. Did you go straight to grad school after your undergrad? How did you get into a private practice? Did you need to get a doctorate to work with kids? Or was it just intake assessments? What were some of your first jobs?

Sorry Keddy for the derail, but I wanted to answer. Hope it's ok.

I got my undergraduate degree in English back in 1981 and then went to grad school in 1988. My first Masters degree is in Counselor Education which I finished in 1991. Then I had to do an internship for a year while in school and 3,000 hours of field experience with a national test to get my license. That's why I keep my license current. I worked too hard to let it go away.

I didn't need a PhD to work with kids, although I did get additional certification in play therapy and art therapy. Back in the 90's LPC's were allowed to do testing. After working for years with a Parish Juvenile Court system, I realized that my kid's grades were going down the toilet. Two out of three of my kids are special needs. I was doing intake social histories on top of individual and group counseling at my job and met Psychologists who contracted testing for us.

When they found out I was considering quitting Juvenile Services to spend time with my kids more, they offered me a partnership in their practice. So I went with them where I could work only 25 hours a week and make 4 times more money. We did contract work for SSI, Vocational Rehab, courts, schools, Medicaid, and hospitals and did testing only. No more individual or group therapy which was fine with me. I had had my fill in my internship working with teens in a psych hospital, and working with incarcerated and probation kids and families.

A few years later, Psychologists got all pissy that LPC's were taking some of their testing business away. They put a stop to LPC's getting hired for testing. But they agreed to grandfather in those of us who had already been in the testing business. So I'm still qualified to do testing like the MMPI and Rorschach inkblots. I actually use my developmental testing skills to teach Early Literacy in my present job.

I do plan on getting a doctorate down the road. I started the program 3X but it was really difficult to juggle a full time job on top of it. I went and got a 2nd Masters for my present field of being a Youth/Teen Librarian since then.

My plan is to start the PhD a couple years before I retire, so that when I get into the research part of it, I can give it my full attention and time. I really just want the degree so I can do free research. My granddaughter is very special needs and so I want to research brain development to learn and hopefully improve the field that could help her speak.

Wow, don't get me started on the subject of me, huh?

Sorry, Keddy, for the derail.

[Keddy]

Wow, don't get me started on the subject of me, huh?

Sorry, Keddy, for the derail.

No need to apologize, Cindy. That information will be helpful for Cal so it was great that you answered her question. I'm not bothered by the derail at all.

Don't get me started on the subject of me either

[QuietCalamity]

Sorry Keddy. That was really inconsiderate of me. I got excited and wasn't thinking lol.

Thank you for replying, chantellabella. That's really interesting! Play therapy is SO what I want to do!! I was accepted into the CECP MA program at my university and I'm supposed to start in the spring, but I'm really at a crossroads and I'm not sure where I'm going. Would you mind if I PMed you for some advice?

[enfield]

yeah you should change to that. good idea. by the way did you ever have any therapists that you liked a lot. so when you imagine yourself being that you think of them and want to be like them. i had therapists i liked a lot but i could never see myself being as good as them in what they did. that's why i wouldn't really even think of going into that for myself. but you should be pretty good at it. if you have an idea of what you aspire to be like, like a therapist you looked up to, that should really help. being a decent therapist or social worker is hard and that's why you'd need some inspiration i think. otherwise you could turn out to be an average to unhelpful one that has good intentions but doesn't really do that much good for the people you're trying to help. yeah you need to listen good and make people feel understood to be a good therapist. the second part is trickier and then you also just want to be someone that can earn their respect. i think you would be a good at all of this so it could really work out for you. it just takes so much commitment. if you want to do something easier that doesn't take as much commitment to to do a decent job than maybe something else would be better.

i think i want to be a house painter but that's much easier than being a therapist. i don't have to be quick on my feet and be alert every second. i just have to be focused and diligent and then the houses will almost paint themselves. the interiors. i don't want to go up on ladders to paint the outsides.