Becoming a Therapist?

[bisous]

Crazy. I can't believe I'm writing this! I am just in that information gathering phase in my life. I am thinking ahead about what I want to do in the future when my kids are all in school or even when they are completely gone. I'm toying around with different ideas and (if you must know) I just took a silly facebook quiz about your "true job" or something like this and it said "therapist". Funny thing is, my good friend who just recently went back into the workforce said the same thing just last week! Truth is, I like to talk to people, I like to help them. I like to analyze and support. It sounds like a rewarding career. I don't have a degree in that field at all but wouldn't you know, my very first college major was psychology and I do have some coursework under my belt!

So...how is life as a therapist? What are the prospects for this field? Is it family friendly? Expensive to earn the degree?

I'd love to hear from therapists out there!

TIA,

Jen

[niccig]

I know a couple people who are therapists. Two have Masters in Social Work and two have Masters in Family Therapy. One of my friends with the social work masters worked at university counseling center for years. To be sole practitioner, she needed to get so many hours of supervised counseling and pass an exam (sorry don't know the details). Since doing that, she's opened her own practice that's 2 blocks from her kid's school and sets her own hours. She still needs to use after school child care as told me has to be working so many hours/day to make money, but it's better than when she worked for someone else. My therapist (older, kids grown) sets her own hours and I'm her last appt. at 3.30pm. She starts seeing clients at 7am though to get people before go to work. Our marriage counsellor is semi-retired and converted her garage into work space and she sees us on Saturdays (she doesn't work every Saturday so our appts aren't every week). It was difficult to find someone who works weekends, but DH often can't make weeknight appt and she's seeing us as favor to my therapist, who knows the trouble we've had finding someone to work with.

So there's some flexibility, but it took them all some time to build up business enough that they can do that - my friend who recently became solo practitioner spends time meeting people who could be possible referrals to her. My therapist is booked solid, she's really good and I found her through my friend who knows her professionally and highly recommended her. So you need to have a strong network.

[niccig]

If it is something you decide to do, I would figure out what you need to do now. You'll need a master degree, so work out if you need certain undergrad classes to apply for the masters. I had to do that and kinda wished I had done a couple here and there as I could, so could have just done masters in one hit. It's taking me 4 years full time, 18 months was the undergrad classes and 2.5 years is the Masters component to be a SLP. I've got a year to go, and I'm just so tired of studying/juggling everything.

You may be able to do some undergrad classes online. I did intro to statistics and intro to biol through Berkeley Extension. Not cheap, $800 a class, but cheaper than other places. It was self-paced and had 6 months to complete. Not easy to do it on your own, but I did 1 each summer. I had to sit a proctored final, but there's lots of places that will do that for a fee (about $50). There's other online college extension options, but some have a set start/finish date and I found the self-paced easier to work out family schedule. I even did my statistics classwork when visited my family in Australia. There's distanced education programs too. My college has a distance Masters to be a SLP, I think fully online classes are more difficult, but it's great for people that can't go to class. Maybe that exists for therapy too.

[bisous]

Thanks, Nicci! I know you've just been through the process of setting yourself up with a new career so I appreciate all your insight. In a few years I want to be you!

[niccig]

Thanks, Nicci! I know you've just been through the process of setting yourself up with a new career so I appreciate all your insight. In a few years I want to be you!

Ha ha ha, maybe you don't when you know how little sleep I get some nights. I know it'll be worth it and the end is in sight for me. It's just been a long slog and it taking it's toll on me and the family. That's why I suggest getting some pre-requisites out of way as you can, then when kids are older you may be able to do the masters full time or close to full time.

I did some extension classes when DS was 2 years old that don't relate to being a SLP (anthropology, archaeology). I did them for interest and while I enjoyed them, I kinda wish I had done the physics, biology, statistics class I had to do the last couple summers

Oh, you'll probably have to do the GRE too before you can apply for grad. school. It sucks, I won't lie, but it's just another hurdle to jump through. I studied for it over 1 summer and took it at end of summer. Passed just enough to apply for my program, so good enough for me.

Take a long view and chip away at it .

[DietCokeLover]

I am a therapist and have been for 18 years. My masters is in Marriage and Family Therapy. I mostly work with children, families and adult women. I am in private practice, so I set my own schedule so that I am able to be with my children when I need to (I also homeschool). An undergraduate degree in Psych or Sociology is not required. In some ways it is helpful, but you will learn what you need to know in your master's program. Licensure laws vary by state, but once you complete your degree p, you will have to complete a certain number of counseling hours under supervision to get licensed. This can take a few years. Also, depending on your state, you will likely have to pass the national exam.

I enjoy my work. Most days I get a ton if satisfaction out of it. Rare days, I want to beat some clients over the head for being stubborn/ clueless/ whatever.

I will be happy to answer any questions I can.

[MamaKath]

Definitely start looking into the programs near you so you can digest what you would need to do. I have been batting around getting a masters and social work is a definite possibility. Some of the things holding me back are cost, schedule (mostly night classes, very little can be done online), the eventual # of internship hours, and the very real possibility that the job would not pay for the degree for many, many years. Visit schools if you can, talk to people with the degree you would be getting to find out the pros/cons from their point of view, etc. I did visit a number of colleges to see their programs and was frustrated by some of the above (especially cost and schedule as a mom with kids).