Being early in your career, your professional experiences affect your life greatly. You spend a good deal of your time and effort getting an education and training. Your aspirations are great, envisioning all the people you’re going to help and how good it’ll feel doing so. Eventually you get professional experience under your belt and start to feel a bit better about your abilities. Even though you realize there may be a lot more to learn.
This is true for us therapists as it is for people in other fields. What’s unique for us is being able to navigate decisions to survive the entire licensure process and those years beyond. To “make it!” Although those decisions are retractable to some extent, they also lead us in unique directions that dramatically impact our personal and professional lives. It’s understandable starting out in the field that you think you just gotta get a job to earn income and hours. Although what’s potentially precarious about that is you aren’t necessarily aware of the pitfalls that are out there, and the plain difficulty of finding good work in this field.
And, what about the four-letter word, love, that not too many people talk about in relationship with their work? At the end of the day, don’t you want to love what you do while being paid well; not simply find any paid work in the field? I know for me, that’s why I went down this educational and career path. Becoming a therapist felt like a calling, as if I were meant to do this to make a difference in the world. I felt hopeful that it would be a way to serve people in unique ways. And many others I’ve worked with have shared something similar.
What led you down this path?
It’s important to reflect on because if you get into a job that’ll give you hours and a wage, but saps you of your energy, drive and motivation, how great of a job is that really and what toll will it take on you? If you get into a job that leads you to dislike what you do because work conditions are awful, or it exposes you to abusive employers, how’s that going to impact how you feel about yourself?
You see, in order to survive this pre- and post-licensure process, it’s imperative to choose wisely. To make strategic decisions that’ll get you what you want both in a tangible way of producing income and hours, and paving the way to a fulfilling and rewarding career. Don’t take whatever happens to be available out there. Some pre- and provisionally-licensed clinicians must work in less than optimal work situations until they’re licensed (and I have helpful articles and services for that) but if you have a choice in your state of residence then choose something better for yourself, now rather than later. Because if you run the risk of getting burned out and falling out of the field, then that something better will be worth all your effort.
You might wonder, what falls under “better” that’s out there for you as a pre- or provisionally-licensed therapist or counselor?
- Private practice. That means being under supervision in a private or group practice. Or in some states, such as Florida, it means having an office where there’s a qualified supervisor on site. In Texas, it means finding a supervisor who will allow you to work out of their office space and meet with you weekly. In California, it means finding a supervisor who has a business and is incorporated so they can employ you and pay you as such. They have to provide you office space but it doesn’t have to be their actual office. Each state has their rules to abide by and are easily accessible either through your licensing board’s web site or through your professional association. Listen in as I reveal what’s so meaningful and rewarding about private practice while you’re pre- or provisionally-licensed.
One of my missions is to help more pre- and provisionally-licensed therapists succeed! The world needs you more than ever so if this is a career you’re called to and you want to avoid the jobs that, let’s face it, suck out there, click here to sign up on the waitlist for the course that’ll go LIVE in two weeks, How to Get into a Private or Group Practice While You’re Pre-Licensed:A Step by Step Guide to Grow Your Caseload and Maximize Your Income.
I look forward to you joining me in the course. You’ll get one-on-one and group coaching with me as you go through each step of the process. Sending you warm and loving thoughts on your journey out there.
Tyra Butler is a therapist and the founder of the Facebook group Early Career Clinician Community where she gives some of her best tips to succeed on the road to licensure. She works with pre-, provisionally-licensed and early career therapists to help them find paid work, start and grow their practices and make important decisions and career moves. She offers coaching and consultation, and as a professional writer provides copywriting coaching to create web site, marketing content and formulate innovative ideas to create additional income. Tyra has been in private practice for 9 years, with 15 years in mental health, business and professional copywriting. Learn more about her services and blog here. Contact her here.
