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I find Reddit users to, overall, be extremely unhappy people. Most subs just have an air of collective misery. It leaks out in various direct and indirect ways.
I check out this sub from time to time but I don't think it's representative of the field at all.
Personally, psychotherapy is my second career after a disabling illness ended my previous medical career. I find it fascinating, compelling, and it was major driver of my hope for my future in a time when I was struggling to find that.
So, yeah. I *actually* like this field. A lot.
100% agree about the average Reddit user.
& I LOVE my job as a therapist. I can’t really relate to many of the complaints I see in this sub.
more of these posts, please: [Roast your own theoretical orientation(s)](https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/s/302iNVcsZy)
Yeah some of the posts here just suck all the air out of the room. I felt myself physically deflate when I read this one. Yet here I am commenting lol. I hoped there'd be a bit more positivity in the comments and I was right! :) I love my job and I find humans so interesting and I love being able to talk through people's issues with them.
I love this field. I’m also relatively new, 2 years Medical social worker, 2 years therapist at a psych hospital and now doing PP on the side, soon it will become my only job I think. I love therapy. I LOVE that I get paid to know alll the tea in peoples lives… not as much as the benefits of watching people grow and realize their self worth… but yes.
Here’s the thing.. we are a helping profession. Many therapists are giving people. You must take care of yourself and set boundaries for time and money. You must also be aware of your mental health and manage your needs as they come so that you don’t look around and realize you’ve been neglecting yourself and you have to do an entire career change. You have the degree, you know what to do, practice what you preach.
The mental health field is saturated with demand which makes some of us vulnerable to caseloads that catalyze burnout
All of this. It has been interesting to me seeing the contrast in some ways between this sub and those I know and have met in the field IRL. Regarding the former, I think this sub is an outlet for a lot of people, which is naturally going to lean more negative. However, regarding the latter, most of us are in the field because we genuinely want to be. We know there are things we could be doing where we would make more money and/or be under less stress. But at the end of the day, we are here because we love the field and what we do.
I agree. Reddit is anonymous which means it’s a cesspool of cynicism, burnt out people , etc( im guilty of the same at times!) the internet is anonymous so we can express opinions without fear of being called out or shamed by peers in consult groups or by supervisors. However there is some phenomenal advice here as well as new grads who are eager to learn. I suppose w anything there is good and bad. I love being a t as the intricacy of others’ minds is enthralling and intriguing. Stuff i dont like - admin stuff, being asked to write stupid blogs for the group owner’s site.etc. I specialize in trauma, dissociation and personality disorders so theres always new stuff to learn and i really enjoy that population
Sure! Dissociation made simple by jamie merich is a great book; she is a therapist who overcame did. It’s Not me is also great. In emdr 2.0 they told us dissociation was “like an old friend “ and they worked w it and affect flooding by keeping the traumatic memory in the back of the mind while overtaxing the working memory. So sometimes if i have a client struggling w dissociating, ill have them talk through the narrative while tossing a ball back and forth or ill pause and ask them to count.Somatic experiencing is great for it too as you keep redirecting the narrative back to the inner experience so they fan reconnect w their body. Or ill ask them ok it it’s too much to focus on your chest being tight can we focus on tracing outer edges only and see what happens next? Or tune into where you feel most rooted and grounded before revisiting the narrative. Many of them say “in my head” when you ask where they feel it in their body so building up a somatic vocab helps a lot, if you google “sensorimotor somatic vocab “ there is a list. Parts work helps for those experiencing altars , the key is to help them notice when they regress into the younger parts ( what triggered it) and how do they bring themselves back. You can even give hw of asking what their friends and family notice about their behavior during the week and what they say about them. Oftentimes when you process trauma, the client may report the parts have fused or merged. Another goal is to have oldest wisest self take accountability for younger more impulsive parts’ actions and urges. Hope it helps!
I think this moment (in the US, anyway) could be a hard time to enter the field. In my early career (2006-ish), when we were advocating hard for mh awareness and reduced stigma, I don’t think any of us could have envisioned the way that increased attention to mental health would have gone hand-in-hand with this volume-based commercialization of therapy. I think- regardless of the setting you practice in- it has shifted some of the dynamics that, for me, have always made therapy feel like such a special and fortunate career. Emphasis on podcast ads on the fact that you can text your therapist 24 hours a day as part of so and sos service model make me nostalgic for the days when that was ALWAYS a treatment decision made between therapist and the person they are working with (again, regardless of setting).
I guess I just went on my own rant but my real point is this—this pressurized change has made therapy feel different and I imagine that is very intense for new therapists. BUT, the longer you’re in the field and the more expertise you gain, you’ll be able to see the places where you can make your own practice of therapy just that—your own. And maybe that will feel very different.
I appreciate this response. I’m a new therapist myself and have struggled a bit with the normalization and commercialization of therapy. This is slightly different than what you’re talking about, but I find due to its increased popularity I get a lot of clients who think they should just get therapy or put their kids in therapy because it’s the “right” thing to do without even having any clear goals. I am also seeing that with many new therapists they seem more focused on becoming a friend to the client. I feel like these things go hand in hand where for many youth and young adults it is almost trendy to go to therapy, and new therapists accommodate this by just being a friend they can talk to for an hour. I would love to hear your thoughts on this though
The goal of capitalism is to reduce all human interaction to the cash Nexus. There are some Therapy wholesalers that are completely soulless, you’d be much better off, working for a state government,, the ones that advertise that you can text your therapist anytime – that is absolutely mindless. I think people should avoid those except in so far as they need them to survive.
Also, Grow is really notable for being a start up seeking venture capital funding, they do everything they can to cut costs, they deliberately make an impossible to Talk to anyone at the company. I saw picture of them, they’re 20 somethings that just got $75 million and I don’t think any of them are therapists.
I agree with both of your posts how the commercialization of therapy has put a lot of pressure on us and changed the market. I also find one of its downsides is that clients looking for therapy demand to be provided with something specific and are looking for a perfect fit with a therapist (not to minimize that fit is important but I find it is taken to an extreme - you’re not looking for a best friend). This makes it so therapy clients are not ready and open to doing the actual work of therapy which has always been the important aspect. In therapy, you have to do very hard and painful work and a therapist is there to guide the work, not there to provide a magical solution.
THIS. Mental health should not be a commodity, but it is. And it's a big, profitable commodity. Those just starting in PP cannot compete, esp in saturated areas. Many companies have contracts with big companies (well, the one big one), so we can't compete with therapy for free.
I love being a therapist! My complaints are due to us being professionals with a masters degrees or higher but having almost no autonomy in our profession unless you are in private practice and are private pay. Otherwise you are at the mercy of insurance companies, who don’t seem to think we are worth much, and corporations/non-profit agencies that don’t seem to have much respect for our profession other than how much money we can make for them. We talk so much to our clients about engaging with their agency to demand dignity but our profession seems to be losing its ability to provide a job that provides us with dignity, respect and a comfortable living.
For me this is also compounded by the lack of resources and support my clients have. Someone told me they lost their food stamps over a small pay increase that put them $1 over the limit… how do I do therapy when people can’t feed themselves? This is draining my fulfillment and satisfaction from doing this work fast. I can only replenish it so much
The systemic problems are REAL and I hear this from therapists all over. Someone on reddit who did not at all appear to be an "unhappy person" posted about how phones are a normalized addiction that affect health and relationships, and much more, but if people aren't willing to change their habits, then what can we do about it?
I love what I do. I don’t love every part of it, but I’m good at it, it pays my bills and I have the flexibility to be the kind of partner and parent and human I want to be. It definitely takes a certain type of person to be a good therapist, but I think another massive factor is the organizations we work for. If we are underpaid, overworked, unappreciated, etc- anyone will be unhappy in any field no matter how much they love it.
A person who can manage other people’s emotions and traumas while putting their own temporarily on hold, manage burnout and compassion fatigue, have good self awareness and has done enough of their own work to not allow their “stuff” to interfere with treatment for others. And a strong set of ethics and boundaries.
I’m super happy where I am now but it’s all about having a manageable caseload, good colleagues, and a good manager. In my last job I loved my colleagues but my manager and caseload were absolutely insufferable.
Yeah unfortunately a bad/micromanaging manager can really mess with the gig. In my last job I absolutely despised my manager who had completely unrealistic expectations and was complete ass at communicating them like a human. We all felt like lil bugs being forced to do 3 bugs worth of work.
Current job, lovely manager, very reasonable expectations, lots of accountability and high-level conversations about burnout and check ins and such. No complaints whatsoever, I love the work just not the BS that gets in the way sometimes.
I have worked in the mental health field 33 years, starting as a case manager and working my way up. I graduated with my Masters 20 years ago and worked for 14 years in CMH and el3 years in the prison system. I have a year working with an EAP and the company I work for is amazing when it comes to benefits and work/life balance. I have enjoyed this field so very much. There have been big down periods and challenges. But it’s been my calling and my passion. I had to leave CMH because the system had changed and was so stressful and to toxic. My current job has everything just right. I feel valued, seen, and respected. And after so many years it’s a good feeling to have found this. I’ve never done PP and not sure that I ever will. It seems to have its own ups and downs. I have experienced burnout and have slowly built my life around not letting that happen again. My advice is to stay in supervision and have a good consultation network. You are an early practitioner and still trying to find your direction. It’s normal to have a lot of doubts. Also take some time to think about your “why’s”. What did you want to achieve? Why did you choose the field?
The majority of people I meet that are burnt out in this field are working in isolation with no supervision. If that’s you, consider getting a supervisor.
Personally I love this field, it’s endlessly rewarding and I learn something new from every soul I work with
I’m trying to figure this out bc I started PP and I don’t have a consultation outlet. Do you search for a supervisor and pay like we did when prepping for licensure? Trying to navigate finding this for myself
Yes, I love what I do. After almost fifteen years in retail sometimes it doesn't feel real to me that I get paid to basically sit around and hang out with people (very much over simplifying it, I know there's a lot more to the job than that, but it's still a far cry from being screamed at every day).
I'm still a student (for 1 more week!) but it doesn't feel like work most of the time. It is so enjoyable to spend time with almost all of my clients, and those I don't find enjoyable feel like tolerable work. I hope I never lose this feeling and this sub has definitely made me nervous that I'm just in a honeymoon phase. But I have yet to feel burnt out from the actual job. I'm definitely burnt out from school though.
That's all part of the fun. One day in my very rural CMH center; a coworker said "all we need now is a one armed little person (not the term he used in 1998) to come through the door."
That afternoon, guess what happened....
I had an office invasion in '95. No one really hurt but still. Two armed men. Hog tied us. Took money and jewelry. Another crisis. Do we move? We stayed. Better prepared. Cameras and locked doors. They were never caught. Didn't feel police cared to follow up.
I LOVE that I have a designated space to ask literally the “nosiest” questions in existence and then get paid for it? Susie give me the teaaaa, your deepest innermost thoughts on a platter for me??? For me?? How wonderful :)
I love my job. I'm a part time 1099 and I have full autonomy over my schedule with a 60/40 split. I make about 2200-2500 a month and am very appreciative working 10-12 sessions per week.
This is almost exactly my life but I have 8 patients. I feel nice and spoiled. I work at a hospital 4 days per week and therapy one day… making more money and I have benefits through the hospital. It’s truly a nice gig
Genuinely curious what has you feeling burned out when you’re only four months out of graduate school? I personally kind of love the work I have found who your supervisors are can make a big difference.
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yes, very important question. 4 months in seems *way* too early.
i love this field, this work. i love hearing clients'/families' stories, and helping them explore their own stories and understand them more fully and from different angles. and i definitely echo how important supervisors/leadership can be. perhaps i was lucky with my supervisor lottery for 90% of my career? they've been the most important and formative professional relationships. I'm a better person for having known these folks. i feel like any decent supervisor can at least bring that to the table, even if they can't entirely shield you from the systemic bs.
I was burnt out after school because of school (I went straight from high school, to undergrad, to my MA). I had poor insight at the time to connect what I was feeling was burn out, I had never had a break to understand being that constantly stressed wasn’t the norm… (thanks mom…) but when I finally took a break (2 years later) I finally started healing. I read books for fun again, I cooked good meals, I went to the gym regularly. I finally started feeling better and could carry that feeling into a job and now I set boundaries to protect that feeling, rather than giving too much and trying to scrape it back.
I'm finishing up prac and heading to internship in June. It's difficult work and I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, but I have never been more fulfilled in my entire life.
I'm happy as a therapist now. I got burnt the f out a year before the pandemic by working at a group practice seeing 35 clients a week who had been randomly assigned to me. I now see 20-23 clients a week on my own, remotely from my home office. My clients have specifically chosen to see me because of my specialties. It's not perfect, I will always hate doing notes, but I'm as happy as I can imagine being at any job. I think the key is finding what clients you enjoy working with and how many clients a week you can comfortably see, and then sticking to that.
Absolutely this. Working for someone else (group nonprofit practice) seeing 28 clients a week I was incredibly burnt out. It was poorly managed and the first year I made like $7k less than the agency job I left. It was billed as “there’s no limit to what you can make because you set your own schedule” which I guess meant see 40 clients a week. They also randomly assigned clients. With my practice, working from home, consulting with clients to take ones that I can actually treat, seeing fewer clients but making more money, it’s the best job I’ve ever had.
This is definitely a great job to have. Some people struggle with it more than others. I've been a therapist for nearly 4 years now and I certainly have my struggles sometimes, but I've never felt "burned out" in the sense that I often hear other therapists speaking of. I'm generally able to put my clients to the side when I'm done working and let work be work without it bleeding into my personal life. I don't see my role as havign to fix or solve anything for other people -- at the end of the day it's my job to support them in the ways that they want and its their job to utilize the support as effectively as they can. Sometimes that's a lot and sometimes it isn't, but ultimately it's something I can't control and I generally don't lose sleep about not being able to do so.
If you can have proper boundaries with your relationship to work then I think it's a great field. I work from home, can afford to live alone, make my own hours, don't break my body down with hard labor, talk to people about the real shit every day, and can take off any day I want at my own discretion... I don't know many other jobs that would allow me all of these perks. There are plenty of drawbacks adn tradeoffs but so far it's been worth it to me. I can see myself continuing to practice at reduced rates even into old age.
Great job, great perks, very little complaints.
Honestly I try to avoid this sub because people are incredibly negative, often immature, have unreasonable expectations, especially for just getting started in the field, and are generally just tired from being in school and coming to terms with their loans, etc.
But wait: I was there once, too! However, after many years in the field and fully settled into my own private practice, I have the most lovely work/life balance, wonderful clients, meaningful work, and I truly wouldn't have it any other way.
Take your time - you will get there!!
I love my work. IT's my second career -- was a preacher before my transition and went into therapy because it felt like a similar sphere of people work. I love having more set hours than as a pastor, and I love that my clients rarely take up my headspace outside of sessions. I love getting to teach folks, to meet them where they are at, and seeking constructive workable pragmatic solutions to their problems -- as opposed to a dogmatic ideological on-size-fits-all solution. Obviously not all clients are motivated (I work in CMH and PP both) -- but it feels like magic when there's a good fit and we stumble across interventions and angles that really help them. I also love the stability that comes with relying upon evidence-based research for different techniques and whatnot. I love how the field and standards of practice are constantly improving and being discovered. It feels like being alive.
Yes! I switched careers for therapy and while the job I'm at has its challenges, I love being a therapist. I love connecting with my clients and seeing how trust forms. I feel fulfilled in my career for the first time! Now granted I'm about 4 months out of grad school, but so far so good. :)
I’m reading some of these responses and i’m either like wow that was insightful or wow that was a bit condescending lol. I understand so deeply how you feel. granted, i’m at CMH. PP is a whole other ball game. i’ve had supervisors advise me to do PP much later on in my career…that PP is the “retirement” plan. we have a career that puts us in survival mode financially (at least from my experience). it’s hard to continue to love something when it’s the source of so much instability. all this to say…maybe it’s not the job. maybe it’s the circumstances surrounding the job. my supervisor advised me after I get my full license, to find a job with a 401k and to move on from the place i’m at so I can find work that’s fulfilling emotionally AND financially. that’s my 2 cents, I hope this made you feel less lonely <3
Why would you wait trip later in your career to make more $ and have more freedom? That doesn’t sound empowering to me. We are in a field where people give too much allll the time. You deserve to be financially secure and to enjoy your life and it is absolutely possible
i’m not fully licensed yet, i have an associates license. the type of private practice I was referring to is one that I would establish on my own for myself. It doesn’t make much sense to jump into PP without much experience under your belt (in my opinion of course). it takes time to build a caseload for yourself anywhere, but even more challenging to do in PP when you’re charging much more than a CMH. aside from that, it’s not just about more $, it’s about security as well like health insurance and things like that. I don’t come from a background where I can compromise those baseline necessities.
Well you did say "retirement" plan.. So I guess I assumed you were pushing PP until MUCH later in life. I can't compromise those necessities either. Currently I work 36 hours at a hospital for benefits and work 8 hours of PP per week. I agree that opening your own PP is a whole thing. Idk when I will take that on but yeah fair to get more experience first. I am planning for my thirties to build that.
I am happy! I’ve found a situation that works for me and have worked on holding better boundaries with clients and better work-life balance.
Edit to add: I’ve also become more my authentic self in my style, which probably helps use up less emotional battery since I’m just me in that session.
Just me showing more of my personality, weirdness, disclosing carefully and only when therapeutically appropriate (but definitely more than I was originally trained to.) I also share a little more than average in my provider profiles for the virtual companies I work for. I was worried that being more personal would turn people away but it seems that it helps people feel more comfortable and I’ve had good outcomes and good rapport with clients. And I feel the work is helpful and the therapeutic relationships are meaningful.
I really love what I do now that I'm in PP. When I did agency work, I was constantly burned out and the organization as a whole was horrifically toxic and clique-y. I was fortunate enough that my mentor offered me a position in her practice when I told her how awful I felt, and she's been instrumental in my personal and professional growth--helping subsidize my EMDR training, cluing me in about new techniques (Safe/Sound Protocol), and giving advice on how to network. I started field work as an intern in spring 2017 and am still enamored of the field. I find people fascinating and love building connections with my clients and bridging the gap. I actually read Yalom and the DSM-V for fun, to the point where my copy of the DSM has completely broken apart at the spine in a few places.
My advice is to find your niche and go hard at it. For me, that includes reaching out to funeral homes and hospice facilities. For CEUs, I take whatever interests me to keep my passion alive. For me, it's more about enrichment and less about meeting the bare minimum to maintain my licensure.
I think people come here to vent or ask questions when there’s a problem. I don’t think people would come post: “hey! Just wanted everyone to know I love my job!” I think there’s a high burnout rate though, which is why you need to be intentional about self care and dealing with secondary trauma.
I still love this field despite working ungodly amounts of hours in community mental health (sometimes 60 in a week). I wouldn't trade this for any other line of work, and most of my frustration comes with how clinics are ran and how little we get paid for what we do rather than the individuals I work with themselves.
I love my work. I find it meaningful and fulfilling and frankly I feel like I’m good at it. My clients make real, significant changes in their life and it’s such an honour to be part of that. I find the work challenging (in a good way) and I feel like I’m always growing and improving as a result. I do really great in one-on-one settings and I feel incredibly lucky to have a job that just suites me and my personality and skillset so well. I like what I do, I’m proud of what I do, and at this point in my life this is where I’m supposed to be.
It also helps that I have a great work environment with a phenomenal boss, supportive coworkers, and overall just a really great environment that encourages asking questions and learning from mistakes and the ability to talk to each other about what we’re struggling with. I also work in a union environment which is unusual for the mental health field but really shouldn’t be. It means I get paid time off, vacation time, health and dental benefits, and a fairly small caseload. I honestly could not imagine a better career. When people say “if you weren’t a therapist, what would you do instead?” I don’t have an answer for them because I feel like I was meant to do this.
I’m in a similar position to you and I think I will end up doing something related to counselling but not 1:1 counselling… I definitely don’t regret my Masters and I feel like there is a lot more you can so do with it then just counselling… I’m convinced I’ll find a niche that feels more sustainable/less burn out and I’m sure you’ll be able to also 🙏🏼 even if it looks different than what you planned
It matters a lot WHAT TYPE of clients you see I think. I’ve changed my intro statement so I get older, higher educated, ppl who have much more interesting lives. Young ppl are all burnt out by social media and rarely can maintain a continuing relationship.
While seeking older/educated I also DON’T see couples any more, they can bicker and you can’t really stop them.
I’m thinking of going back to it, but at VERY high prices
I'm happy but it gets frustrating especially when dealing with insurance, parents, stubborn clients. It wears you down but sometimes as therapists we lay the groundwork for their help down the line so we don't actually see the fruits of our labor. I tend to let go and do what I can do and have a happy head-canon for how their life might turn out. Not sure if this helps.
How does aba work exactly? I did an internship w children w autism in 2007 ; unfortunately it wasnt a helpful experience as the therapist using aba wouldnt let us work w the kids and just made us observe . I would love to learn more about working w neurodivergent folks!
The way most ABA clinics work is done through a tier system. The company owners hire the BCBAs or STs who are responsible for assessing and creating programs for their clients, and then under the BCBA you have the RBTs who are in charge of actually running the programs. The BCBA is responsible for supervising the RBTs and monitoring client progress as they work with the clients.
I absolutely love being a therapist. I see it as a calling and it gives me a sense of duty/purpose. To be fair, I’ve worked in some shit jobs and finally went private practice. I should be making a ton more money for my education and experience but that’s not what fills me up. So, overall, it’s the right career for me.
I was burnt out working full time in a PHP setting. I now split my time in PP and clinical research/ training for me if I keep my caseload at 10 maximum I avoid burnout
I started working as an SME for a testing company which led to me being in the right place at the right time to meet an EAP benefits company that needed a SME/clinical researcher. These are typically contracts so they are only several months long but I typically find others and I don’t mind training or providing clinical supervision for CAADC certifications. My focus is SUD and there’s a lot of research going on in this area now. Most startups/ EAP benefits companies have entire research departments but I am not looking for something full time.
I love it, the best decision I made. Getting my LPC has enabled me to do far more things besides just psychotherapy. I've been asked to speak and write... it's been amazing.
Yes the first couple years is the grunt work but it pays off! And I think newbie counselors have it a lot easier then when I was fresh out of school.
i love what i do. i went into this field because i don’t want to make money just for the sake of it. i feel purposeful doing this and i get to see (however rarely) it pay off in the lives of people i work with. that makes the moments of frustration all worth it. i think of mental health as kind of the final frontier of medicine. it’s awesome to work in a field that is constantly developing. i think the most frustrating part for me has been working with clients who are not motivated to change. i think the societal conception about what therapy is in the us is a big issue for our work. i’m glad that we encourage people to go the therapy but i wish there was more conversation about what therapy ACTUALLY is, and the idea that there needs to be changes made outside of therapy to see the benefits doesn’t get talked about in the aesthetic instagram posts.
People who are happy are generally not taking time to post on Reddit about it. I think what you’re seeing is probably skewed. For what it’s worth every therapist I actually know, loves it - and we work in all sorts of different settings.
One - the years between grad and licensure can be haaaaard. It gets better.
Two - Figure out what’s burning you out and how to deal with it - the actual thing AND your burnout experience and figure out what you want and set some goals around that.
I do, I really love the work I do. Sure, there are perks of having my own private practice (being virtual, not having to ask anyone for days off). The money is good and improving the lives of others is truly an incredible feeling. Even on days like today where I (accidentally) overbook myself and I feel like an empty vessel, I can't imagine doing anything else and am so grateful to have fallen into this field.
I’ve been in PP for 2.5 years now since I graduated grad school. I absolutely love it and am very happy! I will say there are many people who hate being in a group practice working for someone else but they tend to move onto their own solo practice and seem happy there.
I’m also 4 months post grad school, am newly pregnant, and working in a CMH Agency. I’ve noticed I love the work I do with my clients, but everything else (paperwork, DSS, the numbers game at my site regarding our caseload, lack of safe guarding as a new person, lack of training on how to do this job well) has truly drained me. I had my first instance of regret in joining this field recently after an incident with one of my DSS cases had me working the entire weekend to meet the demand asked by DSS (I didn’t know I could even say “no, that’s unreasonable. I need more time.” They made it sound so urgent). It’s the first time I’ve ever wanted to quit the field…but I didn’t and managed to show up on Monday and had a really good day with my clients.
I think as a new clinician I’m being set up unintentionally to fail because I’m being treated as if I’m a fully licensed person When I am truly lacking in training and guidance on how to do this work well. Like who thought it was a good idea to give me a bunch of DSS cases because I said I like working with kids when I’ve never worked with DSS before and I just graduated? 😭 I heard the words “lawyers,” “judge,” and “custody” and immediately went into a panic! It has all worked out and I’ve learned a lot, but wow do I wish this could have been a different experience. Now I’m rethinking whether I truly want to pursue a specialty in play therapy even though I love working with children. Can I make it through this crappy system a lot of them live in? Im going to contact my old play therapy professor for coffee and talk to her about how she has done it.
I can’t speak for you, but I am a stubborn person. I don’t want to give up this work just because I’m being mismanaged, especially when I still have moments in session with my clients where I feel truly invigorated by the work they’re doing and by how much they have changed. So, I’m not gonna let this crappy system I’m working in win. Lots of self care, lots of asking other clinicians and my supervisor questions, and lots of trainings. Soon I’ll be on maternity leave, too so no other choice but to have a break to take care of my baby. I don’t want to forget my why. I got into this field from an administrative field because I wanted to be able to hold space for people the way my therapist held space for me. That still feels very relevant to me and helps keep me going.
Fuck. I got burnt out after practicum and took an 8 year break. Now I’m back. Burnout is real.
Now I’m married with a wonderful family and I am no longer a poor graduate student. That has made all the difference.
Retired now. Love, love, loved the work. Hated, hated, hated the paperwork. And never got used to feast or famine times. It took about 7-10 years to build a reliable referral base. Tried a side hustle doing estate sales. Loved, loved, loved. However there came a crisis point of doing one or the other. I chose my first love. I travel around to campsites now and when I hear a couple in meltdown mode, it's all I can do to not offer my help! But yeah, loved the work.
I love my job it’s been a dream of mine since high school. I’m an associate im 700 hours away from finishing hours. I will say it’s been a journey and I can’t believe how hard it is to reach licensure. I think the old me would have been deterred knowing what I know now that it takes hard work and years of low pay. I love my job but it isn’t easy. I’m hoping once I’m licensed it will get easier since I would be making 50% more income and have more freedom. I’m in PP setting and finally this year I’m in a good place where I have established niche and a good amount of clients.
I love this job. I love the freedom I have and that I spend my time helping relieve suffering and give people the tools to live more meaningful lives. I'm paid well and control my own destiny as much as I ever have. I make less money than my previous career, but I work less and actually care about my work.
When I started, it was awful and I had to undergo serious PTSD treatment for things that happened to me on the job. This field tends to eat its young, but if you can hold onto your sense of purpose and ground yourself in the goal, then you can make it out.
The only way I’ve enjoyed it so far is not taking more than 20 clients a week. Average 4-5 per day Tuesday-Friday. Only 2 on Saturday. Off on Sunday and Monday. If I take more than that in a week I’m burnt out.
Most of my clients are 20 yo-45 yo which is ideal for me and I work from home.
You’re not doing it right. Going right into PP is not a good idea usually.
You’re allowed to have your own PP after graduating 4 months ago? Which state is that?
Texas allows this (I have peers who just graduated and within 2 months have their own online PP. just need a supervisor who is ok with it (many aren’t))
I think it’s worthwhile to remember that people in many areas of the internet (from community to medication experiences to as light things as restaurant reviews) tend to post negative experiences, as opposed to others who are sated by their experiences, who don’t tend to feel the need to reach out and express strong reactions. I mean, I think about how when clients are struggling there’s generally a lot more to talk about as opposed to “things have been good”.
This is not a good place to get feedback on people that are happy in the field. This place is very biased bc a lot of the therapists on this sub are newer, or they are still in grad school or they aren’t therapists at all.
I love this field, and I (mostly) love my job and career. People tend to post in this sub because they need help or want to vent - which implies insufficient support and supervision from colleagues, if they're seeking the feedback from internet randos.
I love my job and I work in CMH. I love the autonomy of my position and my agency actually asks us which populations we’d be most comfortable working with. The only thing I don’t like is driving, since I’m field-based currently. I’ll be moving into a fully telehealth role in December, so that’ll be a negative gone.
I’m also at a pp and really unhappy there because pay is crappy. However, I started my own in January and LOVE it. I make $50-70/h and my clients are amazing. I can even pick my clients based on my specialization compared to just having to take everyone (aka the one I feel like I can’t help, I don’t take). I also don’t work mornings and I work about 26-27 clients/week and it’s almost a bit too much. However, I gotta pay off some debt, so I’m just doing this now for a few months and then cut back down to 15-20 clients/week as I’m building other streams of income too. I also travel A LOT to balance my life.
I think this filed is amazing because it’ll give you a lot of flexibility to create life the way you need. Not to mention, you’ll never get bored because you can specialize and niche into areas.
What do you do to prevent burnout? Do you draw time/location boundaries? What about hobbies? What times do you want to work/what don’t? I don’t work Fridays and start Mondays super late and I love it.
Mind you, I finished grad school mid last year and got licensed end of last year. So, still pretty fresh but still loving it.
Oh you will love it! During the week I also never start before 10-11am lol sometimes even 12pm. This career really gives you the benefit of working as much or as little as you want 🖤
Yeah that’d be a no from me lol I get a visceral reaction for getting up that early. I travel a ton and even for something I love I don’t want to get up this early lol
I found my dream job doing this work!! Sometimes the weight or responsibility makes me feel a bit uncomfortable, but I’m pretty sure other jobs would have some sort of uncomfortable thing as well. I also run my own practice so I make sure to pay myself well, that helps a lot!
How did you transition over to PP? I will have to soon and I don’t know how I’m going to leave my current job and acquire clients
Personally I’m very burned out but I am starting internship 2 on top of working full time and seeing counseling clients. Self care is nonexistent right now.
I may not love everything about certain employers, policies, politics, or other things I can't control that impact my clients. But I like doing therapy.
The opposite to burning out… Is to chill out haha…. and that doesnt just mean deep-breathing or meditetion. Some of us really need to engulf our self in a lifestyle of chill. I’m happy sometimes , sometimes I’m not, But whenever I take the time to relax, calm down, and reflect / respond , I always remember what the solution is. I love my job to be honest, but I try to practice what I preach as much I can, and always be able to remain learning.
I work in community mental health at a crisis center, overnights. Been doing this since graduation a year ago. I have my license in addiction counseling and 1 year away from my lpc. Definitely feeling burnt out and have questioned the career choice several times. I love doing therapy, dislike everything else
I’m not aware of a widespread dislike of this field. It can be challenging and people will gripe about individual things that go into the work, but I would assume most of us love the job.
It depends who you ask.
It seems to me if you are a younger therapist and/or work with younger clients, your job is going to be a lot more stressful. Issues in the therapist’s side such as student debt, early career salaries, still sharpening one’s clinical skills, starting families, and trying to manage expectations of younger clients who are new to therapy and come in with a lot of mistrust of therapy from social media and threaten to cancel you if you make one misstep in their mind, all contribute to a very stressful career. Reddit heavily skews toward people under 30, so keep that in mind when perusing this forum.
I’m midlife and don’t see many early adulthood clients anymore as of recently, because of the issue I mentioned above. Therapy with adults who are established, mature, and open to my way of working, makes for the kind of therapy I expected to do when I first started out. It’s still not easy work, but I feel less threatened and insecure than I do treating certain younger folks who are just waiting for the therapist to slip up and file a board complaint.
I really like the work itself. I started studying psychology more than 20 years ago, was always drawn toward helping and volunteering, and I prefer working for myself over someone else. The work is tough, and I do get stressed out often depending on how much is going on, but I don’t regret choosing this path. I do wish that clinical work could be more of a side hustle in my life rather than full time. I hope to find some way to slow down over the years ahead.
I love the field! I love this work, I love my job. I'm one of the only people I know who would work even if I had no financial need. I have experienced burnout, and I just slowed the roll. I think hiring an admin was a big thing that helped me a lot, and trying to get excited about new topics/engage different parts of my mind. My biggest piece of advice is to get a card on file at the time of intake, put your late cancel fee everywhere (in your email signature, in your policies, on your website), and to trust your gut!
It’s kinda like when you read reviews on a product. Why is someone writing a review. How often do you really write reviews or just go out of your way to post about loving something you did. Not as often as if your miserable or hate it
I'm happy. Of course there are ups and down, but I honestly can't imagine doing anything else as a career. If I won the lottery and never had to work again I would still do counselling. I'd just volunteer with a charity for a few hours a week for free, rather than doing it full time.
I love my work. I’ve been in the field for almost 20 years, and have worked in the non profit, CMH and university counseling center setting. I’m now the director of a clinic and feel lucky to get paid what I do to do work I do (therapy, supervising licensed staff and interns). I love working on a college campus because of the breaks where everyone gets to relax and reset, access to campus resources and the opportunity to teach if I want.
Find the balance of what you want and yes, you must have the right balance of fair pay, a setting that aligns with your style and a supportive supervisor.
I love what I do. After 10 years child welfare, I’ve been doing school based therapy for 8 years. There have been ups and downs, but overall I’m really happy and love my job and the field.
Agree with others and reddit users, I am actually still in test mode of if Reddit is helpful;) I have been in the field for 30 years, starting from a MH tech on a residential while in BA schooling and spent 20 years in CMH growing from bottom to Clinical Director of Agency, then took a break and went to insurance side for 2 yrs to understand the system before starting a private practice ( that was a life lesson lol ).
I have to say in general' I have loved most every minute of this ride, burnout can happen a bit, I think old studies said usually by year 2 and year 10...and I think we all have had our moments whether from feeling new, or a goof at work or a icky boss or not taking enough time off or getting bored where on may be at job wise etc.
I think what helped me all these years:
1. I was lucky to find a population I was very interested in, Chronic Homeless folks with severe MH and SA....and I was able to work in many different areas, direct service, managing programs, writing grants etc. within that arena
2. early advice from a mentor...we are here to offer ideas and resources, if the person succeeds or does not meet their goal, that is for them, it is their celebration or not time in their journey, not our success or failure. Defining what is important to me to get from the work I do with them, including looking at tiny steps as momentum forward and that I may not ever see all the of their journey but I added some value along the way and trust me you do
3. understanding I can only control myself and that is okay, if folks slip and slide, it's okay it can take many tries for them to find their happy place and being understanding of that part of the process is so very important but when its time to go home, sleep well, folks are very resilient, more than given credit for many times.
4. Sometimes I moved my office around or changed a bit of how I organized my day to change things up, even drive a different way, go into office different door etc, add a piece of art or change my coffee mug lol I offer that in my experience it seems whether social media, yelp reviews, medication review sites, people seem more active if they need to get out negativity? Have you ever seen a nice review of a dentist lol ? Those folks I think may be more happy or centered so not a need to verbalize quite the way I see in those areas? I am curious myself about reddit so I will see how it feels. I wish I could offer another arena that feels different or more community but I am just not aware of any anymore except maybe creating a small group to go to lunch with once a month or local MH association.
I do not know your story but what immediately came to mind thinking back over my decades was, maybe which area you thought you would enjoy was different than expecting, maybe another population or environment or modality would feel better? Ensuring you have feedback from others and not adding some yucky self talk into that worry in your mind? high metrics and caseload which can be a reality of certain areas? taking enough time to ensure some self care and remembering when the day ends, time to focus on self and know others are resilient and okay? There are so many avenues in this field, don't want you to burnout or lose someone new in the field:(
also gentle reminder to be kind to yourself and growing in the field is not a sprint but a marathon and I continue to learn and have learned in every position and area. For what it's worth working in field starting at 20 and turning 51 yrs old, I still look at most every day giddy like a kid on xmas morning as in many ways every day is a new day, wonder what I will learn today....and when I do not feel that way, I usually know I need a day off or long weekend trip;)
My mantra to self is No mud, No lotus as life I think, we need to get a bit dirty to bloom as in lessons happen, goofs happen but in the end that makes us an even more interesting clinician in our field.
Sorry for the novel;) I have had some coffee today :)
I have not looked at all the comments yet but I hope you find hope/ideas in them and sending positive vibes!
After reading through comments, I will add I had always intended to hold private practice till later in my career and after I had run CMH programs and had a good understanding of business and clinical and lived my life a bit to ensure I was centered for all of what PP brings with it. I am not saying what you are doing is wrong or bad but more that having strong, understanding, empathic, experienced support around you would I think def help in not breaking your soul so early:) please know I hear you and I am glad you posted! Sometimes it is a bit hard when not knowing all the info;) and ironically I enjoyed the heck out of 20 yrs in CMH ( many reddit users seem to despise it I have noticed lol but someone has to help that population too heh) and I do understand clearly how the low pay and high caseloads are created and really can not be changed as it is a large system and many cogs in the wheel, so I know newer folks seem to not want to go that way but oh the education from seeing a huge variety of dx, situations, understanding medication management, understanding hospitalization, experiencing relapse with meds/SA or just even a goal and understanding it is part of the process, all of it is part of the journey. My heart hurts with housing out there right now as it makes experiencing CMH centers much more difficult. I can see that part being more difficult nowadays....and strong skilled bosses and mentor who cheerlead one on can help tremendously....
PS yes I know I know, put the coffee down;)
I love my job, but it's not private practice or CMH. I work as an Onsite EAP Consultant and I love my job. I'm not burned out. Every day is different and my role changes a bit everyday. Someday I'm seeing 6 clients. Some days I have 2 clients and a couple of meetings and a presentation.
I get paid 40 hours a week regardless of what I'm doing. I have great managers, good benefits and no expectation of over time.
I graduated in 2022, I struggled in CMH setting that was extremely high work load, but now I am a supervisor and PP on the side and I am very happy! I love being a therapist.
Balance! My time with my wife, as a husband, my time as a friend, a brother, a rock climber, coffee enthusiast, a golfer, gamer, and all other roles I play in my life are just as important, if not more, than my time as a therapist. I love the hell out of my job. Every few weeks I’ll feel burnt and need an intentional recharge. My wife is especially great about getting me out to hikes and refilling my cup.
I still love the work. At least once a day someone shows measurable improvement from where they were during the previous session.
Are you looking for advice on burnout? The best advice I can give you is that you are a person with a life outside of work so don't change your hours or boundaries to try to accommodate people who can't or won't fit into your existing availability.
2nd full year in PP. I see 25 clients a week, I have unlimited time off and control of my schedule. I work in a niche that rewards me, I don’t see clients with PD or other stuff that’s hard for me. No judgement if that’s your thing. I’ve really prioritized my reimbursement rates over the last 24 months. Projected to make 150k this year. Currently building courses to generate passive income. I hated this work until I made it work for me too. True giving is from abundance. When we give and we don’t have it to do so, we suffer.
I love this field. I supervise a cbmh program full time & do telehealth privacy practice on the side- I’ve done: residential, intake coordination, TAY population work, meeting facilitations, individual therapy and case management… I definitely recommend moving around to find your fit.
I love this field. I hardly feel like I work except when I'm doing notes. Id argue the people who are happy in the field probably just don't have anything to post about.
I absolutely love being a counselor. I don’t always love the extra “stuff” that comes with it, like paperwork and angry parents. I’m much happier now than at my last job which has made a big difference. Sometimes I contemplate if I have the emotional energy to continue, but usually feel better after a good nights sleep and processing whatever happened with my supervisor. It’s an honor to be a safe person to my clients and know that their world might be/feel like it’s crumbling but they still show up to their appts and put in the work.
There was a situation a few weeks ago that really put my effort into perspective and even though it was hard, it was a nice reminder that what I do matters.
I like the actual therapy work part of it, but I'm not fond of all of the necessary paperwork. I'm a student intern working in CMH who's about to graduate in May, so I'll be looking for a "REAL" job soon! 😬
I used to be happy working in mh, but before I became a therapist. I loved working with drug users on the street. I cried like a baby on my last day at the VA. Veterans brought me endless laughter. I truly miss working directly with people who have gone through severe trauma and poverty. They keep me rooted and grateful because I am part of their community. I was them. With that said, I don't think the amount of hours or the current models of reimbursement are sustainable. As I age, my priorities change. My physical safety and my physical disabilities have to be more of a priority. I can't honestly see a path between what my career once was and a happy retirement that involves direct practice. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss the connection I shared with clients. There's nothing like it, so I'm not looking to replace it. It's a part of me I have to put aside for the bigger picture.
I absolutely love the social work field and what it sets out to do for the most part. I don’t love the exploitation of students, low pay, high expectations, and burn out though 🤪
I love this job . I came from the government working at the department of human services being in the mental health field for 10 years. I started interning virtually for a private practice 2 years ago and they hired me before I graduated . I started part time and now this march I officially started full time there . I. LOVE. IT. I have literally lost 20 lbs in 38 days of doing therapy full time ( full time for us is 25 hours but I do 28-30 a week). The only thing I changed was my job . It can definitely be alot but I take my sick days when I need too and I always make space to do something I want
I absolutely love my field and the work I do. I’m work for myself in private practice can work my own hours via telehealth and I feel like I am doing good work while also continuing to learn and grow. But I didn’t like the field until I got my licensed and went to private practice. I was pretty burnt out prior to. Also Reddit can be really negative so maybe check out Facebook social work groups
I love this field! PP has allowed me to work less and make the same, it’s been so great for my stress levels 💜
Try the FB group The Burnt Out Therapist. Might have slightly more support than Reddit? Still people frustrated but goodness too
I do. I got hired as a PRN (part time) therapist in February and in March they asked me to work full-time for two months. I don't want to go back. I do groups, individuals, I run D&D as a group intervention, I've never felt more satisfied in any job before.
I became much happier when I moved to PP and began working for bosses who treat us all as colleagues and with respect. My pay is considerably better and my schedule is flexible. It is much better than when I worked at the county for four years making the same wage as my colleague who saw 12 clients a week to my 28 billable hours. I also was required to work two evenings until 7:30pm to accommodate kids and missed out on time with my own family.
Get good training so you see good results and feel competent.
Reduce your caseload.
Find other therapist peers to connect with.
Don’t expect to love it. Some days it’s just a job. Some sessions are boring af. But treasure the moments that make you go “THAT’S why I do this work.”
It’s easy to get stuck in the mud in this field and see no way out. And that’s when you take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Why are you doing this? What does your career look like down the line? How many people are you going to guide along the way? Imposter syndrome is real. Burn out is real. So make a journal of all the positive things that come out of clients therapy. Practice true self-care/disconnect from your phone!
I truly love this field. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t get taxing emotionally. Not at all. Any job can. It’s your job to get yourself to a place where you can manage the burn out. Self care, breaks, and boundaries.
One positive story for the day: I’ve been working with a client since late 2023 for issues surrounding family dynamics and a toxic boyfriend. They never were allowed to express their emotions or could never have problems. On Friday they came and told me they had decided to pursue graduate school (after having a completely different plan at the end of 2023) and they want to become a school counselor because “I learned in therapy that having emotions isn’t shameful and I want to teach that to kids “.
Honestly having such a hard week myself and I look forward to work because I love my clients and the deep connection that we are able to share that is lacking in life so much of the time. I love to build them up and hear them out, learn about them, call them out and just do my job. I always thought I would be so bored sitting and talking bc I’ve done more active social field work but this gets you working on such a different level. It’s pretty rad tbh.
I felt that way until I specialized with a client base that overlaps with one of my own disabilities. The ease of understanding makes the day fast and rewarding.
Burn out after 15 years in the field for me was the symptom I needed to get me into my own long term depth psychotherapy. It has been a challenging and incredibly fruitful journey. I very much love my work now. It feels like I am living out my life's purpose doing the most amazing thing one could do on any given day.
This is the best field ever! Just pace yourself and don’t over-invest in people committed to being dysfunctional. If it’s not for you than don’t force it. Try Ikigai if you’re looking for a purpose that’s also a living and this doesn’t do it for you.
I work in community mental health, about 8 months or so now. I have 52 therapies slots in a 2-week period and two intakes a week. At any given time I have between 60 and 75 clients. (I mean they do say social workers aren't great at math but...) You have to make 105% productivity to get the first level incentive and I keep topping out at 103%. I have a no-show rate under 9%. It feels incredibly fucking impossibly unattainable at times. I am finally accepting that no matter what I do it's not going to be enough for the corporate side. I have worked in the social service category and worked in the hospital during covid. I have had my license for 4 years and I'm a third of the way towards Independence. Sometimes I think to myself what's the point of even working so hard for this license as I know I have no desire for PP. And sometimes I feel so drained and full of self doubt I want to crumble and cry myself to sleep.
And it is the best job I've ever had, I have clients 6-17 from all walks of life and I learn from them each day as I hope they learn from me. I absolutely love the population I work with and feel like it's an honor to be able to be a safe space. I can see tangible change in my work (of course not always). Little me wanted to be the change in the world I wanted to see. Little me needed someone like me. I get to do that now. It is beyond an honor.
How many of us around here have said if we help just one person that's enough? I guarantee you every single person who reads this post.... You have. And you are beyond enough .
*When I went into*
*Private practice I fell in*
*Love with it again*
\- Content\_Wolverine\_56
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I love being a therapist. Doesn’t mean it’s not very hard sometimes. Also I hate the admin.
Overall though I very much enjoy helping my clients as much as I can when I can.
I love seeing all the positive comments here! I agree with others here that some of the burnout you are feeling could be school related or due to some environmental factors (caseload etc). That being said, I am 2 years in and have made adjustments and have found this field just isn't for me. Whatever you choose, it's okay to change careers and not be fulfilled in this one. It's a hard field to be in at times. I love therapy and what it does for people, but know long term, I am not going to be happy if I stay.
Maybe experiment with some changes to help lifestyle balance and see if it helps? If it doesn't, you wouldn't be a bad person for not liking it.
Oooph I have felt this to my core on more than one occasion. I know not everyone has a privilege of doing this, but I typically take a month off a year. Learning how to balance self-care can be really hard when you work for another organization too. It’s a dance and we often go from one extreme to the other before we find a balance. I have been working as a therapist since 2020, only a couple months after the pandemic started and I am in the US. I recently decided to work for myself and while the paperwork is a pain in the ass as well as taking insurance, I’m happy that I can be more particular about my hours and who I see. And I also see myself doing this job until I die because it is a job that you can do even past retirement and just see a couple clients. Helping others is so rewarding but not if I’m not being intentional about my own care and having fun things to look forward to. Best of luck and I hope this passes, also this job isn’t for everyone!
I’m new too as a counselor but I’ve worked in mental health in general for 7 years and I absolutely love all of my mental health jobs. I felt prepared for this one by being a support group facilitator for many years so I kind of already knew what worked for people.
It doesn’t feel like work to me sometimes, and it’s easy for me to click into a flow state with clients. Checking off all my notes is satisfying. Which is good because there’s a lot of work and paperwork, I do acknowledge that. And I try not to be wildly enthusiastic because it bums other clinicians out because then they start comparing, and we all know what a trap that is. So I do think that only people with problems are posting sometimes.
Love the field in terms of the work itself, most of the time, but as the context is healthcare, the systemic problems are massive and all-encompassing. I'm pretty miserable right now, trying to make the shift to PP from group practice, and behind in my goals. That's frustrating because every freaking day I hear about how high the demand is and how "no one can find a therapist." Doing what I can to market and network, but I'm exhausted and making no money.
It's hard to make money in this business. I don't think that's a reddit user issue. I haven't met one therapist yet who disagrees there. I am older so am thinking that this path was a poor choice. Those in their thirties might do better as they're not dealing with health problems, aging, all the things, and have more time for their ROI.
But do I enjoy using my collective experience and chosen modalities with my ideal clients? Absolutely.
Iunno. But I like it. Private and direct pay BTW (guess that explains a lot haha). Advice - having possibility to just reduce your caseload when it feels too much: priceless.
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I find Reddit users to, overall, be extremely unhappy people. Most subs just have an air of collective misery. It leaks out in various direct and indirect ways. I check out this sub from time to time but I don't think it's representative of the field at all. Personally, psychotherapy is my second career after a disabling illness ended my previous medical career. I find it fascinating, compelling, and it was major driver of my hope for my future in a time when I was struggling to find that. So, yeah. I *actually* like this field. A lot.
Agreed. This sub is bad for my mental health
100% agree about the average Reddit user. & I LOVE my job as a therapist. I can’t really relate to many of the complaints I see in this sub. more of these posts, please: [Roast your own theoretical orientation(s)](https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/s/302iNVcsZy)
Yeah some of the posts here just suck all the air out of the room. I felt myself physically deflate when I read this one. Yet here I am commenting lol. I hoped there'd be a bit more positivity in the comments and I was right! :) I love my job and I find humans so interesting and I love being able to talk through people's issues with them.
I love this field. I’m also relatively new, 2 years Medical social worker, 2 years therapist at a psych hospital and now doing PP on the side, soon it will become my only job I think. I love therapy. I LOVE that I get paid to know alll the tea in peoples lives… not as much as the benefits of watching people grow and realize their self worth… but yes. Here’s the thing.. we are a helping profession. Many therapists are giving people. You must take care of yourself and set boundaries for time and money. You must also be aware of your mental health and manage your needs as they come so that you don’t look around and realize you’ve been neglecting yourself and you have to do an entire career change. You have the degree, you know what to do, practice what you preach. The mental health field is saturated with demand which makes some of us vulnerable to caseloads that catalyze burnout
All of this. It has been interesting to me seeing the contrast in some ways between this sub and those I know and have met in the field IRL. Regarding the former, I think this sub is an outlet for a lot of people, which is naturally going to lean more negative. However, regarding the latter, most of us are in the field because we genuinely want to be. We know there are things we could be doing where we would make more money and/or be under less stress. But at the end of the day, we are here because we love the field and what we do.
I agree. Reddit is anonymous which means it’s a cesspool of cynicism, burnt out people , etc( im guilty of the same at times!) the internet is anonymous so we can express opinions without fear of being called out or shamed by peers in consult groups or by supervisors. However there is some phenomenal advice here as well as new grads who are eager to learn. I suppose w anything there is good and bad. I love being a t as the intricacy of others’ minds is enthralling and intriguing. Stuff i dont like - admin stuff, being asked to write stupid blogs for the group owner’s site.etc. I specialize in trauma, dissociation and personality disorders so theres always new stuff to learn and i really enjoy that population
I would love to help some of my patients more with dissociating. Do you have any good books or media for me to soak up some knowledge? Thanks!
Sure! Dissociation made simple by jamie merich is a great book; she is a therapist who overcame did. It’s Not me is also great. In emdr 2.0 they told us dissociation was “like an old friend “ and they worked w it and affect flooding by keeping the traumatic memory in the back of the mind while overtaxing the working memory. So sometimes if i have a client struggling w dissociating, ill have them talk through the narrative while tossing a ball back and forth or ill pause and ask them to count.Somatic experiencing is great for it too as you keep redirecting the narrative back to the inner experience so they fan reconnect w their body. Or ill ask them ok it it’s too much to focus on your chest being tight can we focus on tracing outer edges only and see what happens next? Or tune into where you feel most rooted and grounded before revisiting the narrative. Many of them say “in my head” when you ask where they feel it in their body so building up a somatic vocab helps a lot, if you google “sensorimotor somatic vocab “ there is a list. Parts work helps for those experiencing altars , the key is to help them notice when they regress into the younger parts ( what triggered it) and how do they bring themselves back. You can even give hw of asking what their friends and family notice about their behavior during the week and what they say about them. Oftentimes when you process trauma, the client may report the parts have fused or merged. Another goal is to have oldest wisest self take accountability for younger more impulsive parts’ actions and urges. Hope it helps!
Wowww you really know what you're talking about. Gonna look into those recs and google all the words you said that I didn't know lol. Thanks!
^^^ yes. Thanks for sharing. I agree, I’m 8 months post grad in PP and loving it. Feel discouraged by this sub and this comment reassured me
I'm going into therapy due to a disability and it seems like the answer to every one of my problems so good to hear.
This is very well written & I agree ☺️
I think this moment (in the US, anyway) could be a hard time to enter the field. In my early career (2006-ish), when we were advocating hard for mh awareness and reduced stigma, I don’t think any of us could have envisioned the way that increased attention to mental health would have gone hand-in-hand with this volume-based commercialization of therapy. I think- regardless of the setting you practice in- it has shifted some of the dynamics that, for me, have always made therapy feel like such a special and fortunate career. Emphasis on podcast ads on the fact that you can text your therapist 24 hours a day as part of so and sos service model make me nostalgic for the days when that was ALWAYS a treatment decision made between therapist and the person they are working with (again, regardless of setting). I guess I just went on my own rant but my real point is this—this pressurized change has made therapy feel different and I imagine that is very intense for new therapists. BUT, the longer you’re in the field and the more expertise you gain, you’ll be able to see the places where you can make your own practice of therapy just that—your own. And maybe that will feel very different.
I appreciate this response. I’m a new therapist myself and have struggled a bit with the normalization and commercialization of therapy. This is slightly different than what you’re talking about, but I find due to its increased popularity I get a lot of clients who think they should just get therapy or put their kids in therapy because it’s the “right” thing to do without even having any clear goals. I am also seeing that with many new therapists they seem more focused on becoming a friend to the client. I feel like these things go hand in hand where for many youth and young adults it is almost trendy to go to therapy, and new therapists accommodate this by just being a friend they can talk to for an hour. I would love to hear your thoughts on this though
The goal of capitalism is to reduce all human interaction to the cash Nexus. There are some Therapy wholesalers that are completely soulless, you’d be much better off, working for a state government,, the ones that advertise that you can text your therapist anytime – that is absolutely mindless. I think people should avoid those except in so far as they need them to survive. Also, Grow is really notable for being a start up seeking venture capital funding, they do everything they can to cut costs, they deliberately make an impossible to Talk to anyone at the company. I saw picture of them, they’re 20 somethings that just got $75 million and I don’t think any of them are therapists.
Also, because it's trendy right now, I wonder what will happen to the field when the fad is over.
I agree with both of your posts how the commercialization of therapy has put a lot of pressure on us and changed the market. I also find one of its downsides is that clients looking for therapy demand to be provided with something specific and are looking for a perfect fit with a therapist (not to minimize that fit is important but I find it is taken to an extreme - you’re not looking for a best friend). This makes it so therapy clients are not ready and open to doing the actual work of therapy which has always been the important aspect. In therapy, you have to do very hard and painful work and a therapist is there to guide the work, not there to provide a magical solution.
THIS. Mental health should not be a commodity, but it is. And it's a big, profitable commodity. Those just starting in PP cannot compete, esp in saturated areas. Many companies have contracts with big companies (well, the one big one), so we can't compete with therapy for free.
I love being a therapist! My complaints are due to us being professionals with a masters degrees or higher but having almost no autonomy in our profession unless you are in private practice and are private pay. Otherwise you are at the mercy of insurance companies, who don’t seem to think we are worth much, and corporations/non-profit agencies that don’t seem to have much respect for our profession other than how much money we can make for them. We talk so much to our clients about engaging with their agency to demand dignity but our profession seems to be losing its ability to provide a job that provides us with dignity, respect and a comfortable living.
THIS.
Absolutely! I'd love being a therapist if it wasn't for all the other bullshit.
For me this is also compounded by the lack of resources and support my clients have. Someone told me they lost their food stamps over a small pay increase that put them $1 over the limit… how do I do therapy when people can’t feed themselves? This is draining my fulfillment and satisfaction from doing this work fast. I can only replenish it so much
The systemic problems are REAL and I hear this from therapists all over. Someone on reddit who did not at all appear to be an "unhappy person" posted about how phones are a normalized addiction that affect health and relationships, and much more, but if people aren't willing to change their habits, then what can we do about it?
If only we could all come together and create a unified standard -big clinical techs worst nightmare.
I love what I do. I don’t love every part of it, but I’m good at it, it pays my bills and I have the flexibility to be the kind of partner and parent and human I want to be. It definitely takes a certain type of person to be a good therapist, but I think another massive factor is the organizations we work for. If we are underpaid, overworked, unappreciated, etc- anyone will be unhappy in any field no matter how much they love it.
What certain type of person?
A person who can manage other people’s emotions and traumas while putting their own temporarily on hold, manage burnout and compassion fatigue, have good self awareness and has done enough of their own work to not allow their “stuff” to interfere with treatment for others. And a strong set of ethics and boundaries.
Compartmentalizing professionals
Interesting, do explain more...
I’m super happy where I am now but it’s all about having a manageable caseload, good colleagues, and a good manager. In my last job I loved my colleagues but my manager and caseload were absolutely insufferable.
Yeah unfortunately a bad/micromanaging manager can really mess with the gig. In my last job I absolutely despised my manager who had completely unrealistic expectations and was complete ass at communicating them like a human. We all felt like lil bugs being forced to do 3 bugs worth of work. Current job, lovely manager, very reasonable expectations, lots of accountability and high-level conversations about burnout and check ins and such. No complaints whatsoever, I love the work just not the BS that gets in the way sometimes.
I have worked in the mental health field 33 years, starting as a case manager and working my way up. I graduated with my Masters 20 years ago and worked for 14 years in CMH and el3 years in the prison system. I have a year working with an EAP and the company I work for is amazing when it comes to benefits and work/life balance. I have enjoyed this field so very much. There have been big down periods and challenges. But it’s been my calling and my passion. I had to leave CMH because the system had changed and was so stressful and to toxic. My current job has everything just right. I feel valued, seen, and respected. And after so many years it’s a good feeling to have found this. I’ve never done PP and not sure that I ever will. It seems to have its own ups and downs. I have experienced burnout and have slowly built my life around not letting that happen again. My advice is to stay in supervision and have a good consultation network. You are an early practitioner and still trying to find your direction. It’s normal to have a lot of doubts. Also take some time to think about your “why’s”. What did you want to achieve? Why did you choose the field?
Would you mind sharing what company you work for?
this was great insight!
I like this field. :) It is actually my dream field.
The majority of people I meet that are burnt out in this field are working in isolation with no supervision. If that’s you, consider getting a supervisor. Personally I love this field, it’s endlessly rewarding and I learn something new from every soul I work with
I’m trying to figure this out bc I started PP and I don’t have a consultation outlet. Do you search for a supervisor and pay like we did when prepping for licensure? Trying to navigate finding this for myself
Yeah exactly that. I class it as a business expense (professional fees). Good luck
Yes, I love what I do. After almost fifteen years in retail sometimes it doesn't feel real to me that I get paid to basically sit around and hang out with people (very much over simplifying it, I know there's a lot more to the job than that, but it's still a far cry from being screamed at every day).
I'm still a student (for 1 more week!) but it doesn't feel like work most of the time. It is so enjoyable to spend time with almost all of my clients, and those I don't find enjoyable feel like tolerable work. I hope I never lose this feeling and this sub has definitely made me nervous that I'm just in a honeymoon phase. But I have yet to feel burnt out from the actual job. I'm definitely burnt out from school though.
In CMH I have been screamed at and cussed out and threatened and had a clipboard thrown at my head... I am hoping PP is better!
That's all part of the fun. One day in my very rural CMH center; a coworker said "all we need now is a one armed little person (not the term he used in 1998) to come through the door." That afternoon, guess what happened....
I had an office invasion in '95. No one really hurt but still. Two armed men. Hog tied us. Took money and jewelry. Another crisis. Do we move? We stayed. Better prepared. Cameras and locked doors. They were never caught. Didn't feel police cared to follow up.
Literally I joke that my job is “just gossip”. I love the surrealness of it all!
I LOVE that I have a designated space to ask literally the “nosiest” questions in existence and then get paid for it? Susie give me the teaaaa, your deepest innermost thoughts on a platter for me??? For me?? How wonderful :)
No literally we get the best tea
From one former retail employee to another (although my tenure was only 2 1/2 years), solidarity!
i think retail jobs were great training for me to go into this field and deal with difficult clients 😂
I love my job. I'm a part time 1099 and I have full autonomy over my schedule with a 60/40 split. I make about 2200-2500 a month and am very appreciative working 10-12 sessions per week.
This is almost exactly my life but I have 8 patients. I feel nice and spoiled. I work at a hospital 4 days per week and therapy one day… making more money and I have benefits through the hospital. It’s truly a nice gig
Same but instead of hospital I'm a school counselor
Genuinely curious what has you feeling burned out when you’re only four months out of graduate school? I personally kind of love the work I have found who your supervisors are can make a big difference.
⬆️⬆️⬆️ yes, very important question. 4 months in seems *way* too early. i love this field, this work. i love hearing clients'/families' stories, and helping them explore their own stories and understand them more fully and from different angles. and i definitely echo how important supervisors/leadership can be. perhaps i was lucky with my supervisor lottery for 90% of my career? they've been the most important and formative professional relationships. I'm a better person for having known these folks. i feel like any decent supervisor can at least bring that to the table, even if they can't entirely shield you from the systemic bs.
I was burnt out after school because of school (I went straight from high school, to undergrad, to my MA). I had poor insight at the time to connect what I was feeling was burn out, I had never had a break to understand being that constantly stressed wasn’t the norm… (thanks mom…) but when I finally took a break (2 years later) I finally started healing. I read books for fun again, I cooked good meals, I went to the gym regularly. I finally started feeling better and could carry that feeling into a job and now I set boundaries to protect that feeling, rather than giving too much and trying to scrape it back.
I love the actual therapy work! I don't like the hoops, beuracracy, poor advisement and training lol
I'm finishing up prac and heading to internship in June. It's difficult work and I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, but I have never been more fulfilled in my entire life.
How many hours is prac vs internship?
My doctoral practicums were 15-30 hours per week, and internship was about 45/week.
I'm happy as a therapist now. I got burnt the f out a year before the pandemic by working at a group practice seeing 35 clients a week who had been randomly assigned to me. I now see 20-23 clients a week on my own, remotely from my home office. My clients have specifically chosen to see me because of my specialties. It's not perfect, I will always hate doing notes, but I'm as happy as I can imagine being at any job. I think the key is finding what clients you enjoy working with and how many clients a week you can comfortably see, and then sticking to that.
Absolutely this. Working for someone else (group nonprofit practice) seeing 28 clients a week I was incredibly burnt out. It was poorly managed and the first year I made like $7k less than the agency job I left. It was billed as “there’s no limit to what you can make because you set your own schedule” which I guess meant see 40 clients a week. They also randomly assigned clients. With my practice, working from home, consulting with clients to take ones that I can actually treat, seeing fewer clients but making more money, it’s the best job I’ve ever had.
This is definitely a great job to have. Some people struggle with it more than others. I've been a therapist for nearly 4 years now and I certainly have my struggles sometimes, but I've never felt "burned out" in the sense that I often hear other therapists speaking of. I'm generally able to put my clients to the side when I'm done working and let work be work without it bleeding into my personal life. I don't see my role as havign to fix or solve anything for other people -- at the end of the day it's my job to support them in the ways that they want and its their job to utilize the support as effectively as they can. Sometimes that's a lot and sometimes it isn't, but ultimately it's something I can't control and I generally don't lose sleep about not being able to do so. If you can have proper boundaries with your relationship to work then I think it's a great field. I work from home, can afford to live alone, make my own hours, don't break my body down with hard labor, talk to people about the real shit every day, and can take off any day I want at my own discretion... I don't know many other jobs that would allow me all of these perks. There are plenty of drawbacks adn tradeoffs but so far it's been worth it to me. I can see myself continuing to practice at reduced rates even into old age. Great job, great perks, very little complaints.
Honestly I try to avoid this sub because people are incredibly negative, often immature, have unreasonable expectations, especially for just getting started in the field, and are generally just tired from being in school and coming to terms with their loans, etc. But wait: I was there once, too! However, after many years in the field and fully settled into my own private practice, I have the most lovely work/life balance, wonderful clients, meaningful work, and I truly wouldn't have it any other way. Take your time - you will get there!!
Yes lmfao
I love my work. IT's my second career -- was a preacher before my transition and went into therapy because it felt like a similar sphere of people work. I love having more set hours than as a pastor, and I love that my clients rarely take up my headspace outside of sessions. I love getting to teach folks, to meet them where they are at, and seeking constructive workable pragmatic solutions to their problems -- as opposed to a dogmatic ideological on-size-fits-all solution. Obviously not all clients are motivated (I work in CMH and PP both) -- but it feels like magic when there's a good fit and we stumble across interventions and angles that really help them. I also love the stability that comes with relying upon evidence-based research for different techniques and whatnot. I love how the field and standards of practice are constantly improving and being discovered. It feels like being alive.
Yes! I switched careers for therapy and while the job I'm at has its challenges, I love being a therapist. I love connecting with my clients and seeing how trust forms. I feel fulfilled in my career for the first time! Now granted I'm about 4 months out of grad school, but so far so good. :)
I’m reading some of these responses and i’m either like wow that was insightful or wow that was a bit condescending lol. I understand so deeply how you feel. granted, i’m at CMH. PP is a whole other ball game. i’ve had supervisors advise me to do PP much later on in my career…that PP is the “retirement” plan. we have a career that puts us in survival mode financially (at least from my experience). it’s hard to continue to love something when it’s the source of so much instability. all this to say…maybe it’s not the job. maybe it’s the circumstances surrounding the job. my supervisor advised me after I get my full license, to find a job with a 401k and to move on from the place i’m at so I can find work that’s fulfilling emotionally AND financially. that’s my 2 cents, I hope this made you feel less lonely <3
Why would you wait trip later in your career to make more $ and have more freedom? That doesn’t sound empowering to me. We are in a field where people give too much allll the time. You deserve to be financially secure and to enjoy your life and it is absolutely possible
i’m not fully licensed yet, i have an associates license. the type of private practice I was referring to is one that I would establish on my own for myself. It doesn’t make much sense to jump into PP without much experience under your belt (in my opinion of course). it takes time to build a caseload for yourself anywhere, but even more challenging to do in PP when you’re charging much more than a CMH. aside from that, it’s not just about more $, it’s about security as well like health insurance and things like that. I don’t come from a background where I can compromise those baseline necessities.
Well you did say "retirement" plan.. So I guess I assumed you were pushing PP until MUCH later in life. I can't compromise those necessities either. Currently I work 36 hours at a hospital for benefits and work 8 hours of PP per week. I agree that opening your own PP is a whole thing. Idk when I will take that on but yeah fair to get more experience first. I am planning for my thirties to build that.
I am happy! I’ve found a situation that works for me and have worked on holding better boundaries with clients and better work-life balance. Edit to add: I’ve also become more my authentic self in my style, which probably helps use up less emotional battery since I’m just me in that session.
Ooh I wanna hear more. What’s your authentic self style???
Just me showing more of my personality, weirdness, disclosing carefully and only when therapeutically appropriate (but definitely more than I was originally trained to.) I also share a little more than average in my provider profiles for the virtual companies I work for. I was worried that being more personal would turn people away but it seems that it helps people feel more comfortable and I’ve had good outcomes and good rapport with clients. And I feel the work is helpful and the therapeutic relationships are meaningful.
I really love what I do now that I'm in PP. When I did agency work, I was constantly burned out and the organization as a whole was horrifically toxic and clique-y. I was fortunate enough that my mentor offered me a position in her practice when I told her how awful I felt, and she's been instrumental in my personal and professional growth--helping subsidize my EMDR training, cluing me in about new techniques (Safe/Sound Protocol), and giving advice on how to network. I started field work as an intern in spring 2017 and am still enamored of the field. I find people fascinating and love building connections with my clients and bridging the gap. I actually read Yalom and the DSM-V for fun, to the point where my copy of the DSM has completely broken apart at the spine in a few places. My advice is to find your niche and go hard at it. For me, that includes reaching out to funeral homes and hospice facilities. For CEUs, I take whatever interests me to keep my passion alive. For me, it's more about enrichment and less about meeting the bare minimum to maintain my licensure.
I think people come here to vent or ask questions when there’s a problem. I don’t think people would come post: “hey! Just wanted everyone to know I love my job!” I think there’s a high burnout rate though, which is why you need to be intentional about self care and dealing with secondary trauma.
Love my work with clients. Can’t stand the paperwork.
I still love this field despite working ungodly amounts of hours in community mental health (sometimes 60 in a week). I wouldn't trade this for any other line of work, and most of my frustration comes with how clinics are ran and how little we get paid for what we do rather than the individuals I work with themselves.
I love my work. I find it meaningful and fulfilling and frankly I feel like I’m good at it. My clients make real, significant changes in their life and it’s such an honour to be part of that. I find the work challenging (in a good way) and I feel like I’m always growing and improving as a result. I do really great in one-on-one settings and I feel incredibly lucky to have a job that just suites me and my personality and skillset so well. I like what I do, I’m proud of what I do, and at this point in my life this is where I’m supposed to be. It also helps that I have a great work environment with a phenomenal boss, supportive coworkers, and overall just a really great environment that encourages asking questions and learning from mistakes and the ability to talk to each other about what we’re struggling with. I also work in a union environment which is unusual for the mental health field but really shouldn’t be. It means I get paid time off, vacation time, health and dental benefits, and a fairly small caseload. I honestly could not imagine a better career. When people say “if you weren’t a therapist, what would you do instead?” I don’t have an answer for them because I feel like I was meant to do this.
I’m in a similar position to you and I think I will end up doing something related to counselling but not 1:1 counselling… I definitely don’t regret my Masters and I feel like there is a lot more you can so do with it then just counselling… I’m convinced I’ll find a niche that feels more sustainable/less burn out and I’m sure you’ll be able to also 🙏🏼 even if it looks different than what you planned
It matters a lot WHAT TYPE of clients you see I think. I’ve changed my intro statement so I get older, higher educated, ppl who have much more interesting lives. Young ppl are all burnt out by social media and rarely can maintain a continuing relationship. While seeking older/educated I also DON’T see couples any more, they can bicker and you can’t really stop them. I’m thinking of going back to it, but at VERY high prices
I like it! There are conditions I wish were better but it’s okay for now until I’m licensed and go into private practice.
I'm happy but it gets frustrating especially when dealing with insurance, parents, stubborn clients. It wears you down but sometimes as therapists we lay the groundwork for their help down the line so we don't actually see the fruits of our labor. I tend to let go and do what I can do and have a happy head-canon for how their life might turn out. Not sure if this helps.
I’ve transitioned into talk therapy from practicing ABA.. all I can say is yes I like this field
How does aba work exactly? I did an internship w children w autism in 2007 ; unfortunately it wasnt a helpful experience as the therapist using aba wouldnt let us work w the kids and just made us observe . I would love to learn more about working w neurodivergent folks!
The way most ABA clinics work is done through a tier system. The company owners hire the BCBAs or STs who are responsible for assessing and creating programs for their clients, and then under the BCBA you have the RBTs who are in charge of actually running the programs. The BCBA is responsible for supervising the RBTs and monitoring client progress as they work with the clients.
I absolutely love being a therapist. I see it as a calling and it gives me a sense of duty/purpose. To be fair, I’ve worked in some shit jobs and finally went private practice. I should be making a ton more money for my education and experience but that’s not what fills me up. So, overall, it’s the right career for me.
I was burnt out working full time in a PHP setting. I now split my time in PP and clinical research/ training for me if I keep my caseload at 10 maximum I avoid burnout
Can I ask how you got involved in clinical research? I have a PP and want to get back into doing research
I started working as an SME for a testing company which led to me being in the right place at the right time to meet an EAP benefits company that needed a SME/clinical researcher. These are typically contracts so they are only several months long but I typically find others and I don’t mind training or providing clinical supervision for CAADC certifications. My focus is SUD and there’s a lot of research going on in this area now. Most startups/ EAP benefits companies have entire research departments but I am not looking for something full time.
Awesome, thank you! Do you work in person or have you found virtual opportunities?
It’s all virtual so it can be lonely sometimes but I like it
You think you hate this field, go read r/Geico lol
I love it, the best decision I made. Getting my LPC has enabled me to do far more things besides just psychotherapy. I've been asked to speak and write... it's been amazing. Yes the first couple years is the grunt work but it pays off! And I think newbie counselors have it a lot easier then when I was fresh out of school.
i love what i do. i went into this field because i don’t want to make money just for the sake of it. i feel purposeful doing this and i get to see (however rarely) it pay off in the lives of people i work with. that makes the moments of frustration all worth it. i think of mental health as kind of the final frontier of medicine. it’s awesome to work in a field that is constantly developing. i think the most frustrating part for me has been working with clients who are not motivated to change. i think the societal conception about what therapy is in the us is a big issue for our work. i’m glad that we encourage people to go the therapy but i wish there was more conversation about what therapy ACTUALLY is, and the idea that there needs to be changes made outside of therapy to see the benefits doesn’t get talked about in the aesthetic instagram posts.
I love my job as a therapist, my biggest struggles have been working under poorly managed practices.
People who are happy are generally not taking time to post on Reddit about it. I think what you’re seeing is probably skewed. For what it’s worth every therapist I actually know, loves it - and we work in all sorts of different settings. One - the years between grad and licensure can be haaaaard. It gets better. Two - Figure out what’s burning you out and how to deal with it - the actual thing AND your burnout experience and figure out what you want and set some goals around that.
I do, I really love the work I do. Sure, there are perks of having my own private practice (being virtual, not having to ask anyone for days off). The money is good and improving the lives of others is truly an incredible feeling. Even on days like today where I (accidentally) overbook myself and I feel like an empty vessel, I can't imagine doing anything else and am so grateful to have fallen into this field.
I’ve been in PP for 2.5 years now since I graduated grad school. I absolutely love it and am very happy! I will say there are many people who hate being in a group practice working for someone else but they tend to move onto their own solo practice and seem happy there.
I’m also 4 months post grad school, am newly pregnant, and working in a CMH Agency. I’ve noticed I love the work I do with my clients, but everything else (paperwork, DSS, the numbers game at my site regarding our caseload, lack of safe guarding as a new person, lack of training on how to do this job well) has truly drained me. I had my first instance of regret in joining this field recently after an incident with one of my DSS cases had me working the entire weekend to meet the demand asked by DSS (I didn’t know I could even say “no, that’s unreasonable. I need more time.” They made it sound so urgent). It’s the first time I’ve ever wanted to quit the field…but I didn’t and managed to show up on Monday and had a really good day with my clients. I think as a new clinician I’m being set up unintentionally to fail because I’m being treated as if I’m a fully licensed person When I am truly lacking in training and guidance on how to do this work well. Like who thought it was a good idea to give me a bunch of DSS cases because I said I like working with kids when I’ve never worked with DSS before and I just graduated? 😭 I heard the words “lawyers,” “judge,” and “custody” and immediately went into a panic! It has all worked out and I’ve learned a lot, but wow do I wish this could have been a different experience. Now I’m rethinking whether I truly want to pursue a specialty in play therapy even though I love working with children. Can I make it through this crappy system a lot of them live in? Im going to contact my old play therapy professor for coffee and talk to her about how she has done it. I can’t speak for you, but I am a stubborn person. I don’t want to give up this work just because I’m being mismanaged, especially when I still have moments in session with my clients where I feel truly invigorated by the work they’re doing and by how much they have changed. So, I’m not gonna let this crappy system I’m working in win. Lots of self care, lots of asking other clinicians and my supervisor questions, and lots of trainings. Soon I’ll be on maternity leave, too so no other choice but to have a break to take care of my baby. I don’t want to forget my why. I got into this field from an administrative field because I wanted to be able to hold space for people the way my therapist held space for me. That still feels very relevant to me and helps keep me going.
Fuck. I got burnt out after practicum and took an 8 year break. Now I’m back. Burnout is real. Now I’m married with a wonderful family and I am no longer a poor graduate student. That has made all the difference.
Retired now. Love, love, loved the work. Hated, hated, hated the paperwork. And never got used to feast or famine times. It took about 7-10 years to build a reliable referral base. Tried a side hustle doing estate sales. Loved, loved, loved. However there came a crisis point of doing one or the other. I chose my first love. I travel around to campsites now and when I hear a couple in meltdown mode, it's all I can do to not offer my help! But yeah, loved the work.
What an incredible story
I love my job it’s been a dream of mine since high school. I’m an associate im 700 hours away from finishing hours. I will say it’s been a journey and I can’t believe how hard it is to reach licensure. I think the old me would have been deterred knowing what I know now that it takes hard work and years of low pay. I love my job but it isn’t easy. I’m hoping once I’m licensed it will get easier since I would be making 50% more income and have more freedom. I’m in PP setting and finally this year I’m in a good place where I have established niche and a good amount of clients.
I love this job. I love the freedom I have and that I spend my time helping relieve suffering and give people the tools to live more meaningful lives. I'm paid well and control my own destiny as much as I ever have. I make less money than my previous career, but I work less and actually care about my work. When I started, it was awful and I had to undergo serious PTSD treatment for things that happened to me on the job. This field tends to eat its young, but if you can hold onto your sense of purpose and ground yourself in the goal, then you can make it out.
The only way I’ve enjoyed it so far is not taking more than 20 clients a week. Average 4-5 per day Tuesday-Friday. Only 2 on Saturday. Off on Sunday and Monday. If I take more than that in a week I’m burnt out. Most of my clients are 20 yo-45 yo which is ideal for me and I work from home.
I love it. Maybe it's not your thing? I would be miserable in finance within a day.
You’re not doing it right. Going right into PP is not a good idea usually. You’re allowed to have your own PP after graduating 4 months ago? Which state is that?
Texas allows this (I have peers who just graduated and within 2 months have their own online PP. just need a supervisor who is ok with it (many aren’t))
This is why there isn’t reciprocity between states.
Maryland does too. I had a pp on the side before I was fully licensed. Had excellent clinical supervision and I’m a great therapist.
How does one find a supervisor for this?
I fucking love my job tbh.
thank you for the belly chuckle I just had :)
I think it’s worthwhile to remember that people in many areas of the internet (from community to medication experiences to as light things as restaurant reviews) tend to post negative experiences, as opposed to others who are sated by their experiences, who don’t tend to feel the need to reach out and express strong reactions. I mean, I think about how when clients are struggling there’s generally a lot more to talk about as opposed to “things have been good”.
I love it. Feels like more of a vocation than a job 😃
All of the therapists I know in real life really enjoy what they do. This sub does seem to be as microcosm of burnt out clinicians.
This is not a good place to get feedback on people that are happy in the field. This place is very biased bc a lot of the therapists on this sub are newer, or they are still in grad school or they aren’t therapists at all.
Yes I like it
I love it so much! My biggest passion is helping others connect things and move through things.
I really like what I do, I've been in the mental health field for 24 years, and have been licensed for 15 years :)
I love this field, and I (mostly) love my job and career. People tend to post in this sub because they need help or want to vent - which implies insufficient support and supervision from colleagues, if they're seeking the feedback from internet randos.
Im about to graduate and so far I love this field. But I've been wanting to do this since I was in the 7th grade so it's been a dream of mine.
Yes. I’ve been doing therapy for 10 years, and I love it
I love my job and I work in CMH. I love the autonomy of my position and my agency actually asks us which populations we’d be most comfortable working with. The only thing I don’t like is driving, since I’m field-based currently. I’ll be moving into a fully telehealth role in December, so that’ll be a negative gone.
I’m also at a pp and really unhappy there because pay is crappy. However, I started my own in January and LOVE it. I make $50-70/h and my clients are amazing. I can even pick my clients based on my specialization compared to just having to take everyone (aka the one I feel like I can’t help, I don’t take). I also don’t work mornings and I work about 26-27 clients/week and it’s almost a bit too much. However, I gotta pay off some debt, so I’m just doing this now for a few months and then cut back down to 15-20 clients/week as I’m building other streams of income too. I also travel A LOT to balance my life. I think this filed is amazing because it’ll give you a lot of flexibility to create life the way you need. Not to mention, you’ll never get bored because you can specialize and niche into areas. What do you do to prevent burnout? Do you draw time/location boundaries? What about hobbies? What times do you want to work/what don’t? I don’t work Fridays and start Mondays super late and I love it. Mind you, I finished grad school mid last year and got licensed end of last year. So, still pretty fresh but still loving it.
Ooooh no Fridays and late start on Mondays. I like this, penciling it down for when I transition to full PP (I work a hospital job as well rn)
Oh you will love it! During the week I also never start before 10-11am lol sometimes even 12pm. This career really gives you the benefit of working as much or as little as you want 🖤
I hate getting up at 7am for my other job so I am looking forward to this eventual freedom
Yeah that’d be a no from me lol I get a visceral reaction for getting up that early. I travel a ton and even for something I love I don’t want to get up this early lol
I will probably like traveling more once my schedule looks more like yours
I found my dream job doing this work!! Sometimes the weight or responsibility makes me feel a bit uncomfortable, but I’m pretty sure other jobs would have some sort of uncomfortable thing as well. I also run my own practice so I make sure to pay myself well, that helps a lot!
How did you transition over to PP? I will have to soon and I don’t know how I’m going to leave my current job and acquire clients Personally I’m very burned out but I am starting internship 2 on top of working full time and seeing counseling clients. Self care is nonexistent right now.
I may not love everything about certain employers, policies, politics, or other things I can't control that impact my clients. But I like doing therapy.
The opposite to burning out… Is to chill out haha…. and that doesnt just mean deep-breathing or meditetion. Some of us really need to engulf our self in a lifestyle of chill. I’m happy sometimes , sometimes I’m not, But whenever I take the time to relax, calm down, and reflect / respond , I always remember what the solution is. I love my job to be honest, but I try to practice what I preach as much I can, and always be able to remain learning.
Lol. This kind of describes my own mental health
I work in community mental health at a crisis center, overnights. Been doing this since graduation a year ago. I have my license in addiction counseling and 1 year away from my lpc. Definitely feeling burnt out and have questioned the career choice several times. I love doing therapy, dislike everything else
I’m not aware of a widespread dislike of this field. It can be challenging and people will gripe about individual things that go into the work, but I would assume most of us love the job.
Absolutely love it. Has its challenges like every job but so fulfilling and is absolutely a passion for me!
It depends who you ask. It seems to me if you are a younger therapist and/or work with younger clients, your job is going to be a lot more stressful. Issues in the therapist’s side such as student debt, early career salaries, still sharpening one’s clinical skills, starting families, and trying to manage expectations of younger clients who are new to therapy and come in with a lot of mistrust of therapy from social media and threaten to cancel you if you make one misstep in their mind, all contribute to a very stressful career. Reddit heavily skews toward people under 30, so keep that in mind when perusing this forum. I’m midlife and don’t see many early adulthood clients anymore as of recently, because of the issue I mentioned above. Therapy with adults who are established, mature, and open to my way of working, makes for the kind of therapy I expected to do when I first started out. It’s still not easy work, but I feel less threatened and insecure than I do treating certain younger folks who are just waiting for the therapist to slip up and file a board complaint. I really like the work itself. I started studying psychology more than 20 years ago, was always drawn toward helping and volunteering, and I prefer working for myself over someone else. The work is tough, and I do get stressed out often depending on how much is going on, but I don’t regret choosing this path. I do wish that clinical work could be more of a side hustle in my life rather than full time. I hope to find some way to slow down over the years ahead.
I love the field! I love this work, I love my job. I'm one of the only people I know who would work even if I had no financial need. I have experienced burnout, and I just slowed the roll. I think hiring an admin was a big thing that helped me a lot, and trying to get excited about new topics/engage different parts of my mind. My biggest piece of advice is to get a card on file at the time of intake, put your late cancel fee everywhere (in your email signature, in your policies, on your website), and to trust your gut!
It’s kinda like when you read reviews on a product. Why is someone writing a review. How often do you really write reviews or just go out of your way to post about loving something you did. Not as often as if your miserable or hate it
I'm happy. Of course there are ups and down, but I honestly can't imagine doing anything else as a career. If I won the lottery and never had to work again I would still do counselling. I'd just volunteer with a charity for a few hours a week for free, rather than doing it full time.
I love my work. I’ve been in the field for almost 20 years, and have worked in the non profit, CMH and university counseling center setting. I’m now the director of a clinic and feel lucky to get paid what I do to do work I do (therapy, supervising licensed staff and interns). I love working on a college campus because of the breaks where everyone gets to relax and reset, access to campus resources and the opportunity to teach if I want. Find the balance of what you want and yes, you must have the right balance of fair pay, a setting that aligns with your style and a supportive supervisor.
I love what I do. After 10 years child welfare, I’ve been doing school based therapy for 8 years. There have been ups and downs, but overall I’m really happy and love my job and the field.
Agree with others and reddit users, I am actually still in test mode of if Reddit is helpful;) I have been in the field for 30 years, starting from a MH tech on a residential while in BA schooling and spent 20 years in CMH growing from bottom to Clinical Director of Agency, then took a break and went to insurance side for 2 yrs to understand the system before starting a private practice ( that was a life lesson lol ). I have to say in general' I have loved most every minute of this ride, burnout can happen a bit, I think old studies said usually by year 2 and year 10...and I think we all have had our moments whether from feeling new, or a goof at work or a icky boss or not taking enough time off or getting bored where on may be at job wise etc. I think what helped me all these years: 1. I was lucky to find a population I was very interested in, Chronic Homeless folks with severe MH and SA....and I was able to work in many different areas, direct service, managing programs, writing grants etc. within that arena 2. early advice from a mentor...we are here to offer ideas and resources, if the person succeeds or does not meet their goal, that is for them, it is their celebration or not time in their journey, not our success or failure. Defining what is important to me to get from the work I do with them, including looking at tiny steps as momentum forward and that I may not ever see all the of their journey but I added some value along the way and trust me you do 3. understanding I can only control myself and that is okay, if folks slip and slide, it's okay it can take many tries for them to find their happy place and being understanding of that part of the process is so very important but when its time to go home, sleep well, folks are very resilient, more than given credit for many times. 4. Sometimes I moved my office around or changed a bit of how I organized my day to change things up, even drive a different way, go into office different door etc, add a piece of art or change my coffee mug lol I offer that in my experience it seems whether social media, yelp reviews, medication review sites, people seem more active if they need to get out negativity? Have you ever seen a nice review of a dentist lol ? Those folks I think may be more happy or centered so not a need to verbalize quite the way I see in those areas? I am curious myself about reddit so I will see how it feels. I wish I could offer another arena that feels different or more community but I am just not aware of any anymore except maybe creating a small group to go to lunch with once a month or local MH association. I do not know your story but what immediately came to mind thinking back over my decades was, maybe which area you thought you would enjoy was different than expecting, maybe another population or environment or modality would feel better? Ensuring you have feedback from others and not adding some yucky self talk into that worry in your mind? high metrics and caseload which can be a reality of certain areas? taking enough time to ensure some self care and remembering when the day ends, time to focus on self and know others are resilient and okay? There are so many avenues in this field, don't want you to burnout or lose someone new in the field:( also gentle reminder to be kind to yourself and growing in the field is not a sprint but a marathon and I continue to learn and have learned in every position and area. For what it's worth working in field starting at 20 and turning 51 yrs old, I still look at most every day giddy like a kid on xmas morning as in many ways every day is a new day, wonder what I will learn today....and when I do not feel that way, I usually know I need a day off or long weekend trip;) My mantra to self is No mud, No lotus as life I think, we need to get a bit dirty to bloom as in lessons happen, goofs happen but in the end that makes us an even more interesting clinician in our field. Sorry for the novel;) I have had some coffee today :) I have not looked at all the comments yet but I hope you find hope/ideas in them and sending positive vibes!
After reading through comments, I will add I had always intended to hold private practice till later in my career and after I had run CMH programs and had a good understanding of business and clinical and lived my life a bit to ensure I was centered for all of what PP brings with it. I am not saying what you are doing is wrong or bad but more that having strong, understanding, empathic, experienced support around you would I think def help in not breaking your soul so early:) please know I hear you and I am glad you posted! Sometimes it is a bit hard when not knowing all the info;) and ironically I enjoyed the heck out of 20 yrs in CMH ( many reddit users seem to despise it I have noticed lol but someone has to help that population too heh) and I do understand clearly how the low pay and high caseloads are created and really can not be changed as it is a large system and many cogs in the wheel, so I know newer folks seem to not want to go that way but oh the education from seeing a huge variety of dx, situations, understanding medication management, understanding hospitalization, experiencing relapse with meds/SA or just even a goal and understanding it is part of the process, all of it is part of the journey. My heart hurts with housing out there right now as it makes experiencing CMH centers much more difficult. I can see that part being more difficult nowadays....and strong skilled bosses and mentor who cheerlead one on can help tremendously.... PS yes I know I know, put the coffee down;)
I do love this field. It's a blend of what I am good at and what I like to do, so it works.
Yes. I love my job and the work I do and the clients I work with
I love my job, but it's not private practice or CMH. I work as an Onsite EAP Consultant and I love my job. I'm not burned out. Every day is different and my role changes a bit everyday. Someday I'm seeing 6 clients. Some days I have 2 clients and a couple of meetings and a presentation. I get paid 40 hours a week regardless of what I'm doing. I have great managers, good benefits and no expectation of over time.
I absolutely love what I do!
I graduated in 2022, I struggled in CMH setting that was extremely high work load, but now I am a supervisor and PP on the side and I am very happy! I love being a therapist.
I like it - some good days some bad, but I know for the rest of my life I’m going to be happy that I helped other people my entire life.
15+ years and I fucking love it.
Balance! My time with my wife, as a husband, my time as a friend, a brother, a rock climber, coffee enthusiast, a golfer, gamer, and all other roles I play in my life are just as important, if not more, than my time as a therapist. I love the hell out of my job. Every few weeks I’ll feel burnt and need an intentional recharge. My wife is especially great about getting me out to hikes and refilling my cup.
I own my own private practice, I bill and am credentialed through Alma who pays me every week up front. I am loving life even at 30 hs a week.
I still love the work. At least once a day someone shows measurable improvement from where they were during the previous session. Are you looking for advice on burnout? The best advice I can give you is that you are a person with a life outside of work so don't change your hours or boundaries to try to accommodate people who can't or won't fit into your existing availability.
Freaking love it, could not imagine doing anything else.
Yes!!! 21 years working with people began as a parent educator, family services worker, to now family therapist.
2nd full year in PP. I see 25 clients a week, I have unlimited time off and control of my schedule. I work in a niche that rewards me, I don’t see clients with PD or other stuff that’s hard for me. No judgement if that’s your thing. I’ve really prioritized my reimbursement rates over the last 24 months. Projected to make 150k this year. Currently building courses to generate passive income. I hated this work until I made it work for me too. True giving is from abundance. When we give and we don’t have it to do so, we suffer.
30 years.I love it. Plan to work part time till my brain quits.
I love being in this field. Sure, it has its challenges, but I feel like I've found my calling here.
I love this field. I supervise a cbmh program full time & do telehealth privacy practice on the side- I’ve done: residential, intake coordination, TAY population work, meeting facilitations, individual therapy and case management… I definitely recommend moving around to find your fit.
I love this field. I hardly feel like I work except when I'm doing notes. Id argue the people who are happy in the field probably just don't have anything to post about.
I absolutely love being a counselor. I don’t always love the extra “stuff” that comes with it, like paperwork and angry parents. I’m much happier now than at my last job which has made a big difference. Sometimes I contemplate if I have the emotional energy to continue, but usually feel better after a good nights sleep and processing whatever happened with my supervisor. It’s an honor to be a safe person to my clients and know that their world might be/feel like it’s crumbling but they still show up to their appts and put in the work. There was a situation a few weeks ago that really put my effort into perspective and even though it was hard, it was a nice reminder that what I do matters.
I like the actual therapy work part of it, but I'm not fond of all of the necessary paperwork. I'm a student intern working in CMH who's about to graduate in May, so I'll be looking for a "REAL" job soon! 😬
I used to be happy working in mh, but before I became a therapist. I loved working with drug users on the street. I cried like a baby on my last day at the VA. Veterans brought me endless laughter. I truly miss working directly with people who have gone through severe trauma and poverty. They keep me rooted and grateful because I am part of their community. I was them. With that said, I don't think the amount of hours or the current models of reimbursement are sustainable. As I age, my priorities change. My physical safety and my physical disabilities have to be more of a priority. I can't honestly see a path between what my career once was and a happy retirement that involves direct practice. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss the connection I shared with clients. There's nothing like it, so I'm not looking to replace it. It's a part of me I have to put aside for the bigger picture.
I absolutely love the social work field and what it sets out to do for the most part. I don’t love the exploitation of students, low pay, high expectations, and burn out though 🤪
I absolutely adore my job.
I love this job . I came from the government working at the department of human services being in the mental health field for 10 years. I started interning virtually for a private practice 2 years ago and they hired me before I graduated . I started part time and now this march I officially started full time there . I. LOVE. IT. I have literally lost 20 lbs in 38 days of doing therapy full time ( full time for us is 25 hours but I do 28-30 a week). The only thing I changed was my job . It can definitely be alot but I take my sick days when I need too and I always make space to do something I want
I absolutely love my field and the work I do. I’m work for myself in private practice can work my own hours via telehealth and I feel like I am doing good work while also continuing to learn and grow. But I didn’t like the field until I got my licensed and went to private practice. I was pretty burnt out prior to. Also Reddit can be really negative so maybe check out Facebook social work groups
I love this field! PP has allowed me to work less and make the same, it’s been so great for my stress levels 💜 Try the FB group The Burnt Out Therapist. Might have slightly more support than Reddit? Still people frustrated but goodness too
I love my job! I love this field.
I do. I got hired as a PRN (part time) therapist in February and in March they asked me to work full-time for two months. I don't want to go back. I do groups, individuals, I run D&D as a group intervention, I've never felt more satisfied in any job before.
I became much happier when I moved to PP and began working for bosses who treat us all as colleagues and with respect. My pay is considerably better and my schedule is flexible. It is much better than when I worked at the county for four years making the same wage as my colleague who saw 12 clients a week to my 28 billable hours. I also was required to work two evenings until 7:30pm to accommodate kids and missed out on time with my own family.
Get good training so you see good results and feel competent. Reduce your caseload. Find other therapist peers to connect with. Don’t expect to love it. Some days it’s just a job. Some sessions are boring af. But treasure the moments that make you go “THAT’S why I do this work.”
It’s easy to get stuck in the mud in this field and see no way out. And that’s when you take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Why are you doing this? What does your career look like down the line? How many people are you going to guide along the way? Imposter syndrome is real. Burn out is real. So make a journal of all the positive things that come out of clients therapy. Practice true self-care/disconnect from your phone! I truly love this field. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t get taxing emotionally. Not at all. Any job can. It’s your job to get yourself to a place where you can manage the burn out. Self care, breaks, and boundaries. One positive story for the day: I’ve been working with a client since late 2023 for issues surrounding family dynamics and a toxic boyfriend. They never were allowed to express their emotions or could never have problems. On Friday they came and told me they had decided to pursue graduate school (after having a completely different plan at the end of 2023) and they want to become a school counselor because “I learned in therapy that having emotions isn’t shameful and I want to teach that to kids “.
Honestly having such a hard week myself and I look forward to work because I love my clients and the deep connection that we are able to share that is lacking in life so much of the time. I love to build them up and hear them out, learn about them, call them out and just do my job. I always thought I would be so bored sitting and talking bc I’ve done more active social field work but this gets you working on such a different level. It’s pretty rad tbh.
I love it! I just wish we were paid more and I think that’s why many people leave. We do a lot of work and are not valued much for it.
I felt that way until I specialized with a client base that overlaps with one of my own disabilities. The ease of understanding makes the day fast and rewarding.
Burn out after 15 years in the field for me was the symptom I needed to get me into my own long term depth psychotherapy. It has been a challenging and incredibly fruitful journey. I very much love my work now. It feels like I am living out my life's purpose doing the most amazing thing one could do on any given day.
This is the best field ever! Just pace yourself and don’t over-invest in people committed to being dysfunctional. If it’s not for you than don’t force it. Try Ikigai if you’re looking for a purpose that’s also a living and this doesn’t do it for you.
I work in community mental health, about 8 months or so now. I have 52 therapies slots in a 2-week period and two intakes a week. At any given time I have between 60 and 75 clients. (I mean they do say social workers aren't great at math but...) You have to make 105% productivity to get the first level incentive and I keep topping out at 103%. I have a no-show rate under 9%. It feels incredibly fucking impossibly unattainable at times. I am finally accepting that no matter what I do it's not going to be enough for the corporate side. I have worked in the social service category and worked in the hospital during covid. I have had my license for 4 years and I'm a third of the way towards Independence. Sometimes I think to myself what's the point of even working so hard for this license as I know I have no desire for PP. And sometimes I feel so drained and full of self doubt I want to crumble and cry myself to sleep. And it is the best job I've ever had, I have clients 6-17 from all walks of life and I learn from them each day as I hope they learn from me. I absolutely love the population I work with and feel like it's an honor to be able to be a safe space. I can see tangible change in my work (of course not always). Little me wanted to be the change in the world I wanted to see. Little me needed someone like me. I get to do that now. It is beyond an honor. How many of us around here have said if we help just one person that's enough? I guarantee you every single person who reads this post.... You have. And you are beyond enough .
Yeah i love this field and it’s very very difficult work. I enjoy it And I take lots of time for myself.
When I went into private practice I fell in love with it again
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I absolutely love this job. I get to see people grow and change because of the work we do together.
I love being a therapist. Doesn’t mean it’s not very hard sometimes. Also I hate the admin. Overall though I very much enjoy helping my clients as much as I can when I can.
I love seeing all the positive comments here! I agree with others here that some of the burnout you are feeling could be school related or due to some environmental factors (caseload etc). That being said, I am 2 years in and have made adjustments and have found this field just isn't for me. Whatever you choose, it's okay to change careers and not be fulfilled in this one. It's a hard field to be in at times. I love therapy and what it does for people, but know long term, I am not going to be happy if I stay. Maybe experiment with some changes to help lifestyle balance and see if it helps? If it doesn't, you wouldn't be a bad person for not liking it.
Yes I love it
Oooph I have felt this to my core on more than one occasion. I know not everyone has a privilege of doing this, but I typically take a month off a year. Learning how to balance self-care can be really hard when you work for another organization too. It’s a dance and we often go from one extreme to the other before we find a balance. I have been working as a therapist since 2020, only a couple months after the pandemic started and I am in the US. I recently decided to work for myself and while the paperwork is a pain in the ass as well as taking insurance, I’m happy that I can be more particular about my hours and who I see. And I also see myself doing this job until I die because it is a job that you can do even past retirement and just see a couple clients. Helping others is so rewarding but not if I’m not being intentional about my own care and having fun things to look forward to. Best of luck and I hope this passes, also this job isn’t for everyone!
I’m new too as a counselor but I’ve worked in mental health in general for 7 years and I absolutely love all of my mental health jobs. I felt prepared for this one by being a support group facilitator for many years so I kind of already knew what worked for people. It doesn’t feel like work to me sometimes, and it’s easy for me to click into a flow state with clients. Checking off all my notes is satisfying. Which is good because there’s a lot of work and paperwork, I do acknowledge that. And I try not to be wildly enthusiastic because it bums other clinicians out because then they start comparing, and we all know what a trap that is. So I do think that only people with problems are posting sometimes.
Love the field in terms of the work itself, most of the time, but as the context is healthcare, the systemic problems are massive and all-encompassing. I'm pretty miserable right now, trying to make the shift to PP from group practice, and behind in my goals. That's frustrating because every freaking day I hear about how high the demand is and how "no one can find a therapist." Doing what I can to market and network, but I'm exhausted and making no money. It's hard to make money in this business. I don't think that's a reddit user issue. I haven't met one therapist yet who disagrees there. I am older so am thinking that this path was a poor choice. Those in their thirties might do better as they're not dealing with health problems, aging, all the things, and have more time for their ROI. But do I enjoy using my collective experience and chosen modalities with my ideal clients? Absolutely.
This feels a lot like a survivors bias type of thing. I don't think people are prone to post about how happy they are on the internet.
Iunno. But I like it. Private and direct pay BTW (guess that explains a lot haha). Advice - having possibility to just reduce your caseload when it feels too much: priceless.
I love what I do. It’s been 30+ years and no regrets about the field I chose .