Burned Out From the Therapy Profession?

Burned Out From the Therapy Profession?
Sign up for TherapyNotes and get two months FREE:
www.therapynotes.com/r/privat...
FREE Guide: Start a Private Practice in Counseling:
tinyurl.com/y9ek9en8
I have posted a few different videos touching on burnout as a therapist. This time I’m taking a little bit of a different angle. My prior videos about burnout have focused more on acute burnout - you’re overworked, you feel you have little control over your schedule or your workload, or maybe you’re experiencing some secondary trauma. All of those are super important to address.
But beyond acute burnout, I’m noticing more and more that therapists are burning out on the profession altogether. As in, questioning whether they want to practice clinical therapy work at all.
In this video, I share some reflections on what I think may be contributing to this degree of therapist burnout and offer a few thoughts on alternative approaches to make our therapy work ore sustainable across our careers.
Videos mentioned:
Early Signs of Therapist Burnout and how to Cope:
• Early Signs of Therapi...
I Scored "Severe" on the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale:
• I Scored "Severe" on t...
LINKS
*Some links are affiliate links. A percentage of purchases come back to me and help my channel immensely!
👉 How to DIY a Therapist Website that Fills your Practice: privatepracticeskills.teachab...
👉 Private Practice Skills Merch: teespring.com/stores/private-...
👉 All my filming gear: kit.co/privatepracticeskills/...
👉 Music I use: www.epidemicsound.com/referra...
This video is geared for therapists of all kinds, including psychologists, MFTs, LPCCs, social workers, and others in the clinical counseling field.
Welcome to Private Practice Skills! I’m Dr. Marie Fang, psychologist in private practice. I post videos offering tools I learned the hard way about starting and growing private practice so that you don’t have to.
www.privatepracticeskills.com
Facebook: PrivatePracticeSkills/
Insta: PrivatePracticeSkills
Music from Epidemic Sound:
www.epidemicsound.com/track/u...
This video is not intended as professional or legal advice. Be sure to seek the services of a professional if you are in need of them.

[@jonigarciajg]

Sometimes I want to go back to school to learn horticulture and just garden all day.

[@JuanRodriguez-yl9oq]

Becoming a therapist has become like the mechanic that has a junked up car for self. All time and energy goes out and little back in! I really like the idea of building wealth early!

[@kastaspell6226]

It blows my mind that therapists teach clients about self care yet the systems they work in are very ableist and do not allow for self care

[@AuthenticallySarah]

I just want to say thank you for saying that burnout isn’t a reflection of your skills as a professional. I need to hear this more. Much more. ❤

[@Shvgl591]

I really needed this. I often think that it is drilled into our heads that “this field you won’t make money” and we accept that. Right now I am so burnt out and I’ve worked on the field for the last 6 years and I am just so done with the underpay and high stress. Thank you

[@anitaknight3915]

Yeah they take advantage and exploit our field as such empathetic giving and selfless people while undervaluing and unfairly paying us. I entered field in 2020 and want to exit the field entirely. It's heartbreaking because it was a calling for me. There's absolutely no advocacy for us. These agencies and behavioral medical companies are pure greed/unethical just like the insurance companies and hospitals. It's a broken system set up to see as many clients as possible and to burn out take advantage of clinicians.

[@lisawan1279]

I decided not to pursue my MFT license after graduate school because of the low pay or no pay while accumulating my hours. It’s ridiculous how therapist are treated.

[@anitaknight3915]

It's a horrible exploitative field that undervalues & takes advantage of the caring giving nature of therapists. We are horribly unfairly compensated and the burnout is inevitable. The tragic thing is after grad school to work for agencies/practices to realize you're still treated like an intern while accumulating hours toward clinical licensure. It's deplorable.

[@amandareylugo]

You're wise to think about your own security and financial risk. Unfortunately, the field needs more empathic people who want to care and advocate for the public, and it's a challenging decision to make as an individual especially if you come from a marginalized background and have very expensive debts to repay after graduate school.

[@heatherulstad]

Can I ask what you decided to pursue with the degree instead? I'm on track to graduate with an M.S. in counseling psych in a year and I'm reconsidering my initial LPC/licensed counselor plan

[@racquelstukes3361]

Same. I got my MFT degree in 2018 and I am Just Done with the non stop criteria, underpay, and misuse for therapist. It is simply a shame what we go through, and it’s not the clients that’s the problem- more so the systems/ management.. all the greed! I am on a mission to leave ASAP

[@michellegirau8136]

It's horrible not getting paid. I decided to stay at the place I interned at. She said I could come back in the fall with an LPC associate position. I asked many times after we were in contract with supervison what I would get paid. Never gave me an answer but expects me to see clients. I cannot work for free i have a family.

[@CurvyNerd]

I’m definitely understanding this as I’m struggling with internship and classes plus work and family life. People don’t realize that accumulating all these hours with no pay, crisis type clients, etc. is very hard. Thank you for putting out this video.

[@alexandrademartini7496]

These are exactly the same problems when you become a teacher. Clearly we have some deep systemic problems.

[@anitaknight3915]

Yes the system Is broken and oppressive in healthcare, mental health, education, and corporate.

[@secondchance6766]

No, it's imperfect, hardly broken

[@Jamama4]

This! I transitioned to be a therapist after 30+ years as an RN. I love having an impact in people's lives. However, having a balanced view of what is possible keeps me from getting frustrated. I love your videos. You helped me start my own practice after completing my licensing requirements at a very toxic agency. Keep the videos coming. You are so helpful. Thanks!!

[@kaybee2286]

Left the field. Work as a consultant at a university now. Using my clinical skills without any patient facing appointments. Burnt out after years in community mental health.

[@connychan5722]

May I ask what you do for living now? Thanks

[@kaybee2286]

I review medical documentation and provide recommendations for accommodations (based on a disability) for different faculties and departments across campus.

[@mgo810]

So much of this I’ve already experienced in my short experience as a post graduate counselor in private practice. I now am working toward state licensure where I pay a supervisor for a session every 2 weeks and have to do this for another 2 to 3 years before I can be free of paying someone else to do this work. It’s bizarre. Probably should have gone to med school or got a business degree. As therapist I find many of us tend to minimize the money aspect of our work as we feel guilty for asking for money from vulnerable people seeking help but the reality is that money is important and we deserve a lot more than we get. That money is how we take care of ourselves so we can care for others and we shouldn’t minimize it as an essential and deserved part of the work we do. We deal with people pain and struggle all the time. That’s a lot of weight.

[@anitaknight3915]

Absolutely!!! The burnout, compassionate fatigue, and lower than we deserve compensation isn't worth it. Our goodness is exploited I'm a broken corrupt greedy system. Healthcare is a business and doesn't care about providers nor patients but profits. We deserve to be compensated well and feel guilty as the "helpers" giving everything to help others at our expense which isn't good nor allow us to be effective. There's so much gaslighting manipulation to not care about money and to be saviors/helpers. We often are drained, underpaid, and need just as much help as clients.

[@homefryniles3983]

Some of the fatal flaws that are built into our model of psychotherapy are: The assumption that therapy is medical. There's a diagnosis and "medicine" needed. The attitude that the therapist must receive and accept whatever the client brings--narcissism, hostility, non-payment. The therapy method, to be most legitimate, should be deliverable by ANY clinician because it's the method (validated , tested) and not the clinician so much that is efficacious. Bah! Psychotherapy is not science. It's not medicine. At best it's a dialogue. The therapist might hold a doctorate degree, but is not "doctoring" in the way that a physician administers a treatment that doesn't need to be personal (well, not totally true) and should be efficacious. It's not good for the psychotherapy client, or therapist, if the therapist welcomes and accepts any behavior, including selfishness and abuse, from the client. Our society undervalues teachers, doctors, therapists, musicians, artists, writers. That's because, among many other things, these professions have to do with people and "people work" is more difficult to extract profit from in a society that is mostly organized around and driven by production and commodification.

[@dianebrouder5802]

Thank you so much for this video! Another contributor to burnout is paperwork. I've been a therapist for 30 years and I've seen a progression from no guidelines at all to a chaotic jumble of requirements based on insurance and agency needs. The last agency I worked at required documentation that justified various funding by providing information for statistics. Aaargh! Wouldn't it be nice if insurance companies and/or entities who provide grants we're restricted to gathering limited amounts of data from therapists through documentation? For example, maybe we could all use a standardized form to show when we met, where, what modality, who was present, etc. Instead we all end up reinventing the wheel several times a day. Exhausting! I use a template that was offered by my EHR platform, but still find it requires a lot of customization. Any ideas you have towards making this easier would be much appreciated. I love your videos and have been binge watching them! 🌷

[@ivryrayborn5970]

I would like to address the fact that when working early on, you’re given a lot of high needs clients. I’ve also noticed this, but I think there is some reasoning behind this. I think so many novice counselors experience high needs clients in graduate programs and in community mental health. I think this is due to the low cost and the affordability. There is a link between high risk, accessibility, poverty, and mental health. However, many private practices don’t really see a high number of these individuals due to the lack of access and the fact that it may not be affordable to them. I think so many therapists are not burn-out, but find it hard to service those in need and also maintain some type of financial stability because of these systemic issues. I don’t think the answer to our problems are more private practices, but unions and holding insurance companies and community mental health agencies accountable.

[@katieclark9965]

Yes, this. It truly feels sometimes like private practice is the only space I feel like I can embody all of the training to the fullest. The system doesn’t always do this and it’s so disempowering to feel stuck in it.

[@catpaladin1]

And then good luck getting paid by insurance. Burned out after 26 years

[@jeananam8956]

I’m currently in my internship year as a masters student and have been asking myself all the same questions! Why are us trainees tasked with treating the toughest cases, who need and *deserve* the highest level of expertise and care? Also, I love the idea of aiming for financial stability early on in order to be able to give back more freely 💛 Thank you so much for this and for all of your videos!

[@kimcarrots]

I remember having to put down really firm boundaries about who I would and wouldn't see as an intern. Because of the clients I was assigned to I was STRESSED and not learning anything!

[@huntergomez4633]

I retired from practice a few years ago due to burnout and it still shocks me that almost no one in our space wants to discuss professional burnout! Being able to help others is a totally different skillset to the skills needed to absorb the intensity of private practice...

[@anitaknight3915]

I feel nobody advocates for therapists let alone discusses burnout, compassion fatigue, and the lack of support & benefits. I'm curious how you coped as it's been awful for me as an empath and highly caring person. Schools and supervisors preached self care but don't provide us a working environment to practice those skills.

[@sammelina12]

Wow this is interesting. Could you elaborate on the statement “skills needed to absorb the intensity of private practice”? I’m so curious!

[@vanessaphd]

EVERYTHING 👏🏽 YOU 👏🏽 SAID 👏🏽 IS 👏🏽 TRUE 👏🏽 Just think, there is more than that, that people aren’t talking about - expensive license renewal fees, undertrained supervisors, and more. It’s a hard field to remain in long term especially now while managing stressors of the economy and pandemic.

[@anitaknight3915]

The renewal fees and licensure is a complete racket!!!! The burnout, unfair pay, and lack of benefits is horrific.

[@janna7756]

Thanks for this video. It speaks to a topic that a lot of us feel guilty even saying out loud. So thanks 🙏 I’m going to start my second career in interior design now haha

[@meredith2277]

That sounds fun! I have some ideas for passion projects that may develop into a new career path. Enjoy the change!

[@Enchanteralle]

I can completely relate how I have moments of questioning if I can be a therapist for the rest of my life and then there are rewarding moments that pull me back. Definitely true about how new therapists start out seeing very severe clients with super low pay and then seeing higher functioning clients with higher pay, then ultimately seeing very few clients with great pay. I am taking the leap to go into private practice full time knowing that I cannot deal with the politics, system issues, low pay, and ridiculous caseload which were all the major reasons that burn me out in previous yrs. I've seen some therapists quit along the way and some who burn out, then end up doing the bare minimum. Thank you for sharing this because as healers we need to heal ourselves too.

[@amandareylugo]

Good luck with private practice! You'll be so much happier.

[@anitaknight3915]

I feel the same way of questioning whether I can stay in this field another year. Seeing clients progress and helping people is rewarding but it's not enough when everything else about the job is draining, negative, and too self sacrificial. The high stress, severe patients, high caseload, and burnout isn't worth the low pay. Private practice is better money but different problems and lack of benefits/unpredictable income.

[@gc9370]

In respect of a power dynamic, this is why I think it's so important to work from a person-centred base

[@Portubed]

It's still not enough and a double standard. You'll try to say and live as if the client is the expert, when in reality all the training and research is done on the therapist's "expertise", which can't even be generalized, depending mostly on each client. It's not about seeing the obvious or going forward with you're already critical of. It's about finding ways to exit this broken system (if you're not too stuck in a senior position in it, you can't even begin to fix it) while finding other ways of helping people...

[@sophiasoto1405]

Exactly for those of us with experience get it!

[@kristenford7508]

Marie I am a grad student who has been working as a Case manager and in the field for almost a decade. I'm feeling like I'm spinning my wheels and the potential pay is not encouraging considering to my loans and expenses. I agree that more stremas of income/ investments are needed. Thanks for this video it really helped at a face some decisions. Thank you 🙏

[@katieeder6143]

I think you are dead on. I am in my post graduate clinical hours and I am tired. On top of a broken system, I was in grad school when the pandemic hit. I have never seen a client in pre-pandemic conditions. My supervisors did not have capacity to give me the mentorship I needed. The treatment facility I work at has been understaffed during my entire time here so I'm undertrained and overworked.

[@whatsyourwhycoaching6758]

Your content is always spot on and I appreciate it

[@prettyincaramel]

Such a needed video. If possible more on these topics Ty!!!

[@AdriannaCKumar]

I love this, thank you for sharing. 💕

[@serwin1989]

I like your approach (wealth building first). I know you say its controversial, and maybe it is, but I do think that putting ourselves under financial stress to empower our clients is only anti-oppressive in one direction. Im just finishing up my first year in private practice as an RSW in BC, Canada. I took 3 clients on a low cost rate (quite low, flat fixed fee) that I knew really. needed it after working with them for a couple of sessions (reduced the cost to help them out) and otherwise am charging full fee, and I keep this at 3 clients. My low cost rate is lower than it would be if I offered a sliding scale to everyone/most people, and my theory was that I could balance that by making sure I was otherwise taken care of, and giving those slots to people who might not otherwise be able to continue therapy. Its worked pretty well for me so far. My plan now is to start a passive income source (like you have yourself) so that I don't have to depend on the money from counselling as much. Then, I can take fewer clients, and can slide my scale to be more accessible a bit more freely when people need it to attend counselling. This is a struggle and sort of a type of dissonance for many of us who believe so strongly in accessibility, but still live in a world where capitalism rules all and need to have our needs met. Reality is, I live in a place where bachelor/studio apartments are now renting for 1800 a month and you can't buy a home for under a million dollars. Apartments/condos are going for 700 000 and the rental market is so precarious that being stuck in that is also insecure. I'm also a queer woman who wants to start a family and has to pay for the baby making lol. We have to take care of ourselves too, if we want a sustainable career that will allow us to prioritize accessibility long term! Basically.... we're all subject to oppression... and the expectation to keep ourselves vulnerable to help our clients oppressive in itself (especially since its once again care work which is undervalued and traditionally 'female' work... but i digress)

[@amandareylugo]

YES! Everything about this.

[@ivryrayborn5970]

All I can say is thank you for saying this. No one really addresses how capitalism really is a disservice to those in need of social services and those who work in social services.

[@126769]

I work in county services and I am a high earner. I have zero overhead, great benefits, retirement, plus public service loan forgiveness. I am also sitting her EXHAUSTED from a very long week. I see about 6-7 back-to-back clients per day and approximately 4 intakes per week. Burnout is REAL! I question my career choices at least 2x per month.

[@kimcarrots]

Now you've got my thinking juices flowing! :)

[@katherineblanchard9915]

No lies were told in this video. Thank you for keeping it real and promoting strategic, realistic thinking about this career field.

[@grumpyschnauzer]

It’s amazing to me, that in contrast to my attorney bf, he doesn’t have to do clinical nor get a masters and he make 3x as much.

[@anitaknight3915]

Exactly. And we help others while burning out ourselves and went to school same amount as lawyers. It's unacceptable and exploitative with our education to be paid this way.

[@stephaniehelton5876]

Thank you so much for this! I am in the process of starting my own practice after working in community mental health clinics for the past too many years as a counselor or working in community based services. I am so thankful for your resources and these reminders that it is easy to fall into burn out in these settings!

[@Blaste88]

Hi Stephanie, Great name btw! :) I'm also in the same boat. Starting private practice after burning out from working in community mental health (during the pandemic) for three years post-grad. It's been quite an adjustment (good and challenging), but generally, I'm hopeful that it will provide the flexibility/relief that I've been needing in my work/life balance. Wishing you all the best during this next phase of your career!

[@sarahbean5679]

Marie Fang! 😭Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you.

[@ericbray4286]

Requiring someone to work for free or be forced to pay someone to work is a form of classism and racism. Who can afford to do this? Particularly if you are from a low income family or have no assets it's a miserable burden. We say we want more minorities in the field and we want more diversity but we practically make it impossible for anybody without a trust fund or a crippling lifelong loan debt to meet the educational and licensing requirements. End the unpaid internships.

[@paulhornbogen980]

Hi Doc: Can't argue with your points. Bluntly, take more business courses. You are your own CEO. Nobody is going to hold your hand. I filter this field through my training I/O psychology. Hell yest pay a decent rate and guess what you keep people. You touch on a couple of organizational psych/ I/O psychology areas in this video. Good management makes all the difference. If they give you a line of bs, no happy employee. It ain't rock science here. Organizations seem to be going through this phase gosh we are going to low ball you and demand more. Good stuff doc. Have a good day.

[@meredith2277]

I have really had a love hate relationship with my career path as a therapist. I recently found a new perspective of gratitude that came through some other areas of change, and feel more at ease. As a grad student, I did my masters research on "Financial Wellbeing in Therapy," as it's a topic that is often a taboo topic, and I experienced this when I worked with a therapist once who changed the topic when I mentioned needing help with getting organized with money. I realized it was important to me to be able to support clients when money topics came up in therapy. And.... all that said, I have also had to navigate my own step-by-step change process and improvement with my own wealth as well as health. SO MANY THINGS... I really like your idea of giving ourselves permission to focus on financial matters early on. I remember reading about the early developments of the profession, and don't quote me but I believe partly it was to support during wartime. It was a volunteer type of service, so in my opinion some of the shadow side of the field is some origination out of free services. I do appreciate finding ways to make services available at lower cost to those in need, and this is where grant programs and other means that also compensate therapists can come in. Thank you for these videos. It's an important topic for sure.

[@Phyra02]

This sounds like a great paper. Is there any chance I could read it?

[@Heightofacloud]

Hi Meredith. I would love to read this paper! This is not a deeply discussed situation.

[@alexly3209]

It problem is money and the the institutionalization of therapy to solve societal problems. Also wealth and income inequality means that the only way most port folks can access therapy is via low fee counseling or community mental health. If people only did the work voluntarily there wouldn’t be enough therapists to work with poorer populations. (Not to say that is what needs to happen.) I’m just saying that there are policy, institutional, and economic forces at play that are really making out field really crappy, and therapists are the victim of that. Like teachers, therapists are being put into positions to solve more of our modern societies problems, while providing us little to no support or pay.

[@alexly3209]

Not to say that I don’t like the idea of therapists building wealth! (I am one of them.) it’s just that there are other forces in play that really make it hard for therapists to do that earlier on that they don’t talk about in our education and training.

[@anitaknight3915]

@@alexly3209 very well said! You're right that it's a complex systemic issue in our society. Therapists and teachers are soooo unsupported and undervalued. I don't feel it's worth the investment.

[@sophiasoto1405]

“It problem is money and the the institutionalization of therapy to solve societal problems.” Agreed 10000%

[@janedoe3648]

You kind of look like the actress Lea Thomspon☺️ you have a very cute bubbly vibe, love it!

[@viksaggu9085]

love the job. but did tell my therapist I feel a lack of meaning sometimes

[@sandyapolinar8244]

I’m 48 with 6 months of supervision to go and I feel we are paid too low. By the time I can make a good wage I’ll be getting retired???

[@meredith2277]

The demand for therapists is high so perhaps do not go into community mental health and get support to start a private practice. PP = much better pay. There are challenges with owning and running a business, so it requires some mentorship/support for sure. But I am in my first year of it and realize I may have avoided some early on burnout that set me back had I gotten the support to start my own practice sooner. They fill new therapists' minds with the idea that we have to start in agency work, but with good supervision/ mentorship, I disagree. Anyway, good luck!!

[@heiltecn9ne]

I can assure people therapists don’t do it for money because there is none to be made in the field. It’s eye opening to say the least what the field has become.

[@divyagunasekaran5410]

The first point yaass I've experienced it as a client of therapy holding multiple marginalised identities as well as a student learning abt psychology n psychotherapy... I am trying to figure out how I can work with people in therapy without being savioristic as we are taught to be

[@shiannemcpherson1836]

I feel like I'm burning out in my practicum lmaoo

[@amandareylugo]

I made 38k for almost five years in a nonprofit until I was independently licensed and left. There were no raises, even when I asked continually at each performance review.

[@benjaminollis7621]

Sounds like a good wage to me

[@amandareylugo]

@@benjaminollis7621 For having a master's and five years of field experience... it's abysmal. That doesn't happen in other industries.

[@anitaknight3915]

@@amandareylugo exactly 💯 👏 this undervaluing and lack of benefits/fair compensation with no growth doesn't happen in other fields. They exploit therapists. Even with covid there's no raises despite agencies/practices/hospitals making huge profits.

[@amandareylugo]

@@anitaknight3915 It's disgraceful. A huge reason is insurance companies' low-value low-priority mental health rates. This puts limitations on the economic value of therapy. Some EAPs paying as low as $50-60 an hour are trickling down to therapists (who may be 20+ years into their career) making a lousy $30 an hour, once an agency takes their share. I stopped taking insurance, because I do not want to support them any longer unless it's in the form of a 501c3. I (and majority of personalities who go into the field) want to support the people... but it isn't fair the system encourages therapists to do that at their own expense. Our healthcare system needs pushback or it will never change. I felt as if I was in a toxic relationship when I accepted insurance and my sacrifice was to offer "accessibility" to the public or rather "staying for the children." It's a very sad dynamic.

[@anitaknight3915]

@@amandareylugo i agree 100 % huni. This doesn't happen in other professions!! The greed and lousy compensation is disgraceful. I have no Paid PTO vacation nor sick time. You can buy insurance at a ton of money a month. The outpatient counseling clinic i work at takes huge cut where they charge 120, 150, per session and 185$(assessment) plus 60 or 100 for self pay and give us (it was 30-35$ now 40 for sessions when we do all the work) and highest license gets a 50% split of what insurance pays but there's no transparency or paper trail of what that 50% is so I think they're stealing money. You never know where you stand and I only get paid for if clients show. There's tons of last minute cancellations and no shows. The lack of support, isolation, and burnout has ruined my own mental health and self care. There's no union nor advocacy fighting for better pay and working conditions. Good for u because the insurance companies are greedy. We serve the community helping others with their lives, wellness, and mental health while destroying/neglecting our own. The healthcare system is so corrupt & broken focused on greed profits instead of on patient care and supporting employees. It's a very sad dynamic where they guilt trip us like we should work for free and to be martyrs to help fix society and to not care about money but serve the community. I have felt like I'm in a one sided sacrificial abusive relationship too with my own job. The gaslighting and taking advantage is unreal. We should not be helping others at our own expense.

[@voidandnon-2530]

I wish you were my therapist.

[@parisjoy7875]

Normally your videos are so inspiring but this one fits me scared. I am 40 and starting a career change to go back to school to become a therapist/psychologist. You mention money isn’t really made until “40s or 50s” which would theoretically equal mid-50s to 60s 😕 for me who is starting at 40. I want to make money, pay bills and retire happily. Any advice from anyone in/was in similar circumstances?

[@user-lf3bz6ej4x]

You will definitely make money if you start your own private practice. My brother who started his practice two years ago makes over six figures. Don’t let anyone scare you. You got this!

[@our.secret1130]

Don’t bother with the PHd or psyd in private practice charge what you’re worth and build a group practice

[@markm3477]

I'm a 43 year old man thinking of diving head first back into school to study psychology and apply for a mental health masters degree near me. Honestly having second thoughts. What worries me most is how private equity is pouring billions of dollars into this industry and it appears as they're positioning themselves to exploit and turn therapists into corporate cogs in their machine with quotas, the same way they're doing it to healthcare buying up hospitals and clinics all over the country. With inequality getting worse by the day, how much will therapists pay be cut when insurance company's continue to cut their payments. And soon enough they'll be integrating a.i. chatgpt as an affordable way to help the underserved. The people who need help the most can't afford good therapy. It seems hopeless to me. Market forces are definitely happening fast as we enter what I think is going to be a very bad recession. I think it boils down to the mental health industry doesn't have good lobbyists, but the financial and insurance industry who supercede mental health do. The only hope I have is the idea of getting my education here, and then expatriation to a foreign country that isn't as corrupt as the U.S. I need all the advice i can get.

[@et1016]

Don’t do it!!

[@Loserplatz]

Doing sliding scale and/or pro bono work is honorable. However insurance and Medicare / Medicaid should really be adequately funded and paid so the would not be necessary.

[@pleasedontdestroythiseither]

6

[@et1016]

I really appreciate your Contant, but man, those arm movements are exhausting.

[@jenny-DD]

I think you are better at theater and drama- forget the therapy nonsense More people making money on youtube channels Like u

[@Long_Machine]

Many of the comments below mention how the system is broken and overall professional burnout. I am trying to get started in my CMHC program but my major concern before really even getting started is, Race and gender ideology. I'm a straight White male and I am becoming disinterested with the program and the career, what with too many resentful BIPOCs and feminists who seem to love forcing men to acknowledge their "privilege", whether it's male privilege or White privilege or both. Considering that, most therapists are women and most clients are women, I may want to rethink this plan. It's my most sincere hope that the majority of women at the graduate level and in the profession, have no issues working with men. Hopefully men in the CMHC profession are not accosted daily, in an attempt to cleanse them of their evil White male ways. I'm curious, what's an example of this "oppression" of which she speaks. It only took one professor who offered up my first exposure to Race ideology to have me seriously questioning the ethics of the program and the profession. If many CMHC programs have become infiltrated with Race and gender ideology, then how are clients suppose to trust the therapist. Ah, this brings us back to the power differential; the client is so often extremely vulnerable and uneducated about the indoctrination suffered by the therapist. I'm tempted to accuse the profession of being ethically bankrupt but maybe it hasn't gotten to that point, yet. The first time my therapist ever tells me, I ned to check my so-called, White or male privilege, I just get up and peacefully leave the room. I find it interesting, Dr. William Epstein's opinion of psychotherapy. My view, yes, feminism has gone way too far and Black resentment culture is extremely harmful.

[@koiman23]

blah blah blah blah

[@user-tl2jl4dz2x]

WELL Duhhh!! you have to have a couch your a therapist Now someone can say "No way Doc your not gonna get me on your couch and psychoanalyze me!