Tips for Early Career Therapists (advice from a psychologist)

Tips for Early Career Therapists
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I thought it might be helpful to create a video offering some of the tips and advice I wish I had when I first was starting out. This video is geared towards folks who are considering applying to counseling-related grad programs or who are currently in the training phase while working toward becoming licensed as a therapist.
00:00 Intro
01:03 Take your time
03:27 Have a growth mindset
04:59 Identify your values
05:47 Identify your ideal job
07:49 Build towards your ideal job
09:01 Closing thoughts
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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.
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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.

[@Enchanteralle]

Oh I wish I had some of these advice when I was in grad school. I started off working in underserved communities in nonprofit orgs and I was paid close to nothing while working with a very severe population. Worse was the director of that clinic openly said that we should accept that we don't get high pay because we chose to work in this field. Low morale. Luckily, I left that place and moved on to better places and now have my private practice. My advice to those who are collecting their hours for licensure is to make sure the agency or place they work at is stable. If you constantly have supervisors leaving or the place is not supporting you to get your clinical hours, it's best to start looking for another place because I had friends in the field taking longer to finish their clinical hours because of difficulty getting supervisors to sign their hours or even getting adequate amount of hours each week.

[@amyf2230]

So appreciative of this as usual, Dr. Fang! I’m a graduate student and my professor sent my class a link to one of your videos last week and I was so excited it was like seeing a familiar face ☺️

[@morgan6404]

Kind of along the lines of values that Dr. fang spoke about is reflecting on why you are in this (or going into) this field. Figuring out your why can help you figure out your niche (population, areas of expertise, etc). If you don't know what workplace you wanna work in, that's okay! That's the point of graduate school and pre-licensure.. getting those different experiences to help you figure out what you want! You are not supposed to have it figured out. In fact I don't know anyone who has everything figured out haha but you learn along the way and figure out what's best for you. It takes time, experiences, and reflection.

[@intrapsych1843]

The career coaching advice is fun to contemplate, but in reality, social, economical and political forces ultimately determine the options your left with. Choose wisely and learn to accept the situation and love your self.

[@parisjoy7875]

Example of social and political “forces” that determine options?

[@kimmeystorey4577]

Thank you! I am getting my bachelor's and looking into masters programs now!

[@benj46]

This channel is going to blow up even bigger trust me - it’s the holy grail

[@theunrulyjoyclub]

This was very helpful, thank you 💚

[@angharadhatt3332]

This video was recommended to me at the perfect time. I’m 24 and in the 2nd year of my clinical mental health counselling program. I’m loving my program, but I’m starting to feel discouraged because I feel so far behind from everyone else I know. I don’t know my ideal job, preferred theory/approach, environment, etc., and I’m starting to think that if I rush through my program faster, maybe I’ll figure it out after I graduate. Your advice was really encouraging to me and it reminded me to breath, take my time and think back to why I originally chose this career path/degree.

[@lisaschooler9992]

You are in perfect time! I am more than double your age - and I’m preparing ahead of time to transition into doing therapy work in a couple of years. It’s been 25 years since I finished my masters and 15 years since I first became LMFT licensed - but I’ve been doing PPS school counseling work most of the time during the last 20 years! I’m so thankful to find her channel - idea of becoming a therapist (again?) is more than overwhelming lol. However, I intend to relocate and I’m physically aging out from the demands of being a high school counselor ( my eyes, my neck, my hands, lack of heating or air conditioning, safety concerns) and intend to take my very tiny school retirement about and combine it with working part time as a virtual therapist. Congratulations to you at having so much done already in your 20s and I hope things are going well for you.

[@emawilliams3284]

Thank you for this video. I have been a therapist for 10 years and I wish I would of heard these things when I was starting out. Thank you for helping future therapist 🥰.

[@lacytannous]

You forgot to say to watch and learn from the Private Practice Skills channel! ☺️ Truly your tools and website building course were a lifeline for me my first year out of grad school. You’re right on with “take your time”! I completed my degree in four years while I worked, and it was the right pace for me and alleviated financial burden after graduation. One slight nuance I’d add is to imagine HOW you want to feel in your dream job, not necessarily WHAT the dream job is. I say this as a second-career therapist who knows what it’s like to get to your “dream job” and realize it’s not so dreamy after all.

[@delynndellarosa9997]

Oh my gosh thank you for posting that. I am 52 and this will be my second-career and I do lead by how I want to feel versus what the job is! I want better life balance for sure!

[@veganscholar8348]

Great video, I start grad school in the fall so this was well timed for me

[@valineripes2491]

Thank you for this video. I really resonated with slowing things down. I'm in my first year as a pre-licensed therapist. Part of me wants to hurry up and get licensed but the other part of me is like can I effectively work with 25 plus clients a week 🤔

[@lesliedavidson2127]

Same! I'm currently at 15 per week and it's definitely something to ease yourself into.

[@morgan6404]

I felt this way too in my first year of pre licensure! For me, slowing down to work with less people (but still could pay my bills) and so I could develop my niche and get really good at it.. aka reading a whole bunch of books because I couldn't (and still can't) afford training for CEs. I know Pesi is a more affordable option but in my experience I prefer quality over quantity. Pesi doesn't always align with that. Hope this helps you! :)

[@michaelmackenzie2569]

First 2 minutes kinda freaked me out!

[@AimMonique]

Did we tell them to run? Just kidding. I think this is a great advice video. I wish I had this back in the day.

[@musicenthusiast19]

Thank you so much! You are so helpful to me, an international student! 🤍🤍