Users in this career have rated it a 2.8 in terms of their own personal satisfaction with the career. This figure represents an average taken from the responses of 1024 MyPlan.com users during registration.
Users were asked to rate their happiness in their current occupation as being either "Very Happy" (4), "Happy" (3), "Mixed / Neutral" (2), "Not Happy" (1), or "Miserable" (0).
Users in this Career Group
There are 5441 users in this career group. They represent 47 different countries. You can see the list of users in this career group by clicking on one of the links below. You can also join this career group simply by selecting your current status and clicking "Add Me."
There
are 5 reviews of this career. The most recent 3 reviews are listed below. You can see more reviews by clicking on "Read all reviews..." at the bottom of this page.
If you are considering taking a position in the mental health field if is very important that you be motivated by wanting to make a difference. A lot of times in this field it is hard to see progress or appreciations from your clients so we have to learn to see the small accomplishments and not take personally the challenges that our clients will put us through. This career does not pay well but is extremely rewarding.
At present I work as a doctoral level psychologist at a State inpatient psychiatric facility. The work is less somewhat less traditional than what is typically seen as psychology as most of the patients are seriously ill and cannot fully participate in therapy. Typical sessions focus on behavioral management and support to encourage treatment compliance. Although I find it somewhat less satisfying than treating patients in an outpatient setting, the job that I hold is enjoyable. The hours are flexible and most State agencies offer fairly good benefits as incentives. Financially, working for the State appears more advantageous to Master's level clinicians than Doctoral level clinicians.
Things to consider about a career in psychology.
1. Depending on where you live, it may be difficult/impossible to work independently unless you earn a terminal degree that allows you to be licensed.
2. Beyond the educational requirements, you may have to complete approximately 1800 hours of supervised work to complete your degree and then a subsequent 1800 supervised hours to be eligible to sit for a licensing exam. Due to various supervision requirements, it may take between 12-24 months to complete these hours.
When I was in school, many people questioned my decision to get my doctorate claiming that financially there was not much more money to be made over a Master's degree but I have found that to clearly be the opposite. Once credentialled, you will be eligible to work on your own in various capacities (therapy, psychological assessments, forensics) and you can also have unlicensed clinicians work under your license.
Overall, I would pursue this career again but I wish someone had made me more aware of the time involved in getting licensed.
I work as a counselor/manager of a treatment facility for young adults with mental illness. The job is challenging and rewarding all in one. I think that if people are going to go into this field they need to do it because it is something that they are passionate about. They cannot go into it for money, because human services is a low paying field. Also you have to have a strong backbone because a lot of times the clients can get downright nasty. You have to learn not to take things personally and accept that you cannot change people, nor can you help people that do not want to be helped. This job is a lot of fun and has a lot of positive things as well. Essentially you are helping people that may not know how to help themselves. I would still choose this career because it's the only thing I can see myself doing that i would feel rewarded by. I also learned a lot about mental illness by working hands on with mentally ill people. YOu cannot learn all you need to know just by text books.
