For as long as I can remember History has been my favorite subject in school. So much so that I wanted to be professor (Early N. American colonialism dealing with the French and British). But last summer I was volunteering at the Child Protective Services here in Vegas and a couple of children had such an effect on me that I now want to become a Clinical Psychologist working with children.
Does anyone here have any advice, stories-both good and bad, tips on schools. Anything and everything I would love to hear it.
My daughter works in CPS. The work she does probably sometimes saves lives, and in any case often makes them far far better. The world needs people to do this. I’m very proud and appreciative of the importance she gives to doing good with her life.
My husband is starting his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology this fall at Rutgers. He has several years of research experience working with children in an aggression lab and also works on the weekends at a shelter for displaced and abandoned youth. It is definitely a worthwhile profession. The only thing I would say is that it is a very misunderstood profession – most people’s understanding of psychology doesn’t extend much beyond Freud (sadly, I’d have to say it’s also sort of true for some practicing psychologists.) Real psychology is a field of study based on exhaustive research and rigorous scientific analysis. It is also wickedly competitive right now-- something like a 4% admission rate for doctoral programs.
You actually sound like you might be more interested in Social Work – which is a sometimes a related field and my particular area of interest. Social workers do everything from community organization to policy and administration. Clinical Social Workers who practice family therapy tend to view mental health issues with a broader lens – maybe taking into consideration economic or social justice issues that might be contributing to a person’s lack of well-being. I would describe Social Work in general as more holistic, and psychology as more treatment-specific, though sometimes the line gets blurry. Either field, in my opinion, are incredibly worthwhile professions… just different.
One is far better paid than the other too (I don’t think I need to say which).
A friend of mine is a clinical psychologist specialising in children, but she’s branched out a little now to do consultancy work as well - she’s done quite a lot of work for the government, which is how I met her as she was an advisor for a policy I was working on. She loves her job beyond words and it gives her the chance to help children directly through therapeutic work and more indirectly through court work and consultancy. I’ve discussed with her the possibility of studying psychology myself but in the end I decided to stick with my current career as I enjoy it a lot and I’m not sure I want to have to go through the retraining required.
The only person in my family who wanted to go into psychology was my mother, and she eventually dropped out. That obviously gave me a more negative perspective on the job, but that doesn’t mean I want to discourage you. I do feel the need to emphasize two things about working as a psychologist, which you’ve probably realized already.
It’s extremely emotionally draining at times.
You must be able to cope with failure.
Sometimes things just won’t work right. You’ll be working with a kid and he’ll make some progress, but then he’ll make a mistake and get arrested, or his family will move, or they’ll decide that he needs some other sort of treatment. Then he’ll be whisked away, and you’ll never hear from him again. That type of experience wears down a lot of psychologists. The key, I imagine, is mental preparedness. You need to be ready to let go emotionally and shift to your next patient.
Be prepared for the long-haul. Clinical training programs require a Master’s Thesis, Dissertation, and Comprehensive Examinations. You have 4 years of combined classroom and practicum training, as well as a one-year full-time supervised pre-doctoral internship. Once you get your PhD/PsyD, you need at least one year of full-time work supervised by a licensed psychologists before you can sit for the licensing exam. This amounts to 7 years on average, 6 for those who get everything done on time. You will learn a lot about human behavior, and a lot about yourself. Some students end up working in/with an entirely different clinical population than they expected when they started out, and your dissertation, internship, and post-doc often do more to form your “area of expertise” than your initial interests or master’s level practicums.
Clinical Social work is typically master’s level but allows for licensure in many states. Levels of independence (as compared to PhD level Clinical Psychologists) also vary as well as the nature and extend of clinical services one can provide, as well as how much you can make/charge.
FWIW, I completed clinical training, as well as supervised post-doc work, and now “profess”.
Being a therapist or clinical psychologist is a tough job. You have to care for the patient but not let it emotionally wreck you. You have to be interested in the patient yet also stay detached. I think it’s no coincidence that every older male psychiatrist/psychologist I’ve seen is bald.
I agree about the worth of clinical psychology and social work as professions. While social work is essentially never lucrative, at the master’s level there are numerous options that afford a decent middle-class living. They tend to be public sector and full-time with benefits. Clinical psychology requires more training and may tend toward private practice–potentially more lucrative but more financially risky in some ways–more loans, potentially more practice management concerns.
What I really came it to say, though, is that both are more marketable than history, unless you want to be a H.S. history teacher, which has a fair number of opportunities and offers a middle-class living. History might be just the kind of hobby or avocational interest that could keep you sane while doing work with troubled kids.
If you just want to see patents and work with people, being a licensed social worker may be a better choice. It depends on the state but here in Massachusetts, licensed social workers can set up private practices or see patients in other autonomous roles. Clinical psychology is an academic degree first and foremost. It qualifies you for many things including research but it may be overkill for someone that just wants to work with patients. Your state may vary. I am not sure how much licensed social workers make but I do know that the full, hourly rate is about $100 an hour although that undoubtedly includes lots of overhead and probably less than eight billable hours a day.
I definitely recommend giving Social Work some consideration. Clinical psychology is indeed crazily competitive right now (moreso than law school or medical school), and social work would give you a chance to do a lot of the things it sounds like you’re interested in.
The cool thing about social work, counseling, or psychology degrees is that you start seeing clients during (and as part of) your training. You don’t have to wait until you’re done to start doing the work, which means you’ll know earlier whether it’s a good fit, and you’ll be helping people earlier if that’s the part that is meaningful and sustaining to you.
A word about doctorates–if you want to be a therapist, look for programs that have a therapy/professional psychology training emphasis. Many clinical and counseling psychology programs are very focused on research, which may not be what you’re into.
I am a psychologist, and I love it. Like previous posters said, however, getting a PhD is a long, hard road, and grad schools are very competitive. I know some master’s level therapists (both MA in psychology and MSWs) who do very much the same work, and who make a very decent living, but with less investment of time and energy in school.
