Struggling to find your way in the field of Mental Health?
There are so many different ways to enter the mental health and behavioral health field. I know often people think strictly therapists, or child & family protective services. Those are great career paths and much needed fields too! But often we don’t know how to get there. When someone wants to go into a helping profession generally we just know we want to help other people. Many times it’s because someone helped us through a rough time in our life and we want to give back. Or maybe it’s the opposite you want to be there for people because no one was there for you when you needed it. But how do you start? And where can you go?
First there are so many different careers within the mental/behavioral health field, you’ll need to spend some time looking into the ones that will be a fit for you. Use the below list to help you start your research.
· Peer Specialist
· Insurance Reviewer
· Mental Health Technician
· Child Behavioral Health
· Sexual Assault Victim Advocate
· IEP Specialist
· Elementary/Secondary School Counselor
· Diversity & Inclusion
· Mental Health Research
· School Social Worker
· Forensic Social Worker
· Psychologist
· Psychiatry
· Professional Sports Social Worker/Therapist/ Counselor
· Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
The next step will depend on which career choice fits you best. If you’re looking at going into counseling role, you might find it beneficial to visit your current state’s counseling board’s website. I would suggest doing the same for Marriage and Family Therapy, Social Work, Nursing, Physician and Drug & Alcohol counseling as well. This will help you outline the requirements for your career path. Often times it includes a graduate level degree, a certain number of supervised hours, and an exam. Here are few starting websites for the above careers:
https://www.aamft.org/Directories/MFT_Licensing_Boards.aspx
Let’s talk more about that next time! Check out the next blog post next week!
Until next time …Stay motivated!