My Support Forums - View Single Post - What makes therapists want to be therapists

lizardlady · Jun 16, 2013, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WikidPissah

And a bit more of wanting to make a decent income.

Ohhhh, sorry I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at the idea that Ts make a decent income. When I was in training our profs used to tell us if we wanted to make a lot of money we needed to go next door to the business college and get an MBA. I work for a non-profit agency. People with a high school diploma working in a call center make more money than I do.

I don't usually disclose in the forums that I'm a therapist, but am going to stick my two cents in.

My reasons for becoming a T, in no particular order...

A couple of people mentioned having a curiosity about what makes people tick. That was part of it for me. Being a T is kind of like being a detective.

Part of it was a need for a career change. I used to have a very physical outdoor job. I had to find something less physical for health reasons.
When I went for career counseling all the careers that were a good match entailed helping people. So, contrary to what some others have said, I was motivated - IN PART - by wanting to offer help to people. In reading other posts in this thread there seems to be confusion about wanting to offer help and forcing it on people. I view my role in working with clients to walk with them on their journey, maybe shining a light on the path for them to help them see where they are going. People in the profession who think they know what the client "should" be doing scare the poo out of me.

Yes, I became interested in becoming a therapist while I was in counseling myself, but I was already using the basic skills in my previous profession. I needed training to polish those skills.