@88Butterfly88

I graduated in 2015 and my mental illness had taken a toll. I'm now 45 and trying so hard to find the energy to go to grad school (I graduated summa cum laude with other honors, but still cannot manage to take the next step - yet).

You'll get there. One step/day at a time! That's what I tell myself. I've changed course, so I don't work in psychology per se, but I'm now applying for grad school to study victimology and public administration (an interdisciplinary program). I knew that a bachelor's degree isn't enough for me to really rehabilitate, especially given all of my past work experiences and not wanting to shortchange my potentials. I also am not energetic enough to do full-time work, so my goal is to go all the way with grad school and do part-time work for either the government or for a non-profit organization as a researcher/PI. That's my goal. Part-time work is feasible in such arenas, though it takes a lot of effort to justify why full-time work isn't in the cards.

If you don't qualify for certain jobs yet, find out how you would be able to qualify. If mental illness is a barrier, like it was for me when it came to deciding between research and practitioner work, I knew my own limitations well enough to understand that practitioner work wasn't in the cards. I loved research, and that's what I'm sticking to. Perhaps there are alternative avenues you can try in your field to see what works best, given your mental illness limitations. If full-time work isn't in the cards, maybe trying a different parallel field might work out better. There's a whole world out there of opportunities, not just what is limited to the suggestions of our therapists, a particular field, our peers in college, or even our mentor's/professor's worldviews. There are many other fields and sectors you could work in, with as rewarding careers as the ones you first sought out. Due to the challenges of the economy and other ecological issues, individuals have branched out and started new fields (mostly through interdisciplinary studies and approaches), new job titles, and new problem-solving areas for society. It's a thought.