Do you regret not becoming a T yourself when being in therapy / reading about it?

Thanks for encouraging me a bit.

I can´t think of any career that´s paid and also within the field of psychology when you don´t have that exam. I won´t get any more study loans, the school system is different in Sweden compared to for example the US.

How do you enter a new career? Through a new education or through other ways?

Yes, it works differently here and there´s nowhere you can get provisions or a schoolarship for a whole education. Unfortunately it doesn´t matter if you were young and now want to change careers, when you have used all of your study loans, there´s no more. Don´t know what to do...

I see you´re also from northern Europe and that you know about the Swedish school system. The education to become a psychologist is extensive and you can´t have a full time job beside your studies to be able to pay your rent and so on.

There are no evening classes to become a psychologist, perhaps there are courses to become a CBT councellor and such but that´s not what I want.

Here in the U.S. you can get as many loans as your credit can handle, throughout your life. You can also get scholarships that offset the cost of tuition. A lot of employers will also reimburse college expenses of employees. Many, if not most, courses can be taken at night, and you can work toward a degree slowly. In the US, it is not uncommon for people to have a career for a couple decades, and then retire from that one and go into something entirely different. Some fields have on-the-job training, others are specialized and have two-year college programs, and others of course require master's degrees or doctorate's. The trade-off is that although education here is free through 12th grade (which is funded through property taxes), higher education is not. But then again, we have lower income taxes because higher education is not "free" which leaves more discretionary income to spend on higher education. Yet another thing is that here, there are various savings programs (like the 529);where you can invest in mutual funds and all earnings are tax free when used for higher education. A lot of parents open up one of those accounts when children are born. On top of that, there are tax breaks when you spend money on college expenses. So there are lots of incentives for people who want to get more education. I guess our government does not put restrictions on us (like only having one shot at it) because our government does not pay for higher education

When I was in high school, I wanted to be a child psychologist when I got older. But after graduating high school, I had a good job already and was making decent money, and decided to stay with that. (I was a CNA). As I got older, I realized that I would not make a good T.... simply because I would most likely have a hard time keeping my heart in the right place. I'd want to take everyone in who needed somewhere to go. Not a good idea for a T!

No. I rarely visit PC's depression forum because I think it's too depressing - imagine me being a T. I wouldn't last a day.

Sometimes I think aspects of the work would be interesting but I think I would go crazy sitting still and looking intent for that many hours. Also I think I'd quickly feel bored and impatient with the slowness and repetition. Finally childlike behaviour in adults really makes me cringe, even if just inwardly. I'm sure this would be apparent to more perceptive clients and it seems unfair.

Again, check out volunteer positions in the mental health field. Lots of helplines out there. Can you handle crisis situations? You do not need a degree (at least in US) to volunteer in places like a rape crisis center, or suicide hotlines. I think there are a lot of mental health volunteer jobs that would be rewarding, and, could lead to other related paid positions.
https://www2.nami.org/Content/Conten...Employment.htm
After reading that article, I need to follow my own advice!

I'm very interested in psychology but mostly because it helps make sense of my own situation, but I think being a therapist would be the hardest job, I imagine they would feel emotionally drained and exhausted by the end of the day. But there is no age barrier I would think the more life experience you have, would be helpful in this role.

Thanks for the tip about volunteer positions. I´ve thought about that before and I agree you get to help people and also that it´s a possible way if more studies will show impossible. It´s a sorrow though because I know I would get through a university education in psychoolgy and for me that´s what is working with the "real thing" mean to me. Not meaning that volounteering isn´t but it´s though a difference.

Here we can take loans from the government or get private loans. I took out loans to pay for my degree so I could change careers and I'm in my late 30s. I worked full time simultaneously and I took classes at night and then online.

Have you considered peer support training? It wouldn't be the same as being a psychologist or social worker, but knowledge of psychology and counseling would help.

Then as others have suggested, there's volunteering for crisis lines.

For me, I think if I was psychologically healthy and wasn't so anxious, I would have pursued a BA in Social Work. :/ I dream of it, then I wake up and realise that I would likely have poor boundaries, and I'm terrified I'd harm people.

I do know social work students with issues like eating disorders, anxiety and depression, who are able to keep their stuff out of clients' issues though.

Thanks. I don´t really know/understand what you mean by "peer support training". I´m not within the US so perhaps that´s why.

I'm not in the US too. UK, US and some countries (like mine) have programs where people with mental illnesses help other people with mental illnesses after some training.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_support

The idea is because you have experience with living with your mental illneses, people can support each other by encouraging, sometimes limited practical support and have more of an equal and friendly relationship with each other.