- Hey everybody, today I want to talk to you
about how you can possibly become a therapist.
(piano music)
So like I said, I want to talk to you today about
how you can become a therapist.
I hear from many of you all the time,
Kati how do I become a therapist like you?
How do I get into the mental health field?
Or how do I?
So there are obviously many different paths
and many different ways you can get involved
in mental health as a whole.
But what I'm going to share with you today
just for the fact that this is a video and I kind
of want to keep it streamlined, is how I, myself,
became a marriage and family therapist.
Like I am today.
How did I get here.
And I obviously live in the states,
so if any of you are in other countries and you have
information on the paths that people take in your country,
can you let us know below because I know I have
International viewers and I want to make sure
we have the most information out there,
so that everybody can get what they need.
Now, the first thing is,
you have to go to a four-year university.
And for me, I majored in psychology
and music because I like to sing.
But all you have to major in is psychology
or I think we even had someone in our masters program
who majored in sociology, but I would encourage you
stick with what you want to do, major in psychology.
And from there, so you graduate with a four year degree,
yay I have my bachelors yay, but you're not done yet.
Then I took a year off and I studied for my GREs
which in the states is the kind of the SAT or ACT
for grad school.
So it's your basic entry level exam where you get your
little score and you put it on your grad school application.
And it kind of helps you get into
the grad school that you want.
So once you're done with your four years,
you want to find a graduate program that
has either a masters in marriage and family therapy
like me
or a masters in clinical social work
which is a very similar realm to mine.
So you find a couple of universities,
I think I applied to four grad schools.
So, your going to want to find a couple of options.
You're going to take your GREs,
you're going to attend graduate school.
And what they don't tell you in graduate school is that
the field you're going into doesn't make a lot of money.
And I'm sorry, I wish I could report that I'm rich
and I own a house, but I don't.
Its very depressing,
but I like helping people and its honestly what I enjoy
doing most, so that's what I like to do,
but don't be fooled if they tell you this is like the best
thing ever and you're going to make a gazillion dollars.
Because unless you're Dr.Phil, that's just not happening.
I'm sorry.
So, we finish graduate school and at that point even when
you're in graduate school you begin working with clients.
And you're going to see your first client and you're going
to be so nervous.
Mine was a nine-year-old girl, and luckily for me
it was a kid and so she didn't even know I was nervous,
but I was really nervous.
And so you're going to see your first client
and they're going to talk you through it.
You're going to have supervision groups
and you're going to continue that out of graduate school.
That's part of your 3,000 hours.
For many of you who have been following me for a long time,
you know I finished my 3,000 hours over like
a year and a half ago and then I had to
study for my licensing exams.
So, so far just to summarize and make sure
you're following me.
We have a four year degree, we go to graduate school,
get our two year degree, and then we get out
and we continue to gather our 3,000 hours.
After that's done, you apply to the board of
Behavioral Sciences in your state
and you sit for your licensing exams.
Now, ours is a two-portion exam,
which I believe in all 50 states it's all two part exams,
but there are different requirements on the number
of hours that you have to accrue.
Like I know in New York, its 1,500,
but in California, its 3,000.
So then we sit for our licensing exams
and then we're free agents.
I have my own license, I can have my own office,
I don't have to have a supervisor anymore.
And that's really how you become a therapist.
I you want to specialize in something,
really the main way you become specialized
is by working in the field.
I worked in a eating disorder residential program,
I worked in a eating disorder IOP PHP program,
like on the outpatient basis.
I see them in my practice.
I also worked in a hospital with more
schizophrenic-bipolar patient types, so it's all up to you.
So when you first get out of graduate school
or when you're in graduate school,
I would try out different places.
Don't go in thinking I have to specialize
in this and this is the only thing I can do,
because I initially though I wanted to work
with kids and do developmental psychology.
And I had my first run in with that
and that did not work for me.
So, be open to different options and different
specializations because we don't know until we do it, right?
But don't worry, if you yourself have struggles of mental
health in your past, that's not going to prohibit you
from being in the mental health field.
All that I would really encourage, encourage isn't even
a strong enough word, I would urge you to work on your
own issues before you get into the field because we can't
help others if we can't help ourselves, right?
And if I didn't practice what I preached,
then I don't feel that I'd be a very good therapist.
And I have people that I've referred clients to
and they felt like they were trying to work out
their own issues in their therapy session.
We want to make sure we're not doing that.
We want to do the best thing for our clients,
so if you want to get into the field,
the first thing I would do is find your own therapist
and start working on your own stuff
because we've all got our own stuff, right?
But nothing should stop you from achieving
your dreams and getting the career you want.
So, I hope that helps, I hope that that kind of gives
you a little guidance and a little road map about
what I did to get to where I am.
And know that you can be here too.
Have a good one and I'll see you next time.
Television should go off three hours before bed time?
But that's just not realistic for me, maybe it is for you.
Hey try it, let me know.