Hey, everybody happy Thursday, and I'm wearing my Vidcon t-shirt cuz I'm a cool kid
Kind of not really more like a dork but proud of it so today
I'm going to talk about something that was asked a long time ago, and I have been putting it off
I'm not gonna lie because I want to think about it and so I had to think and the question is
Kati, could you talk about the pros and cons of being a therapist? And the reason I want to talk about and the reason I
was like this is a good question and I should talk about it is because I hear from a lot of you that you yourself
want to become a therapist or a social worker or
someone who is helpful in a professional in the mental health field and I think it's important to kind of note
what the pros and cons are. So without further ado, let's get started
Let's start
with some of the cons so we can end on a good note
Now the cons and something that I've been very very open and honest about are, number one,
we don't make a lot of money the average income when I started grad school, which was back in
2007, I think the average income was
$55,000 a year. Now that's obviously I'm in California. I mean the United States
I know that can differ from place to place, but I can -- I'll just get real with you
When I first started working in the hospitals, I got paid about $24 an hour, and then I worked at a treatment center
Prior to that where I got paid $14 an hour so that gives you an idea of kind of where we're starting at
And then in private practice you can charge more. I remember when I was not licensed in working under my supervisor
I charged $85 an hour
And I know that some people charge all the way up to
$225 an hours, so somewhere in there could be something that you find works for you
But it -- we don't make that much money. And the second thing I want to talk about is that we work odd hours
I mean, I'm not a morning person, but I know some therapists work really early in the morning
So they can see their clients before they go to work. I personally decided to work in the afternoon, starting around
You know a noon-ish, and I go all the way sometimes until 8 o'clock at night. Some therapist
I know work even later than that have a woman who works in the same suite as me and she goes until 10:00 p.m.
So you can have to work in a different kind of schedule than a lot of your friends and family may
And the third con and I don't even know if this really a con as much as kind of like a
thing to think about is that we really have to take care of ourselves. It's really important that I'm in therapy myself
It's really important that I hold myself accountable for my own
mental health, and I think that a lot of therapists sometimes forget to do this
And I believed at that point then we aren't as effective
and so if you
want to become a therapist. I hear from a lot of you, can you be a therapist even if you struggle with mental health issues? And
the answer is yes, but you have to have them under control
I'm a firm believer, and if I can't help myself I can't help anybody else, and I never go into a session
Thinking that I'm going to glean something from my client to help myself
I honestly feel like that's really wrong
And it should be all about my client how I can better serve them not making it about me in any shape or form
Now on to the pros. That was enough of the cons
The first pro
And the reason that I keep doing what I do is because it's so rewarding to get to see your clients grow,
change, and become the people that you always knew they were, that something was just maybe holding them back
But they were able to process through it. That whole experience is just what makes it so amazing and wonderful
Now the second and this is something that I'm just going to make it personal for me because this is what I
think makes their -- like why I've become a therapist is because my work is actually fulfilling
I don't just show up to work push some papers around types of numbers in and I don't know what happens with it
But I send it off for the person that I'm supposed to do it
You know like a TPS report if you watched office space um it's not something like that
It's something where I'm actually interacting. It's really fulfilling and at the end of the day
I'm like you know I helped people. The third thing is that it's always changing
Every day is different
even if you're seeing the same people, they have a whole different week that they've gone through, and different things that they want to work
on and it's never just the same
I'm not just typing up some reports and then sending them off and it's the same shit day after day after day
It's always different, and I love that. It keeps me interested
Time flies, I never realized how long I worked at any of the treatment centers or hospitals or even in my private practice
how long I've been doing it, because time just flies and it's not so boring. And the fourth and final pro
I'm going to talk about is that it's a challenge. I love being challenged. That's why I also love YouTube
Not only do I get to see each of you grow and change and become better people
but I'm also challenged to learn more, to do more, and as a
Therapist not only are we legally required to do continuing
education units where we learn more, but my clients challenge me. If I'm going to refer them to something, or if we're going to try
new techniques. I make sure I know it inside and out
I make sure I read through as much as I can and I really enjoy that
challenge and that I can always be bettering myself and bettering
who I am as a therapist. I hope you found that helpful. I know that
It's something a lot of you been asking and I know that a lot of you want to be a therapist and so consider some
of the things I've said and
see you know what you think
What are your thoughts. Are those things that you're willing to live with, are those -- are the -- do the pros outweigh the cons?
Because, honestly, for any of us to be happy in our jobs
I feel like the pros always have to outweigh the cons.
We need to make money to make our lives work and to make the world go round
But at the end of the day
I hope that each and every one of you can find a job that you really feel
good about that could be anything jobs are different for everyone
but I
want you to end every day feeling good about yourself and feeling glad that you have the job you have. So take that into consideration
when you're
deciding what your career path is because I
can't imagine it being any different for myself, and I hope that and wish that for each and every one of you, okay?
I love you all and I will see you on Monday. Bye!