My Career Path

Every therapist has their own journey through the field. Many of these stories are absolutely fascinating. I decided that I would share my journey with you.

I moved back to Connecticut in early 2007 and after some customer service work, I found a job in the field. It was at the after school program that I’ve mentioned before in my blog. It was a rather low paying job at the time, just a little over $10 and part-time. The program was for kids between the ages of 8 to 17 to provide structure after school. They would arrive between 2 P.M. And 3 P.M., work on homework, socialize, and then we’d have a group activity before snack. There was also a longer program during school breaks. The owner and his wife organized the kids, the billing, and actually had another location. The owner also saw his own clients in one of the offices available. The building had been a radio station before. It was not well insulated. I was overwhelmed with this job. It was kids with behavioral problems and most had been hospitalized before. All of them were on medications. My biggest frustration for this job was that the owner could not properly assess kids for appropriate placement in the program. This taxed the barely-above-minimum-wage workers since we were the ones in front of the kids, dealing with their tantrums. There were also incidences where he directly incited the kids, for example, choosing to call the police when one of the kids was bullying staff and then handing the phone to the kid. This is an award-winning foster parent who thinks that this is appropriate therapeutic behavior. In my opinion, the owner was deeply motivated by money, more than running a successful treatment program or having a good work environment for his employees.

I had a couple of other jobs that didn’t include much therapy, such as a different after-school program where I tutored kids. I also helped out in classrooms to help kids to understand their options for college. I had a great time in those jobs.

I also had some internships in the middle of this. While I loved working with the clients in both of the settings, one relied on grants and just didn’t have money to hire me and the other had toxic authority figures. Toxic figures as in, they were the ones who had to have complete control. And as I’ve experienced many times, a female art therapist who would rather assume the worst than asking for an explanation. We seriously had a stare down because I didn’t know what watercolor paintbrushes looked like– when I was asking if they were kept in a different spot than the ones used for oils. As any artist would know, it’s not recommended to use watercolor paint with the paintbrushes that have been used with oils.

One of the other jobs that had a significant impact on me was the psychiatric hospital. I worked there for two and a half years. They were great and deeply troubling times for me. I made some growth and became a stronger therapist in the setting. I was still told that I was not good enough. It didn’t even seem like I could be good enough. I was put through the wringer one time with the expectation that I’d get a full-time job. It went to a woman who was just as hard working and had been trying to move up for quite some time.

I think one of the biggest benefits of a job like this is I had a chance to work with every diagnosis, even the rare ones. I had great moments with so many people who I wish I could even remember their names now. There were always patients and there were always art supplies for groups.

We had a room full of supplies for groups. I could even ask for other supplies, such as when I used the bigger bins for playing in water with the kids; these bins had usually been used for when people were throwing up but I had the chance to use the new ones. I felt that I was able to be extremely creative. If I was ever stuck, there were helpful books on a bookshelf in the shared office. I sometimes borrowed a book to read for some important information for my groups.

The reason I left was because the environment with the clients was becoming unsafe. It was only as I was leaving that a known violent patient was admitted and no one wanted to admit to the mistake– so “nobody” knew how that happened. We weren’t (yep, WERE NOT) receiving hazard pay the way other workers in other placements are paid for having to deal with violent psychiatric patients every day. The hospital organization was starting to protect itself from lawsuits, including protecting itself from lawsuits from employees. The hospital organization blamed a security guard for injuries sustained while he was breaking up a fight, or so the rumor goes. It was around this time that it became national news about how workers were getting severely hurt by patients in these types of facilities; even one report out of California where employees said, “it was only a matter of ‘when’ a person gets hurt, not ‘if’.”

The other reason was that I was told there were no places left for me to move up. I started out as a recreation therapy assistant for about $15 an hour and then was a rehabilitation specialist (not real job titles, btw, just an example) for about $18 an hour. But it was all per diem work. They couldn’t keep me working full time for more than however many weeks because then they might have to admit that they needed me full time– and give me benefits. OH NO! After I was passed up for the promotion, I was told by my supervisor that she fought for another full-time position but that the hospital just didn’t want to pay for it. I was stressed beyond capacity. Everyone else had been there for years. No one seemed like they planned on leaving. My supervisor had been there for 15 years. The assistant supervisor had been there for 7 years. I feared that no matter how hard I worked, I would not get to anything more than per diem work– and with graduation coming up, this is not where I wanted to be stuck.

I left for private practice. It was scary but I felt it was the right move for me. The first two years were a struggle. I was left to learn about running a business on my own. I had a business savvy supervisor, which helped. Yet, I decided to go further in research and borrowed books from the library about websites and marketing. I also listened to a couple of CDs from Suze Orman so that I could be financially informed. I sent out letters of introduction, gave a free talk at the library, created a couple of classes with the collaboration of other organizations, and on to 40 other marketing items– I know this because I recently wrote out a list. I did all I could to start my practice out on the right foot.

I picked up a job for a while, to make ends meet. I was miserably suffering through a job at a retirement and recovery facility; it was mutual that I left at my 90-day mark. I, then, had a per diem job at a group home, while I worked on my license. I liked that I could choose which shifts I wanted to work and use my other time working on my practice. It worked well for that time. I kept that job for three years with all the joy and tears that it entailed.

One of the biggest disappointments was not having as many clients as I thought I could get; the advertisement for this group practice said that a previous contract clinician had been making $90 an hour. I also thought that numerous organizations would find out that there was an art therapist in their mist and want to have me as a group facilitator. I thought this was such a real possibility, I put it down in my contract with the group practice since I would be practicing under their license. I only did two groups in the seven years I practiced in that area and that was only in my office. As I mentioned before, I did have a class or two here and there while collaborating with other organizations but nothing that had lasted. The shattered expectations took their toll on me.

I also eventually had to adjust to not having a large amount of art therapy clients. I was fortunate to have to take classes so I could concentrate on the counseling or mental health aspects of my caseload. I think at most, I’ve had 50% of art therapy clients and as of now, I have none. My goals and focus had to adjust to what my clients needed, not just what I was excited to do in my practice.

But at some point, maybe a year or two after I opened the practice, I was in the flow of it. And there have been rare times between now and then where I haven’t had enough clients. There was a dip in 2016. Many practices were suffering from a low interest in therapy. I was able to get a customer service job to see me through, which was only weekends for four months. It was the first time I had to be paneled by insurances. There are selective insurances that I enjoy and now that I’m fairly steady again in my practice, it might be time to limit myself to one insurance and aim for the rest of my clients to be self-pay.

For me, I don’t think going back to a facility job would be beneficial. I run my own company, and a lot of the decisions of the way it’s run, other than what is regulated by law or ethics, is all by me. I work with the clients who are best for me. I work at the times that, for the most part, I choose. I have rarely felt unsafe with any client in my office and if I did, I could refer them elsewhere. Any trials and tribulations, ebbs and flows in business are the ones that I can manage. If I’m low on my caseload, I can step up my advertising and networking. In the past, I’ve compared running a business to a romantic relationship, there are aspects that are just mundane and a bit tiring and if need be, can be outsourced. Think of it like getting a maid. There are parts that are absolutely disappointing– I’ll have that client who I love working with and they’re making progress but they get into that bad relationship or they ghost me one day. But I also have the joys. The person who comes back when I think that they’ve disconnected or after that tough but beneficial session; the thrill of a full caseload of people who are paying my full fee; the one person who stays with me no matter how many jobs and insurances they’ve changed; the seemingly small step from someone where I know it’s actually a huge accomplishment. It’s truly a relationship and for me, it’s the best one.

I share this all with you because I hope that you start thinking about your own career path and what values you have. Overall, a career has to be one that works for you. It’s the relationship with a job or career that you’re happy to greet in the morning. It’s staying with a job or career even when you need the pep talk to keep going since underneath it all, it’s your passion. If you’re in the helping field, private practice is not just one way. Some people network. Some people write books. Some people organize conferences. Some people dedicate their practice is a niche and have a caseload filled of people from that niche. It’s all about what you choose.