Dale, I am hoping you succeed
Hi Dale, I haven't checked into this website lately and I just saw your post. I too was lured into the Mental Health/Substance Abuse Counseling field by a similar route as you referred to. After I got the master's degree I had hoped to change careers from the dozen or so I had practiced between my college years in the early '70's to the master's in the early '90's. In retrospect I see that the employment categories I practiced ( ranging from lobster fishing in the Fla. Keys, to ski instruction in PA to waiting tables in French restaurants to bricklaying in Pa, D.C., Md, and NC) and the hedonism that I pursued told me several things about myself. 1)Since I was born into poverty I had to fund my own lifestyle. 2) Staying in one place or one job or one state of mind was not only boring but stressful. and 3) Earning more money than for the basics held no attraction for me.
After I got the master's, living a clean and sober life, I decided to turn my life around. I opened an office in a suite with other counselors/therapists in Greensboro, NC and kept my "day job" as a bricklayer while intending to build a private practice. To make a long story short...it didn't work out...and I later found out by working in agencies and psych hospitals that I could possibly get the spiritual reward of helping others OR I could earn around $30 to $50k by climbing the agency ladders over 10 yrs...BUT I COULD NOT FIND BOTH IN THE SAME JOB. There is simply too much red tape and too little institutional, insurance, government, or cultural support for such work to make a comfortable living AND to look yourself in the mirror. My experience convinced me that there is too much pressure to turn over clients/patients in the system. I found this in both nonprofit and private(Charter Hospital) settings.
I wish I could tell you that I made a conscious decision to leave the field and take stock of my priorities in this life but, alas, I stubbornly held on to the dream and refused to admit that the master's was, practically speaking, worth not much more than the paper it was printed on.
I sincerely hope you do not have a similar experience, because the problem is only getting worse and we desperately need competent caring people like yourself.
I hope you are in your 20's or 30's so you can donate a few years to the cause. I am 50, and I am looking to retire abroad...somewhere NOT in the USA, for philosophical and spiritual and hedonistic reasons. I am no longer willing to sacrifice earnings and peace of mind to fight the bureaucrats in order to give a fighting chance to the small percentage of people who come through the doors seeking help.
I suspect you would like to kill 2 birds with one stone by settling in the DR AND helping those who need help ( While providing a comfortable living for you). I don't really think your prospects are that good, at least at this stage in your career. If you succeed PLEASE KEEP ME IN MIND...I'd love to join your enterprise. Meanwhile I'll continue to earn my livelihood laying brick...less stress and more money and, frankly, a zenlike satisfaction ("Chop wood, Carry water") often ensues. Also I'll put the $ in the IRA, buy some USA I Series Savings Bonds, and prepare for when I reach 60 to relocate to the DR. I may even hoist a few and enjoy the company of the pretty DR women and get to become friends with the people who write frequently in this forum.
As you have learned from reading Piaget and others, at different stages in life we have different priorities and challenges. Hopefully you will fight the good fight, as almost all of us do, and you will have won a few and lost a few, and accumulated the humility and peace of mind that the program labels as "serenity". I'm sure you have a lot of that already.
Please forgive me if I come across as patronizing. That would make me sad if my words convey that impression, for I know very little about you. I am just trying to tell you what I have experienced in the narrow slice of the professional world you are considering to enter.
I'll continue to study the advice and experiences of this group of wise and hilarious characters who write in this forum, and I'll continue to live frugally and sock my earnings away so that I can eventually experience the Dominican Republic myself...later on, down the road a bit.
Feel free to e-mail me if you want to correspond.
Good luck Dale.
Sincerely, John