fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2395 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2395 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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02.

[The Most Popular Girls in School]

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03.

[Welcome to Night Vale]

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04.

[Gerard Way and Frank Iero]

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05.

[Mastumoto Jun]

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06.

[Macdonald Hall]

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07.

[Downton Abbey]

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08.

[Generator Rex]

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09.

[Neil Oliver]

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10.

[Star Trek]

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11.

[Star Trek: TNG]

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12.

[The Vampire Diaries]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 025 secrets from Secret Submission Post #342.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Psychotherapist/counselor. Unless you're going for clinical psychology or psychiatry (which obviously the people I wince at never are), the pay sucks and they always have super-fluffy reasons for wanting to do it.

I'm in training for that field, Nonnie. My reasons aren't fluffy, I don't think, and I expect to make shit money. It's the only thing I've ever felt so content with, so energized by, and so suited for. I will most definitely not become rich doing it, but I hope that I do it well after all is said and done.

I would fucking pay people to let me do this work.

ayrt

That's one of the exact reasons I get sceptical. Anything that a considerable number of people say they would pay people to let them do, is not going to have a future in it for a lot of those people. There'll be cutthroat competition for job openings and the pay will start low and stay low and many people will wind up wishing they could afford a better life than they signed up for.

Ayrt

No, my quality of financial life will not place me in the pages of something like Forbes magazine or in any publication admiring my fantastic properties or possessions. Pay will sick, jobs will suck, and likely the people I meet as clients will be of a calibre that most in society look down on (mentally ill, drug addicts, pedophiles, batterers, etc).

That's not the reason I want this field so badly. I don't want to be rich from the pain of others or to cash in on my experiences working with them. I well and truly love people, individuals I mean, because I see in them their great value, despite the tarnish and turmoil they carry through their lives. I've lived through horrific and terrible damage; I'm no where near perfect but there is hope to be had for being the best person you can be, despite the crap other people put on you. There is surviving the damage, yes, but there is the capacity and possibility of thriving for each and every one of the wounded. If living well is the best revenge against one's enemies, maybe helping others to live well is the best revenge against the world in general. I'm not ignorant of the uglier, seamier side of the job, of the horrors I will hear from my clients or the more unattractive aspects of how people cope with their pain, I just think I am suited for offering others the same kind of warmth and acceptance I was once given, the help that gave me a leg up when I almost drowned under my mental/emotional pain.

Huh. Re-reading that paragraph, I suppose that might be considered fluffy by some.

ayrt

Yeah, it does. It also makes it sound like some kind of priesthood.

Ngl one other thing that reads as red flag to me is ' I've lived through horrific and terrible damage'; this goes for most of the other people I know who've announced they'd like to get into the psychotherapy profession (including me - I considered it briefly five years ago, and later got into a different career that I find very fulfilling). That is essentially signing up to get triggered on a daily basis; I worry how people can be sure they could take that emotionally. Worse when they might have to (as you indicated) deal with the exact kind of people who had CAUSED them the damage, eg. pedophiles.

Others aren't themselves particularly damaged but are so fluffy they seem to just want to be a professional best friend. There's that alchemical overlap between the roles of therapist, friend and priest that I feel is underexamined. I am kind of biased due to having once studied the history and philosophy of psychology, which imo is something people should do before/as well as studying psychology or counselling.

SA

Yes, it is really common for victims of trauma, particularly long-term trauma, to seek out helping or caring roles in life. I'm not really worried about being triggered by my clients or about transference/counter-transference. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since my damage was done to me. Decades of recovery make a difference, I think. I haven't found a population that really bothers me yet while a lot of students in my classes have been very clear and vocal in refusing assignments. Another reason I decided to get training was so that I would "do no harm".

Tbh, I am worried more about being able to challenge my clients when they are stuck and with being able to terminate therapy as it should be when the course is run.

I have a great deal of respect for the people and responsibilities involved in counseling. I've had/met/known great ones and really bad ones in my time. I don't have any illusions about myself or my abilities, at least I don't think I do, but I aspire to be a good whatever it is I will be after schooling is finished (it's early enough in the process that I haven't had to specialize. That I'm still working on.)

BTW, I thank you for pointing out the overlap between therapist, friend, and priest: I'd not heard that phrased that way before and it's provocative.

I hear ya! If you're passionate about it AND well-suited for it, then that's the jackpot. Life's too short to spend at a job you hate, and most of us never become rich. If you're suited for it, and you're good at what you do, you'll do well. Good luck, I hope it all works out for you! :)

Ayrt

Thank you. Lovely response and I really appreciate it.

I don't know, in my experience (as someone who hates going to counsellors) they seem like pretty dedicated people who like what they do.

I've winced when a coworker who's writing I struggled to understand announced her intention to eventually get a masters degree and become a psychiatrist. But I felt like an asshole.

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