![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Penny on August 5, 2003, at 13:58:13
Thought this was interesting. While in the hospital last week, we (of course) had group therapy sessions. I found myself giving what I believe was a lot of good feedback to other members of the group, probably because I have been in therapy for quite a while. Anyway, afterwards the therapist (a clinical social worker) says "You gave a lot of good feedback in there today." That made me feel good. But Thursday, before I left, I was talking to her about my second thoughts on becoming a nurse (primarily based on what I saw from the nurses while I was in the hospital), and she says to me, "Have you ever considered clinical social work?" Ha! Oddly enough, my former therapist said the same thing to me once. I asked her, "How can you say I should become a therapist when I'm sitting in here telling you all of my problems?" and her response was, "You take what you learn and you use it to help others." I thought that was quite profound.
Soooo....now I'm seriously reconsidering the social work (clinical!!!) route. An MSW is a terminal degree, I would get to work quite closely with patients, I could perhaps work with children, or focus on women with depression/anxiety, and so on.
That's IF I can get my head on straight. Which is not looking good right now.
It's so much easier to give advice than to take it, and it's so much easier to focus on other peoples' problems than your own. I would, of course, have to be wary of entering the world of therapy for the wrong reasons. But, then again, I don't guess it matters what I do with the 'working with people' route, I'm doing it to fulfill a need I can't seem to fill. Probably not a good thing...
P
Posted by fallsfall on August 5, 2003, at 18:52:49
In reply to On becoming a therapist..., posted by Penny on August 5, 2003, at 13:58:13
That sounds so neat! Two people have said the same thing - that gives it some credibility.
You could ask your current therapist about whether your motivations will work well.
Sounds like fun!
Posted by Dinah on August 5, 2003, at 20:25:34
In reply to On becoming a therapist..., posted by Penny on August 5, 2003, at 13:58:13
Sounds like a worthy goal, Penny. Do you like working with people? And you've got two people including your therapist who think you'd be good at it.
Posted by Tabitha on August 6, 2003, at 13:06:12
In reply to On becoming a therapist..., posted by Penny on August 5, 2003, at 13:58:13
Penny, if you decided to become a therapist, it might help prompt you to work out your own issues so you could be of more help to others. I did some teaching jobs in graduate school, and I found nothing made me learn the material like having to teach it. The other little trick of teaching is, remember you only have to be one page ahead of the students. You're learning too.
In other words I think it's a great idea for therapy clients to become therapists.
Posted by Penny on August 7, 2003, at 11:22:32
In reply to Re: On becoming a therapist... » Penny, posted by Tabitha on August 6, 2003, at 13:06:12
Thanks all. I registered for the School of Social Work info session here at UNC on Sept. 5. I had spoken with someone a couple of years ago about the program, but want to get the official overview. I also need to scrape enough money together to register for and take the GRE. If I could enter school next fall, that would make it so much better. I still don't know how I'm going to do it, but maybe if I have something to strive for it will help.
Feeling a bit more hopeful right now. Hope it will last.
Thanks again. Your posts really mean a lot.
P
Posted by Tabitha on August 7, 2003, at 12:13:35
In reply to Re: On becoming a therapist..., posted by Penny on August 7, 2003, at 11:22:32
That's great Penny. I flirted with the idea of going into therapy for a while. It sounds like it can be such a fulfilling career. Good luck and keep us posted.
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Psychology | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.