TDFFFreak Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 KevinL's thread of child custody and marriage problems (and all the good advice) got me to wondering: how many here are or have been in the personal therapy field? I know of at least two here at the Huddle, but I will let them step up in this thread if they so desire. I am about to start my third (and final) year of grad school and practicum (kind of like a residency for doctors) in the fall for my masters in psychology with an emphasis on marriage and family therapy (MFT). I will eventually be working with individuals and couples, but at this point find myself enjoying couples/relationship therapy a lot. California requires 3000+ hours before you can take the lic. exam. I am in the field because I enjoy helping people work through whatever issues life throws at them (and almost everyone has issues at one point or another). Who else is in the field? Was in the field? Has had a serious desire to join the field? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bier Meister Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 MFT in california before deciding wine and food were easier to deal with and not suicidal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spain Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 MFT in california before deciding wine and food were easier to deal with and not suicidal. Then you sir, have never had to sneak a bottle of Reisling into the Golden Corral Buffet for your wife... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 One of the huge benefits of my job is not having to give a rats ass about my customers if I don't want to. I appreciate that. My wife counsels kids, and it's hard work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
untateve Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 (edited) forensic psychologist. at this point (and for about the last 8 years), I haven't done any therapy--only evaluations. started out doing therapy with children/adolescents as well as assessments; moved back to florida and began working in a maximum secure prison; got my own practice going and built upon my experience/training (insert joke here) in the prison. Now, I do evals for criminal attorneys (competence to proceed, sanity at the time of offense, mitigating circumstances) as well as parental capacity evals, custody evals, and placement evals for the dept of juvenile justice. I also spent an additional two years of weekly supervision so that I can administer neuropsych evals. I testify in court probably about 6-8 times per year. A new forensic state hospital just opened up nearby and we got a contract to do work out there. In the last 5-6 weeks, I've seen about 65 "residents" for eval. You want to talk about some serious craziness...oh my. edit: and one of the nicer things about my practice--we accept NO insurance. we are either paid directly from the state or contracting agency or directly from the client. Edited May 30, 2007 by untateve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czarina Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 Been there, done that. Although frankly, I think I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a fork than do couples therapy. I may be returning to the biz after several years hiatus this fall. To be honest, I'm not thrilled about it but it's a money thing. And I'd be working as a visiting professional to some local public schools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Irish Doggy Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 I started straight out of undergrad in a Children's Behavioral Health Center in Chicago. I worked with wards of the state who were sex offenders, invariably had been sexually & physically abused and had all sorts of additional DSM labels. Very violent place.... I thought about getting an advanced degree after about 2 years or pursuing med school. I dragged my feet and procrastinated on that front (which was unlike me) and didn't understand why until it just dawned on me that my heart wasn't in it. A bit of a moment personally. Perhaps starting out with the worst of the worst may not have been the best thing, but anyway, I'm much happier away from the mental health field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egret Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 I usually just pump my students full of vitamins, throw them in a sauna, and let the thetans escape that way. Psychology is a pseudo-science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDFFFreak Posted May 30, 2007 Author Share Posted May 30, 2007 forensic psychologist. at this point (and for about the last 8 years), I haven't done any therapy--only evaluations. started out doing therapy with children/adolescents as well as assessments; moved back to florida and began working in a maximum secure prison; got my own practice going and built upon my experience/training (insert joke here) in the prison. Now, I do evals for criminal attorneys (competence to proceed, sanity at the time of offense, mitigating circumstances) as well as parental capacity evals, custody evals, and placement evals for the dept of juvenile justice. I also spent an additional two years of weekly supervision so that I can administer neuropsych evals. I testify in court probably about 6-8 times per year. A new forensic state hospital just opened up nearby and we got a contract to do work out there. In the last 5-6 weeks, I've seen about 65 "residents" for eval. You want to talk about some serious craziness...oh my. edit: and one of the nicer things about my practice--we accept NO insurance. we are either paid directly from the state or contracting agency or directly from the client. My hopeful eventual goal is to establish a private practice that doesn't take insurance. Been there, done that. Although frankly, I think I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a fork than do couples therapy. I may be returning to the biz after several years hiatus this fall. To be honest, I'm not thrilled about it but it's a money thing. And I'd be working as a visiting professional to some local public schools. I knew that you weren't a big fan... What field are you going to go into when you go back? I am assuming it won't be couples therapy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Cornelius Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 crap the kids i work with need counseling daily... they get it once a month if they are lucky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egret Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 crap the kids i work with need counseling daily... they get it once a month if they are lucky Word. The services for my classroom were just cut... again. We work closely with Community Mental Health for many of the kids, but many have huge needs who need a ton of help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDFFFreak Posted May 30, 2007 Author Share Posted May 30, 2007 Word. The services for my classroom were just cut... again. We work closely with Community Mental Health for many of the kids, but many have huge needs who need a ton of help. Definitely an area of government services which is sorely underfunded IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 forensic psychologist. at this point (and for about the last 8 years), I haven't done any therapy--only evaluations. started out doing therapy with children/adolescents as well as assessments; moved back to florida and began working in a maximum secure prison; got my own practice going and built upon my experience/training (insert joke here) in the prison. Now, I do evals for criminal attorneys (competence to proceed, sanity at the time of offense, mitigating circumstances) as well as parental capacity evals, custody evals, and placement evals for the dept of juvenile justice. I also spent an additional two years of weekly supervision so that I can administer neuropsych evals. I testify in court probably about 6-8 times per year. A new forensic state hospital just opened up nearby and we got a contract to do work out there. In the last 5-6 weeks, I've seen about 65 "residents" for eval. You want to talk about some serious craziness...oh my. edit: and one of the nicer things about my practice--we accept NO insurance. we are either paid directly from the state or contracting agency or directly from the client. Wow. You're just like Dr. George Huang on SVU. Except in real life, he's gay. Huh. You're just like Dr. George Huang on SVU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
untateve Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 Wow. You're just like Dr. George Huang on SVU. Except in real life, he's gay. Huh. You're just like Dr. George Huang on SVU. I may be naive, but what is SVU--I'm guessing it's a tv show. At least tell me Dr. G is butch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 KevinL's thread of child custody and marriage problems (and all the good advice) got me to wondering: how many here are or have been in the personal therapy field? I know of at least two here at the Huddle, but I will let them step up in this thread if they so desire. I am about to start my third (and final) year of grad school and practicum (kind of like a residency for doctors) in the fall for my masters in psychology with an emphasis on marriage and family therapy (MFT). I will eventually be working with individuals and couples, but at this point find myself enjoying couples/relationship therapy a lot. California requires 3000+ hours before you can take the lic. exam. I am in the field because I enjoy helping people work through whatever issues life throws at them (and almost everyone has issues at one point or another). Who else is in the field? Was in the field? Has had a serious desire to join the field? My wife is just finishing her first year in the same thing, or at least very similar. All I know is that she is in a 3-year grad school program at Cal State - East Bay. When she is finished, she will be qualified to do family/couples counseling, as well as school psychology, I believe. She is currently doing an "internship" at an elementary school two days a week. Basically, she is counseling troubled kids ages 5-12. Some of the stories she tells me are amazing.... Very sad, but in a way, I kind of wish I had gotten into something similar myself. She has developed some pretty cool relationships with some pretty messed up kids, and the best part is that she is helping some of them be better at communicating and basically functioning around others. My plan is to wait two more years until she is done, gets a good-paying job, and quit my own job. At that point, I will probably work part-time for a while and play lots of golf, then decide if I want to go back to school myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czarina Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 My hopeful eventual goal is to establish a private practice that doesn't take insurance. I knew that you weren't a big fan... What field are you going to go into when you go back? I am assuming it won't be couples therapy. If I go back to clinical work, I'll be working with kids again, preferably elementary or middle school aged. If I end up going back to school, it will be for special education. I might look into taking on a couple of private clients at some point. The liability issue makes me :shudder: though. If I dove into doing private practice, I would absolutely work on a practice in which I didn't have to accept insurance. I'd work for a lot less not to have to deal with that whole rat's nest. At the moment though, on a whim, I'm looking into some university based work, nonclinical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big John Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 I may be naive, but what is SVU--I'm guessing it's a tv show. At least tell me Dr. G is butch. One of the Law & Order series - Special Victims Unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted May 31, 2007 Share Posted May 31, 2007 I may be naive, but what is SVU--I'm guessing it's a tv show. At least tell me Dr. G is butch. Law and Order Special Victims Unit. He's kinda butch He also played the priest on Oz... and, probably more famously, he was the asian gangster in Mystery Date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polksalet Posted May 31, 2007 Share Posted May 31, 2007 BAAS Leadership (composite of industrial psych 200 hrs) although I get paid for land surveying. I perform marital counseling and prison ministry and counseling work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDFFFreak Posted May 31, 2007 Author Share Posted May 31, 2007 BAAS Leadership (composite of industrial psych 200 hrs) although I get paid for land surveying. I perform marital counseling and prison ministry and counseling work. sounds like fun... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
untateve Posted May 31, 2007 Share Posted May 31, 2007 Law and Order Special Victims Unit. He's kinda butch He also played the priest on Oz... and, probably more famously, he was the asian gangster in Mystery Date. Well, I do like the Asians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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