People often ask me questions about how they should go about making decisions regarding their career paths. For many of us, the journey towards our chosen careers is windy and long. Further, our decisions are complicated by many factors, such as balancing family and work, the goals of serving public and private good, as well as personal versus family goals. I understand that these decisions can be incredibly complex and challenging and that identifying the issues at stake is only the first part of the journey.
Although I would love to be able to spend time speaking individually to each student to help talk through all of the factors that are operating in each student’s life, it’s not always possible for me to be able to do so due to constraints in my schedule and time availability. Thus, I have created this website to provide some additional resources for students to use to begin their process. I hope that these will be helpful to people. I have sorted the resources into sections that make sense to me — I hope they make sense to you, too!
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Mental Health: How Do I Decide Which Career Path is the Right One?
1. Problem One: Why become a therapist in the first place?
A. My two cents on why this is a worthwhile career.
B. One factor that makes it challenging to figure out if you want to be a practicing mental health professional is that except under special circumstances, you can’t really get experiences doing therapy before you are in a graduate program, which means you have to commit to a career field before you know what you are committing to. However, you can get a feel for what you are committing to by volunteering in mental health settings, like domestic violence shelters, residential treatment facilities, psychiatric inpatient hospitals, or you can read books by therapists and see if they way they describe their work sounds appealing to you (check this and this out for some of my recommendations)
2. Problem Two: I think I want to be a mental health clinician but there are so many different options for how to become one. How can I possibly decide which is right for me?
A. Here is a handout to get you started in your research process.
B. Online Resource: Mitch Prinstein’s Uncensored Advice for Applying to Graduate School
C. Here’s a Video Interview I did on this topic (and other things):
Part 1; Part 2
D. A book I recommend to every student considering applying to doctoral programs
3. Problem Three: Balance between research and clinical. Oh boy, this is a big one, and here I’m going to refer you back to two of my favorite resources on this topic.
A. Online Resource: Mitch Prinstein’s Uncensored Advice for Applying to Graduate School
B. A book I recommend to every student considering applying to doctoral programs
C. I’m also going to add in here my own advice, which is the following. Remember that this is only one person’s advice and that you should get lots of people’s advice on this very important matter. I personally think that doing a research-oriented Ph.D. would be as pleasant as getting your toenails pulled out one-by-one if you don’t love research. This is because the whole focus for five to seven long years is on research. Some people are drawn to the enterprise of research simply because they find research as an intellectual exercise fascinating. Props to those people — I kind of wish I were one of those types of people, but I’m not. I only find the kind of research fascinating that pertains to topics I love. So, if you haven’t fallen in love with research, it may be because you haven’t been exposed to the kind of research you are going to love. However, it also may be because research isn’t your jam. In which case, it would be a lot simpler to figure this out, be honest with yourself, and pursue the stuff that is your jam whole-heartedly. Doesn’t that sound more fun?
D. Recommended timeline for graduate school application planning purposes (hint: start early)
E. Suggestions for how to think about the different aspects of the graduate school application (primarily drafted for Ph.D. applicants)
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So You Think You Want to Be An Academic:
Rock on — that is awesome. To support you in your journey, here are some resources.
1. My own perspective on life as an academic, including bits on high points and low points.
2.A podcast interview I completed regarding my career trajectory to end up at UCI
Getting into Graduate School:
1.Helpful tips for deciding between different mental health career programs (handout )
2. Recommended timeline for graduate school application planning purposes (hint: start early)
3. Suggestions for how to think about the different aspects of the graduate school application (primarily drafted for Ph.D. applicants)
3. A really useful book to help you on your journey
4. Mitch Prinstein’s Uncensored Advice for Applying to Graduate School
My Own Career Journey:
1. A podcast interview I completed regarding my career trajectory to end up at UCI
2. Video Interview: Part 1; Part 2
3. An article I co-authored about being an academic mother; another article summarizing our research on mothers’ guilt regarding the negative impact of their work on children.
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Check out my articles for more information on my work as a practicing psychotherapist:
Psychology Today, My Students’ Most Commonly-Asked Questions.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/thriving/201904/my-students-most-commonly-asked-questions
Psychology Today, In Therapy, I Give You My Nothing, and It Means Everything.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/thriving/201903/in-therapy-i-give-you-my-nothing-and-it-means-everything
Articles on parenting, attachment and therapy:
Psychology Today, Separation Is Never Ending: Attachment Is a Human Right.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/thriving/201806/separation-is-never-ending-attachment-is-human-right
Psychology Today, When Nobody’s Checking
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/thriving/201901/when-nobodys-checking
Psychology Today, The Most Magical Word in Parenting.https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/thriving/201811/the-most-magical-word-in-parenting
Psychology Today, Drive-by Parenting: Low-level Distraction = High Connection.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/thriving/201804/drive-parenting-low-level-distraction-high-connection
Psychology Today, When Differences Emerge in Relationships,
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/relationships-intimate-and-more/201802/when-differences-emerge-in-relationships
Scientific American, The Importance of Fostering Emotional Diversity in Boys,
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-importance- of-fostering-emotional-diversity-in-boys/
Huffington Post, Give your Child Permission to Feel Ungrateful this Thanksgiving Day.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/give-your-child-permission-to-feel-ungrateful_us_5a139af0e4b010527d677fe6
Huffington Post, If Parents are the Helicopters, Then Schools are their Rotors.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/if-parents-are-the-helicopters-then-schools-are-their_us_59cbee28e4b0b99ee4a9c9d7
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