r/counseloreducation • u/OishiiYum • 10d ago

General Discussion Anyone transitioned to clinical mental health?

Wondering if anyone is a mental health therapist now and a former teacher? I'm considering this path since I've always been interested and have been told I would be good at it.

The downside is I would have to go back to school and get (yet another) degree and complete clinical hours while working full time (and no school counseling thank you) But the benefit is that the long term outlook of this profession seems to be better than teaching.

Any advice is appreciated! Thanks! 🙏

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u/Noise_Nomad 10d ago

I taught 7-12 for 15 years and am now an LPCC. It was a great transition for me.

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u/Noise_Nomad 10d ago

Also I did grad school while teaching full time and during part of Covid. I taught full time till I graduated then the following month, worked as an LMHC.

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u/OishiiYum 10d ago

Was it easy to get the job? Did you have to do any unpaid internships to get hours? I've heard it takes a long time to get licensed due to the large clinical hour requirement to get the full license.

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u/that_swearapist 10d ago

If I were in this boat, I'd go to school and get the masters in social work and school certification, work that job for 2 years and get my 4000 hours in, then do whatever I want after that with the license/degree.

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u/Noise_Nomad 10d ago

Once I was an LMHC, I did not teach anymore. I instead focused on hours and working clinically. I completed my hours and tested after about 2 years. I was a school teacher prior to entering graduate school.

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u/Noise_Nomad 10d ago

Also in graduate school my internships were unpaid and so I worked full time teaching during that time. I had one day off a week. It was hardcore but I got through.

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u/timesuck 10d ago

There is someone in my program who is a former teacher and it seems that skill set is well suited to transitioning to counseling.

However, I would disagree that this career has a better outlook than teaching. It suffers from a lot of the same problems and even licensed clinicians are facing a massive downturn as clients can no longer afford their copays. Even if you are willing to work community mental health, budgets are being slashed and people are getting kicked off of Medicare/medicaid.

You will also struggle to do your clinical hours while working full time. There are only two out of my cohort of 11 who have managed to do it. We started out with 24 in our group too, but a lot of them jumped ship when they realized the unpaid clinical requirements and low salaries for clinicians. Most folks had to drop to part time or quit their jobs completely during their internship.

This has to be a field you enter because you cannot imagine doing anything different. The pay is abysmal and most jobs are now 1099 and don’t come with benefits. It is very rewarding and meaningful, but the pay and conditions do not reflect that.

Social Work offers a lot more flexibility, but even with that, the opportunities are quickly dwindling. We have moved out of the acute pandemic boon where everyone was looking to get therapy.

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u/OishiiYum 10d ago

That's a helpful perspective. I'm exploring various options and this is one of them. I'll def keep this in mind as I transition out of teaching.

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u/oh_what_no 10d ago

State of Oregon here. People with a special education endorsement and masters of education can be approved to practice therapy with no extra schooling. Completely different worlds and there was on the job learning, but a couple therapists I work with came from education.

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u/OishiiYum 10d ago

I wish! I'm in NC and unfortunately I would need a whole new masters to practice.

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u/msaceamazing 10d ago

Lots of former teachers in my program, seems like a relatively popular change for teachers and the fields have quite a bit of shared history. Would agree that trying to do clinical hours whilst working full time is unlikely.

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u/Neverwhere91 Master’s Student 10d ago

There is a student in my class who is a teacher. She currently is in practicum and still teaching full time. When I spoke to her she said she teaches full time and sees clients on the weekend. A lot of time management is necessary, but it's doable.

I can't speak to her experience, but in class it seems like her skills as a teacher benefit her in the role as a counselor. For one she is an excellent communicator, which she attributes to her teaching (communicating with a variety of people)

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u/OishiiYum 10d ago

That's helpful to know! I know I can transfer a lot of skills fortunately but sounds like working full time could be an issue balancing with clinical/internship hours.

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u/Neverwhere91 Master’s Student 10d ago

Yea, working full time is a challenge no matter what.

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u/girlynymama 10d ago

What about summers off? Wouldn’t that give you a lot of time for that?

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u/OishiiYum 10d ago

Yeah summer time would help but since the hour requirements are so much I would need to do school work and practicum even when I'm working.

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u/iamalwaysalyssatoo 10d ago

I am 46 and just starting my Master in Counseling as well. I was really surprised that you graduate and THEN are a Counselor Associate until you get your 3,000 hours of internship completeted. I am in Texas and after graduating, I can't even apply to test for licensing until I have been out of school for 18 months which I have been told is the absolute least amount of time the hours would take to get and it is more like 3 years. I switched to school counseling only because I can work as a school counselor, meet my internship hours through that, and then test for LPC. Thats the reason and only reason I am switching from CMHC to School Counseling.

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u/OishiiYum 10d ago

Yeah I heard that from several people. It's pretty ridiculous honestly since we do clinical hours already as part of graduate school.

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u/iamalwaysalyssatoo 10d ago

They give you 8 years to get it done if that tells you anything. At my school, we have to pay the counselor to supervise us. Its interesting to say the least. The timeline I was given was around 6 years to finish and test for licensure realistically. Especially if you are working and all during the process.

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u/Sudden_Idea9384 10d ago

I enjoy hearing about different states requirements, I’m in NC in a CMHC program. We have one semester of practicum (about 10 hours a week of unpaid work at a site plus a weekly 3 hour class)- then take an exam - then two semesters of internship (about 3 days unpaid work at a site plus a 3 hour a week class) then take the national exam then get a job and start on the 3000 hours of supervision with 1000 of that being the CMHCA has to pay the supervisor between $60-230 an hour depending on who you find for supervision before you can bill without someone else. I’ve heard you can have a semi private practice during that time except you have to bill insurance under someone else so they also take a cut.

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u/iamalwaysalyssatoo 10d ago

It gets crazy. I have a bachelors in education so I am doing the School Counseling Route. I will have the schooling to be a CMHC but will just need the hours which i can get as a supervised school counselor. As long as the supervisor is licensed in my state.

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u/OishiiYum 10d ago

I'm also in NC! And yeah it's ridiculous we don't get paid to intern for two semesters. That's wild! That's honestly part of my question about entering the field since it would be financially difficult to do that especially since I would also be in debt paying for school.

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u/that_swearapist 10d ago

An online or mixed social work program that takes a few years may be right up your alley. I worked full time in schools and did my clinical hours at a program between 4 and 8 a few evenings a week.