You Finished Grad School, Now What?
I remember my first job as a brand-new therapist. The ink was barely dry on my diploma, and I had just started providing in-home treatment in case management for youth and the foster care system.
One morning during the first week of my new job, I arrived at the child welfare office to attend a team meeting for one of my new clients. I remember looking around the table at the seasoned faces of the child welfare worker, the foster parents, the probation officer, and the child's attorney. I could feel the anxiety creeping in.
The meeting began with a discussion of whether my new client should be referred to inpatient treatment. The team discussed their concerns, and the conversation went back and forth while I quietly observed and absorbed the process.
Soon, the child welfare worker looked at me and said, “What do you think? You are the expert here.”
I swallowed. Hard. My mind was utterly blank, and I had no idea how to weigh in on this situation.
I had enjoyed grad school. I enjoyed learning, sharing ideas, having deep discussions, and writing. However, grad school doesn't prepare you for everything you will experience as a therapist in the real world. It certainly hadn’t prepared me to make a treatment decision for a client I didn't know.
So what do you do when you don’t know what to do?
Get Supervision
So often, new therapists worry that their clinical supervisor is there to tell them what they are doing wrong. Actually, your supervisor is there to help you learn how to apply what you learned from textbooks and lectures to real-life situations.
Keep Learning
Invest time in learning more about systems and how they operate. As a therapist, whether in private practice or working for a nonprofit or community healthcare organization, you will eventually need to work with other systems to support your clients.
Be Willing to Say, “ I don't know.”
Take time to think through an answer or gather more information before you make a decision. Very often, just like when I sat in that child welfare meeting, you will be seen as the expert in the room. But, as the person others are looking to for answers, remind yourself it's okay to step back and take some time before offering an opinion or making a decision.
Regardless of how rigorous your master’s program was, most programs don't provide new therapists with all the tools they need to take to work with real people. You have the knowledge, the theory, the understanding of the human mind, and the skills to help people, and you still have more to learn.
Keep Going
Have patience; you will eventually become a seasoned therapist. In the meantime, take care of yourself mentally and physically, lean on your supports, and, most importantly, be yourself and show up in the room as the genuine and compassionate person you are.