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Did you know you would be a psychologist in the future when you were in High School?
I'm in 9th grade, and would love to hear everybody's thought process about jobs in general! #psychology #clinical-psychology #student #highschool
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Elke’s Answer
Hi Stephanie,
When I look back at my time in high school, I didn't know much about Psychology except that it was a good major for "helping professions". I knew I wanted to do something that involved helping people, but I wasn't sure what that would be. I thought about maybe being a children's doctor.
I was always into sports, so when I started college and majored in psychology, I began researching ways that I could combine them. The obvious answer was sport psychology, but I didn't really know what I would do in that job.
Eventually I learned more about counseling and when I graduated I found a graduate school with an athletic counseling program. I learned about working with athletes to help them with personal issues, how to recover mentally from injuries, help them with school and also to prepare for their future.
I ended up working for the Olympic committee where I worked with national and Olympic team athletes, counseling them for all kinds of problems, and also helping them find jobs when they retired from sport. It was a very exciting job!
It was during that job that I became more familiar with career counseling, and that is what I have been doing at the college level for many years.
That was my career path. Yours may have some twists and turns, and that's okay, everybody's path is different. What is important is to follow what you are passionate about, what you love to do, and find people who can help you achieve your goal.
I wish you much success!
Elke
When I look back at my time in high school, I didn't know much about Psychology except that it was a good major for "helping professions". I knew I wanted to do something that involved helping people, but I wasn't sure what that would be. I thought about maybe being a children's doctor.
I was always into sports, so when I started college and majored in psychology, I began researching ways that I could combine them. The obvious answer was sport psychology, but I didn't really know what I would do in that job.
Eventually I learned more about counseling and when I graduated I found a graduate school with an athletic counseling program. I learned about working with athletes to help them with personal issues, how to recover mentally from injuries, help them with school and also to prepare for their future.
I ended up working for the Olympic committee where I worked with national and Olympic team athletes, counseling them for all kinds of problems, and also helping them find jobs when they retired from sport. It was a very exciting job!
It was during that job that I became more familiar with career counseling, and that is what I have been doing at the college level for many years.
That was my career path. Yours may have some twists and turns, and that's okay, everybody's path is different. What is important is to follow what you are passionate about, what you love to do, and find people who can help you achieve your goal.
I wish you much success!
Elke
Updated
Priya’s Answer
Hi Stephanie!
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate, so I work in mental health as a counselor as well. I did not know I would be doing this job at all in high school! I wanted to be so many things, and so many different things, when I was younger and in high school I thought of being a veterinarian, an artist, a medical technologist, a psychologist, a college English professor, and a physician assistant. I narrowed it down to physician assistant because of my college/parents when I started college but realized that was not for me by the second year of college. I looked into speech therapy, occupational therapy, and psychology/counseling and ended up deciding on psychology/counseling! I narrowed it further to the field of counseling, as opposed to psychology in my final year of undergraduate college. Even now, as I work toward my full license as a counselor, I really want to still do art and so I am taking art classes at my local community college. It was a dream of mine to be a ballerina first before anything when I was young, and I was also able to start taking adult classes in ballet, too, just to learn! I hope you can explore many things you love and you will find a good fit for you =). My culture was pretty narrow about what they approved as career choices, but I ended up doing a different career than typical by the end anyways! I am hoping to continue to have courage and keep doing the things I love along with my current career!
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate, so I work in mental health as a counselor as well. I did not know I would be doing this job at all in high school! I wanted to be so many things, and so many different things, when I was younger and in high school I thought of being a veterinarian, an artist, a medical technologist, a psychologist, a college English professor, and a physician assistant. I narrowed it down to physician assistant because of my college/parents when I started college but realized that was not for me by the second year of college. I looked into speech therapy, occupational therapy, and psychology/counseling and ended up deciding on psychology/counseling! I narrowed it further to the field of counseling, as opposed to psychology in my final year of undergraduate college. Even now, as I work toward my full license as a counselor, I really want to still do art and so I am taking art classes at my local community college. It was a dream of mine to be a ballerina first before anything when I was young, and I was also able to start taking adult classes in ballet, too, just to learn! I hope you can explore many things you love and you will find a good fit for you =). My culture was pretty narrow about what they approved as career choices, but I ended up doing a different career than typical by the end anyways! I am hoping to continue to have courage and keep doing the things I love along with my current career!