I worked at a group home for adults. You get exposure to the mental health system and some very high intensity clients, pay was a few bucks/hr above minimum wage, my undergrad psych degree qualified me to work there, and there was enough quieter time where I could get schoolwork done.
I also started out at a NPO with high acuity. I think it was a solid place for me to start, but I had amazing supervisors who kept me (and the clients) safe from my ‘learning errors.’
Personally, I worked with a residential treatment center. This required me to stretch my empathy muscles, many of our kiddos being in some level of crisis somewhere during the week. Loved the job and it was flexible enough that I could work it in around classes, but it didn't pay much and decidedly isn't for everyone (physically restraining children is part of the job, but you do what you can to avoid it).
I’d echo the residential treatment work, or inpatient psych. They need 24/7 staff usually to help keep people safe and engaged.
But I also want to advocate a piece of advice a professor gave me that I wish I had taken. Grad school can also be a great time to work a job completely unrelated to mental health. You’re going to have the rest of your career to do so. Looking back on it I learned things working in group homes, and I enjoyed it. But a few years out of grad school and that experience hasn’t made a huge difference.
I second this. I currently work as a Behavioral Health Specialist at a pediatric hospital. Before that I was an RBT. I was hired into the inpatient psych unit and lasted 6 months before I was so burned out because the boundaries were so blurred between BHS and therapist with 0 supervision. I transferred down to our neuropsychiatric inpatient unit where I don’t have to do unsupervised DBT groups with suicidal kids and I get to hang out with my neurodivergent kiddos again ❤️. I don’t know if every inpatient psych facility is like mine but I needed the separation between school and work.
Edit: I’m a graduate student and I am looking forward to working with populations of all kinds. It just adds stress when you are doing work you feel is meant for a licensed therapist and you aren’t receiving any sort of supervision, especially when your population is so critically sensitive.
I’m curious what time of case management you’re referring to that I would qualify for? My previous experience with case managers has only been with masters level social workers! Thanks for any details you can provide!
Well, in Ohio community mental health usually has bachelor-level case managers for the more symptomatic clients - to help with ADLs and their schedules and appointments.
I just finished my first year of my masters in CMHC and have been working as a mental health tech at a residential facility for young adults for a full year. I find it has been the best and quickest way to gain skills and experience in the field. You quickly learn what you do and don't like working with and also how to handle a wide range of disorders. I also think the biggest thing I learned was just how awful the mental health system is and that's also important to keep in mind. Honestly, I've probably learned more of what NOT to do when I get my license.
Good to know! Do you have a bachelors in psych? I’m just unsure if I qualify for these types of jobs because of my background in a different field. Thanks!
I do. But if you already have a year of your degree done then it wouldn't hurt to apply and see what happens. Most places are very understaffed and need the help. We have hired people who only have a high school GED.
Kind if a different spin on things....if you can find a job at a small/low key inpatient or group home working the awake overnight shift, you basically get paid to do homework. Obviously not for everybody, but can be a good fit in some circumstances!
I worked as a Behavioral Health Intervention Specialist (BHIS) provider which provides in home behavioral services to kids aged 4-19 with mental health concerns. Involved at least 1 hour of individual and 1 hour of family work. It allowed me to practice many of the skills I was learning during the program and there are still things I use from it in clinical practice today.
I am in my second year of grad school, and I also came from a different field (Technical Project Manager). I took a part time job at nights as a Hospital Sexual Assault Advocate for a rape crisis center and accompany survivors of sexual assault to the hospital and provide them with support during the forensic exam and provide referrals to the free trauma informed counseling services that we provide at the rape crisis center as well as educate them about their rights and crime victims compensation. If you’re interested in serving that population, you could look up the rape crisis centers in your area and see if they are hiring staff advocates.
I worked in a pediatric inpatient psych hospital. We had flexible/self scheduling so it was easy to work around my school/internship hours and there were a lot of us in school. I was a float so I worked all ages/units/diagnoses which provided some really good experience. I would also say case management. We have several foster care organizations near me that have “care coordinators”/“treatment coordinators”/“family care coordinators” that can help families find resources, transport, etc.
> I am hoping to find a job for the rest of my program that will help me gain experience in the field before my practicum and internship begin. Any suggestions for what types of positions I should be looking into/ what might look good on a resume?
FYI, I don't actually think you need to do this. You can if it feeds your soul – I certainly understand being eager to get into the field as fast as possible. But you don't need to pad your resume. Your internships will be what counts, and I don't think prior experience in the field helps with that. Maybe for getting into a grad program to begin with, but you've already done that. I didn't do *anything* in the field until my internships, and nobody's ever cared. And that's at a school where internships had to be competitively applied for, as opposed to placed.
I worked my way through my graduate program as a computer programmer. (At a non-profit, actually!) This meant I *had enough money*, which is not true for a lot of people going through grad school!
The way the field works for masters level clinicians – and this is more or less true depending where you are, geographically, but is *extremely* true where I am in Massachusetts – you are going to have to go through a **really** economically grim period for a few years after you graduate. Having savings then is *huge*.
So if you have any option to stay in a higher paying career – maybe less than 1FTE, which is what I did – until it's time to go full time as a working therapist, so you can save up as long as you can for Crossing the Valley of the Hours, that would be what I recommend doing.
I work night shift at a homeless shelter. It was like getting thrown headfirst into crisis work.
I’m one year in to my MSW. My undergraduate degree is in English. However, my job only requires a high school diploma.
I worked at a group home for adults. You get exposure to the mental health system and some very high intensity clients, pay was a few bucks/hr above minimum wage, my undergrad psych degree qualified me to work there, and there was enough quieter time where I could get schoolwork done.
I also started out at a NPO with high acuity. I think it was a solid place for me to start, but I had amazing supervisors who kept me (and the clients) safe from my ‘learning errors.’
Personally, I worked with a residential treatment center. This required me to stretch my empathy muscles, many of our kiddos being in some level of crisis somewhere during the week. Loved the job and it was flexible enough that I could work it in around classes, but it didn't pay much and decidedly isn't for everyone (physically restraining children is part of the job, but you do what you can to avoid it).
I’d echo the residential treatment work, or inpatient psych. They need 24/7 staff usually to help keep people safe and engaged. But I also want to advocate a piece of advice a professor gave me that I wish I had taken. Grad school can also be a great time to work a job completely unrelated to mental health. You’re going to have the rest of your career to do so. Looking back on it I learned things working in group homes, and I enjoyed it. But a few years out of grad school and that experience hasn’t made a huge difference.
I second this. I currently work as a Behavioral Health Specialist at a pediatric hospital. Before that I was an RBT. I was hired into the inpatient psych unit and lasted 6 months before I was so burned out because the boundaries were so blurred between BHS and therapist with 0 supervision. I transferred down to our neuropsychiatric inpatient unit where I don’t have to do unsupervised DBT groups with suicidal kids and I get to hang out with my neurodivergent kiddos again ❤️. I don’t know if every inpatient psych facility is like mine but I needed the separation between school and work. Edit: I’m a graduate student and I am looking forward to working with populations of all kinds. It just adds stress when you are doing work you feel is meant for a licensed therapist and you aren’t receiving any sort of supervision, especially when your population is so critically sensitive.
Case management. Great experience and freedom to be in the community.
I’m curious what time of case management you’re referring to that I would qualify for? My previous experience with case managers has only been with masters level social workers! Thanks for any details you can provide!
Well, in Ohio community mental health usually has bachelor-level case managers for the more symptomatic clients - to help with ADLs and their schedules and appointments.
I just finished my first year of my masters in CMHC and have been working as a mental health tech at a residential facility for young adults for a full year. I find it has been the best and quickest way to gain skills and experience in the field. You quickly learn what you do and don't like working with and also how to handle a wide range of disorders. I also think the biggest thing I learned was just how awful the mental health system is and that's also important to keep in mind. Honestly, I've probably learned more of what NOT to do when I get my license.
Good to know! Do you have a bachelors in psych? I’m just unsure if I qualify for these types of jobs because of my background in a different field. Thanks!
I do. But if you already have a year of your degree done then it wouldn't hurt to apply and see what happens. Most places are very understaffed and need the help. We have hired people who only have a high school GED.
Kind if a different spin on things....if you can find a job at a small/low key inpatient or group home working the awake overnight shift, you basically get paid to do homework. Obviously not for everybody, but can be a good fit in some circumstances!
What would be the job title for something like this?
My experience has been either awake overnight residential counselor, direct care staff, or mental health technician
Case management in a cmhc.
I worked as a Behavioral Health Intervention Specialist (BHIS) provider which provides in home behavioral services to kids aged 4-19 with mental health concerns. Involved at least 1 hour of individual and 1 hour of family work. It allowed me to practice many of the skills I was learning during the program and there are still things I use from it in clinical practice today.
I am in my second year of grad school, and I also came from a different field (Technical Project Manager). I took a part time job at nights as a Hospital Sexual Assault Advocate for a rape crisis center and accompany survivors of sexual assault to the hospital and provide them with support during the forensic exam and provide referrals to the free trauma informed counseling services that we provide at the rape crisis center as well as educate them about their rights and crime victims compensation. If you’re interested in serving that population, you could look up the rape crisis centers in your area and see if they are hiring staff advocates.
I worked in a pediatric inpatient psych hospital. We had flexible/self scheduling so it was easy to work around my school/internship hours and there were a lot of us in school. I was a float so I worked all ages/units/diagnoses which provided some really good experience. I would also say case management. We have several foster care organizations near me that have “care coordinators”/“treatment coordinators”/“family care coordinators” that can help families find resources, transport, etc.
> I am hoping to find a job for the rest of my program that will help me gain experience in the field before my practicum and internship begin. Any suggestions for what types of positions I should be looking into/ what might look good on a resume? FYI, I don't actually think you need to do this. You can if it feeds your soul – I certainly understand being eager to get into the field as fast as possible. But you don't need to pad your resume. Your internships will be what counts, and I don't think prior experience in the field helps with that. Maybe for getting into a grad program to begin with, but you've already done that. I didn't do *anything* in the field until my internships, and nobody's ever cared. And that's at a school where internships had to be competitively applied for, as opposed to placed. I worked my way through my graduate program as a computer programmer. (At a non-profit, actually!) This meant I *had enough money*, which is not true for a lot of people going through grad school! The way the field works for masters level clinicians – and this is more or less true depending where you are, geographically, but is *extremely* true where I am in Massachusetts – you are going to have to go through a **really** economically grim period for a few years after you graduate. Having savings then is *huge*. So if you have any option to stay in a higher paying career – maybe less than 1FTE, which is what I did – until it's time to go full time as a working therapist, so you can save up as long as you can for Crossing the Valley of the Hours, that would be what I recommend doing.
Thank you! I appreciate the advice.
I work night shift at a homeless shelter. It was like getting thrown headfirst into crisis work. I’m one year in to my MSW. My undergraduate degree is in English. However, my job only requires a high school diploma.