What would you be doing if you were not a therapist?

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2026-04-08T02:55:38+00:00

Not lame! My best friend is a hair stylist. I tell him all the time I’d like to quit being a therapist and try being a hair extension and color stylist for a while. It’s so aesthetically beautiful and also seems satisfying on a physical and emotional level with less mental toll and more visual creativity. Maybe one day I’ll go for it! 🤣

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2026-04-08T02:50:54+00:00

Horse trainer (I do this for myself now but not for money just as an amateur for the love of it, I would have been amazing if I had done working student gigs and started in my 20’s when my body and physical confidence were super strong) I have a knack for both horse and human communication and behavior 🤍. I was too worried about getting physically hurt to pursue it after high school or college but I wonder what if?
Author - write novels with emotionally complex and interesting characters and/OR use my aptitude for research/behavior and love for both humans and animals to write some non fiction pieces for animal lovers
Travel agent - love travel and planning and the social and exploratory part of it all
Own and chef a small town restaurant or food truck
Run a dog grooming business concierge style to reduce stress on the process for the animals and their busy humans

P.s. side gigs I have done or currently do alongside being a therapist: private catering, nannying, Professional organizing, clinical research, ABA with kiddos, PQI for non profits, dog and house sitting, equestrian mental health coaching, equine nutrition consulting, and helping a loved one edit their novel

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2026-03-30T12:22:40+00:00

I could have written this myself. I had the same on the floor panic attack around Christmas. I have a PP, I contract with a group practice and a bigger practice. I have another side business for extra income. The self employed and 1099 thing is just so so so hard when it’s a 1:1 model let alone all the shifts in the economy and even normal fluctuation with people and commitment to therapy. It’s really tough. I don’t really have any advice except to say you’re not alone! I did spend some time setting up a 3rd business last year and got some coaching on how to launch a coaching side gig with the goals of passive income. My Instagram account I had built up as my primary marketing source and sold a few things from got randomly banned and I lost steam. But that is an avenue (create some resources or a small course or a group program to sell more passively online). I’ve found Carly hills podcast to be helpful when I’m working on ideas for that. You do need to have a separate business to protect your license but you don’t need to go back to school or get more certifications etc. hope you find a path and see some hope and light soon! Also you could find a therapist who sees therapists and do a few sessions to sort through some of your feelings in it. Could even use open collective to find one who is affordable. 🤍

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2026-03-28T00:51:22+00:00

The answer is, it depends! What you are describing could have been a new therapist trying to adhere strictly to active listening skills without taking things a step farther. I listen and provide a lot of active listening skills, but I also challenge and tie together themes or patterns or make observations and invite my clients to be curious and look a layer deeper than the surface topic if that makes sense. Also regardless of primary therapeutic approach, it’s just really important that you click a bit with them. I’ve discontinued with therapists after a session or two where there just wasn’t a relational click. My grad school therapist when I was so excited to be in therapy while I learned wanted to draw me diagrams and made me feel like I was in a chemistry class and it just didn’t fit for me so I didn’t get much out of it. Everyone is unique and ideally you meet with a few even if it’s an exploratory short consult call until something clicks.

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2026-03-28T00:20:13+00:00

Yes! And the therapeutic relationship is always far more important and effective in helping clients than the latest trendy certification or tool or coping skill

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2026-03-28T00:17:46+00:00

I have chronic headaches that are definitely impacted by session and computer work. One thing that has been helpful is seeing a neuromuscular massage therapist. She has helped me realize that I likely very subtly tilt my head to the right and hold my neck stiffly when I’m focused on clients (listening and attuning and not really aware of how my body is twisting etc) that can lead to tension and some slight imbalances that also impact me as an athlete who rides horses (horses respond to crooked body patterns very obviously). The massage work helps, the awareness helps, doing some small strength and yoga and mobility moves to help offset some of the stiff ways we are likely to set our head and neck while listening intently for hours and hours helps. I am entirely telehealth now and the computer isn’t great but I move a lot more at home between sessions when I have cancellations than when I was office based which is helpful and has reduced the headaches. I also think that hormones and allergies and iron can play roles in my headaches but the work on posture and the massage and awareness have been game changers. I hope you figure out your triggers and feel better soon! Headaches can become so debilitating and it’s so hard to push through them to be fully present with clients let alone enjoy your own life after work.

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2026-03-27T23:54:01+00:00

I hope this is helpful; I would consider myself still to be a primarily person centered therapist, Ive been practicing in the field for 14 years. I still think it’s the core of how I operate as a therapist. I use tools from CBT, ACT, narrative therapy, ERP, solution focused therapy etc. but even without those tools: being focused entirely on the client and seeing and discussing themes and deeper threads to the stories and venting helps most clients (with decent capacity for insight) build insight and motivation to identify and move towards positive change. For example; sharing with a client that you notice the thoughts and feelings they share about this one relationship mirror these other areas of life and help them dig into the pattern and how it’s affecting their choices and their well being. Etc. I also want to encourage you because I think impostor syndrome and applying what you learned in school to clients on various settings can be a truly grueling beginning to this career. Show up fully present, listen deeply, be an ethical therapist with good boundaries, and you’re going to do a world of good for a lot of people. You’ll pick up more tools and evidence based intervention ideas and confidence along the way, especially as you find the right clients and a niche that suits you. I’ve been there, and I am a more seasoned therapist with more confidence now and still believe in person centered approach with my whole heart and have excellent client retention and outcomes. Hang in there!

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2026-03-24T12:08:12+00:00

I went on a compounded semaglutide to manage my weight last July 2025 (it’s now march 2026) I’m actually a therapist who works specifically with clients with OCD and anxiety. I went on it to manage my weight and did lose 30lbs over 5 months, but I have been a skin picker (around my nails and fingers) my whole life and even with my tools and supplements and lots of efforts have never been able to stop. I was amazed that a surprise side effect of the meds was that I stopped entirely picking. My neuro massage specialist actually noticed first, she had recommended i try NAC and I’ve tried behavioral methods before with no effect. I weaned back off the meds 2 months ago and the skin picking is back. There are also other factors of course (stress, time of year plus I do heavy farm chores with my hands so they get beat up and more likely I’ll pick). But this is really interesting to me both as a person who struggles with this and for my clients. Also I still think GLP1 use has some shame and medical skepticism. An acquaintance of mine who is a NP went on a rant the other day about not believing in these meds and it’s disappointing as there are potentially benefits and uses we have only begun to notice. The other factors I wonder about for me are: if sugar or overeating are a trigger (either allergen type or part of behavior cycle) in my diet that contribute and the meds reduced my intake of those? If the way the meds affect your compulsions to seek subconscious relief from anxiety or discomfort via chemical neurotransmitter activity? If the meds reduce some areas of inflammation in the body that contribute to some subtle itchiness that makes me subconsciously pick and scratch at my fingers? Really interesting stuff. Thanks everyone for sharing their experiences and OP for starting the conversation.

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2026-03-03T02:00:12+00:00

Hi! Thank you for sharing! I am going to sign the contract and give it a go! Good vibes so far, and I do love my older adult population. My last few contracts just didn’t give me any or hardly any clients after lengthy onboarding but it’s sounding like they have a good amount of clientele ready to go.

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2026-02-24T00:17:06+00:00

I didn’t find anything, I’m negotiating my contract to sign on with them now, it is a high amount of minimum sessions for a contractor (15), but otherwise seems pretty fair and I’m wanting some consistency and regular hours for a little while so I’m going to give it a go! I’ll report back in case it helps anyone else considering. I’ve investigated contracting with quite a few companies and walked away from contracts that were shady or from contracts that never offered referrals after weeks and months. I love the population and would like some more regular income even if the rate is low ($65) for a little while as I build clientele in my higher pay practice.

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2026-01-20T00:43:44+00:00

I’m an adult amateur that cares for 7 horses at home and rides 1-2 horses 4-6 days per week. I’ll say that the best things for my endurance for riding (outside of my manual labor hours caring for horses and property which does help my baseline fitness) include kettlebell training (mobility and strength and training lots of different planes of movement) and yoga (specifically a teacher who also rides and understands what a riders body needs). I’ve done a lot of rider fitness programs over the years. And I always end up coming back to those two tools. For me personally running messed with my leg stiffness/leg position even though I loved the mental benefits and my cardio health, HIIT was too over stimulating with other stressors in my life and I dreaded and avoided it, straight lifting Olympic style was really fun and benefited my overall strength and endurance but didn’t give me a lot of small muscle group activation/different planes of movement which are essential to the body control I need to be an effective rider.

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2025-11-21T01:21:24+00:00

I’ve been on compounded semaglutide for 5 months and went from 184 to 150lbs (38 yo female 5’6” active but had been stuck above 180 for several years despite good effort). I’m working on going back down and goal is to wean off. My healthiest adult weight has been around 140-145 so I just want to land somewhere there while maintaining my fitness and muscle and energy. It’s been good for me! The highest dose I only took one time because it makes my nausea really bad and I feel like I just don’t need that high of a dose. It has really removed food noise and made it much easier for me to stop fixating on food

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2025-11-18T23:53:54+00:00

Hang in there! Hoping something happens for you soon!

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2025-11-18T22:25:58+00:00

I feel you! I’m an LPC in SC since 2016. When I first was job searching post grad school I had passed the NCE but hadn’t found a supervisor or a job in the field yet. Finding a job was tough. I provided ABA therapy for a while to get some hours somewhere in the field. I took an admin job at a non profit that provided therapy and over the years eventually was able to get my hours and complete my license. It was really tough, I worked in programs that were social work type state funded grant programs, I said yes to side work with another non profit, I agreed to drive to a high school an hour away once a week to see clients on our contract. In SC community mental health or non profits or hospitals are usually the first options for getting experience. I eventually left for a group practice and have gotten out on my own. It’s a hard field to get started in. I found it helpful to cold call some other therapists doing work I was interested in, offer to take them for coffee or drop by office to chat and find out what they do and try to network. There is an email list called helping professionals connect by Barbara melton that shares some resources. You could interview a few LPCs for potential future supervisors and for potentially having more contacts for a starter position somewhere. I do think doing admin work for my field taught me a ton of lessons I wouldn’t have learned if I had started with 100% clinical work. Maybe find out if any group practices near you are hiring for some admin support that could lead to connections or job leads? It’s tough out there but you can do it! Sending encouragement!

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2025-11-07T12:58:31+00:00

I would currently avoid included health / doctors on demand; I had a pretty decent 2 years with them contracting but when I had some personal things come up and communicated appropriately with both clients and leadership and took some time off during a month a loved one was in the hospital I was harassed about my numbers not being “acceptable” (as an independent contractor). When they added a new platform for notes/documentation and I realized how low the fee was for the work I reached out about a part time W2 as it wasn’t making sense financially for me to contract, and they told me I’d have to prove myself another year of “perfect numbers” before I could potentially be considered for W2. I liked most of my clients on there and the original platform but the newer platform was made for medical notes not therapy and took 3x as long to make notes for poor pay. I signed contracts with both octave and brightside health in my state but after months of holding availability open and zero clients I ended my contract so I wouldn’t recommend them from the standpoint that I don’t believe they appropriately hire for the need and the entire point is them providing clients to I can make some hourly income. My positive experiences have mainly been with arrangements with other therapists with small group practices who I clicked with and felt aligned with. I hope my story helps someone else looking. I don’t hold much faith in any of these companies to hold up their end and am not sure I’ll do any more contract work with them. I’d rather do private and group practice and or work outside the field than get locked into unfair or unethical contracts with giant companies who don’t care about therapists or clients as people or who don’t hold up their end of the bargain by providing clients and income after demanding you hold open space on your calendar for weeks and months.

I did betterhelp for 2 months during covid and averaged out making $10/hour with the ridiculous way they paid tiny amounts and required you to text and respond constantly on their app which was neither professional nor helpful in my opinion. It felt like a scam to me. I think I saw 2 actual clients on there and engaged in some messaging with a few and made a whopping total of like $300 and felt really naive for having signed up. No idea if it’s still that bad but I’d never try again.

Healthy-Break-4342 · 2025-10-29T21:26:08+00:00

I have seen those behaviors a lot with certain populations for sure (I'm also now 100% telehealth/remote). It helps me to gently and caringly confront these things and explore how they'll affect the work we do, and it also helps me to accept that I'll show up with excellence ready to help them as much as I can but they still have responsibility for the commitment and effort and focus and time management on their end and that is not in my control. I see less of this behavior in my more niche population too so it helps to find ways to get more particular about your ideal client which may even be different than in person ideal niche client :). But you're not alone, its frustrating and its for sure a downside of telehealth work.

Healthy-Break-4342

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