Reflection on the Bachelor's Degree in Psychology

     In 2011, I embarked on an educational journey to obtain my Bachelor's degree in Psychology. There was a lot of work, classes that had NOTHING to do with psychology, frustration, and, ultimately, success. I graduated in May 2015 with two honors so I was pretty proud of myself. I thought I can step right into the psychology world and practice what I learned.
     Instead, there were not many jobs for people with a BA in psychology. There were case management positions and part-time ABA counselors for autistic kids. Everything else required a Master's or PsyD which paid a lot more. So I flooded the job boards and applied for anything with a BA in mental health. Two months later, I was offered a case management job in North Seattle starting at $15 an hour. This was a far cry from being a technical support technician making $25 an hour so our family took a big financial hit.

"Case Management"
     So I started at a long term residential (LTR) facility for mentally ill clients. The job duties are janitorial, cooking, dishwashing, fetching cups (with ice), driver, med distributor, getting yelled at by mentally unstable clients, and, of course, case management. About 95% of my job is for everything other than case management. In essence, it's mainly a caregiver job with a nursing certification. It was not what I envisioned what I would be doing, especially with a four year degree and thousands of dollars in debt.
     Was it worth it? The noble thing to say is that it was worth it and I'm helping others. The reality is spending $50,000 to become a janitor, dishwasher, cook, and caregiver making minimum wage in Seattle was definitely NOT worth it. They didn't teach us this at the university. We were left to find out on our own. I don't feel like I'm making a difference to these people who are just happy to sit around and do nothing.

Master's Degree
     So I decided to get my Master's degree and spend another $40,000 for my education. I'm going to get a degree where people WANT to be helped out of bad situations. Life coaching seems like a great fit to me. Will this work out in the end? That remains to be seen.  Stay tuned.