Ditching law school plans to switch to mental health, but I am already in six figure debt. How should I approach this?

[prelawsurvivor]

Hi All - 

I'm currently a corporate paralegal that recently realized that I'd like to pivot to a career in mental health. My vision for a career is clear: I want to work towards a private practice that will mainly service the adult male population. I've also been working on a marketing business on the side, so I think I may want to split my time with these careers in the future. 

I'm extremely excited that I've finally developed a vision for a career that would fulfill me, but money is a huge issue I need to consider; honestly, it's making me question whether I should even pursue this new path.

I'm already in about $115,000 in debt and I know people don't get into mental health for the money. I'm currently making about $80,000 for my current paralegal job, so it pains me to know that if I pursue a career in mental health, not only will I have to quit my well-paying job eventually, but I will likely be in more debt than I'm in now making less (at least at the beginning of my career). 

Assuming you think this path is worth pursuing (feel free to share that with me if that's the case) my question is twofold: (1) what degree should I pursue to maximize my earning potential while keeping my tuition low? I've looked at MSW programs, but I know PhD is in option especially when considering income potential. (2) Is it realistic to make six figures as a talk therapist or am I just living in fantasy land? 

Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

 

 

[Modulus]

5 hours ago, prelawsurvivor said:

Hi All - 

I'm currently a corporate paralegal that recently realized that I'd like to pivot to a career in mental health. My vision for a career is clear: I want to work towards a private practice that will mainly service the adult male population. I've also been working on a marketing business on the side, so I think I may want to split my time with these careers in the future. 

I'm extremely excited that I've finally developed a vision for a career that would fulfill me, but money is a huge issue I need to consider; honestly, it's making me question whether I should even pursue this new path.

I'm already in about $115,000 in debt and I know people don't get into mental health for the money. I'm currently making about $80,000 for my current paralegal job, so it pains me to know that if I pursue a career in mental health, not only will I have to quit my well-paying job eventually, but I will likely be in more debt than I'm in now making less (at least at the beginning of my career). 

Assuming you think this path is worth pursuing (feel free to share that with me if that's the case) my question is twofold: (1) what degree should I pursue to maximize my earning potential while keeping my tuition low? I've looked at MSW programs, but I know PhD is in option especially when considering income potential. (2) Is it realistic to make six figures as a talk therapist or am I just living in fantasy land? 

Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

 

 

As someone whose psychology research career took a four year detour into law (as a public defense investigator), I feel like I might be able to answer your questions, but I have more first. 

Why do you feel you want to leave law?

Why do you want to enter the mental health field?

Do you have any experience doing clinical mental health work?

The short answer is, depends on where you work, six figures might not be out of the question for a private practitioner who is established and in an affluent area and has a doctoral degree, but it would not be anywhere near the modal salary for a social worker (which is much more like $40k-$70k on the high side).  Consider that in addition to the pay cut once re-established in your new career, you would also have 2-6 years of training (possibly needing to pay not only for living expenses but also tuition) depending upon the degree you seek.

PhDs are not traditionally the path to becoming a talk therapy clinician either as they focus heavily on research.

I'm happy to talk here or in PMs. In my case, I had a passion for research work and wanted to do a Clinical Psychology PhD but for a myriad of reasons also considered a career path including law school.

Also, wow! That salary is better than attorney pay where I'm from (though I was in chronically underfunded public defense).