Fully licensed…yay. Wait, I am fully licensed…now what?

It’s a common phenomenon at the end of a big goal to feel a bit depressed, a bit of “now what.” or to think “wait, why on earth would they give me a license I don’t know what I am doing.” Sometimes, people are so burned out after obtaining their full licensure, they have no interest in therapy. Any of the above are normal (in a statistical sense). So if you are experiencing this, don’t worry, you are not alone. Here is a list of things that can help you in the transition from supervision to independent practitioner.

• Celebrate! You made it through the career version of a marathon. You stuck the course and deserve to be recognized for your effort and determination.

• Begin to build your network, Find your therapist people and intentionally build relationships with them. As I write this, I am about to leave to take lunch to a colleague to meet her new therapists in her office at Alan Behrman and Associates.

• Build your mastermind group. For details read this article. Your mastermind is different from your network, your mastermind are the people you go to for support and accountability in your business.

• Fantasize about your career future. How do you want to work? How can you make that happen?

• Find a mentor. This would be a more seasoned clinician you admire. They are able to provide long term real world experience that your network or mastermind may not have.

• Find a consultation group to continue to build your clinician skills. I refer groups, to help facilitate networking but if you prefer individual do that.

• Find a group you can discuss job opportunities with. This would be a group of people in different areas of the counseling field. Job posting boards could be helpful or some of the facebook groups post job options (obviously post anonymously if you are currently employed).

Hope these help you get started after full licensure. Let me know if you have any other helpful hints.