2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43
I get asked from time to time, "What does it take to become a psychotherapist or consulting psychologist?"
To begin with, according to Russian law, only a doctor who has additionally trained as a psychotherapist can be a psychotherapist. In this article I will only write about how to become a consulting psychologist (consultant psychologist).
In this article, I do not pretend to be "the only correct option", but I share the experience that I got after going this way and want to draw on important, from my point of view, points along the way.
Get a psychological education
The first thing to do is to get an education that gives you the right to work as a psychologist. At the moment, the following options for education in the field of psychology are available:
1) Specialty, 2) Bachelor's + Master's degree, 3) Undergraduate
4) Retraining on the basis of higher
5) Master's degree in psychology based on higher non-psychological education.
At the moment in Russia there is no law on psychological assistance, there is only the law of the city of Moscow and the draft law "On psychological assistance to the population."
On the one hand, any of the options described above currently gives the right to work as, on the other hand, in the current draft law, if and when it is adopted, a higher psychological education at least a specialist is required to work as a consultant psychologist. that is, items 3-5 will be outlawed.
Even if the requirements for psychological education are not tightened, then, for example, they often ask me: do I have a higher psychological education - therefore, most likely, they will also ask you about this. The presence of a higher psychological education from a specialist to whom the client turned to relieves part of the client's anxiety, therefore, in my opinion, it is worth choosing one of the first three options.
When obtaining higher education, you can choose psychology or clinical psychology: if you choose clinical psychology, then you will have deeper knowledge in the field of psychiatry than "ordinary" psychologists, which, in my opinion, is useful, on the other hand, this knowledge you if required, you can get it separately. A consultant psychologist only works with mentally healthy clients, the education of a clinical psychologist will not give you the right to work with mentally ill patients - only psychiatrists have this right.
Unfortunately, our state standards in the field of training psychologists are primarily aimed at training psychologists-scientists, and not consulting psychologists, therefore, in the field of consulting, higher education will not give you enough knowledge and skills. To obtain these skills, you should choose the direction of psychology (modality) in which you would like to work: psychoanalysis, Jungian analysis, gestalt therapy, clint-centered psychotherapy, transactional analysis, body-oriented psychotherapy, etc. (there are a lot of directions) - and start get educated in this approach. Many modalities in Russia have certified training programs.
How to choose the direction of psychotherapy in which you would like to work?
As part of your studies at the university, you will get acquainted with the main areas of psychological counseling.
In addition to this, since training in the field of psychological counseling requires a lot of time, effort and money, it makes sense to get acquainted with the books of the founding authors of various directions of psychotherapy - this will allow you to broaden the horizons of approaches to working with clients, as well as allow you to choose the one the modality that will be closest to you.
Within the modality you like, begin your personal therapy with a practitioner. The main task of a counseling psychologist is "do no harm", and for this it is necessary that you do not "project" your problems onto the client - and this requires hundreds of hours of personal therapy: this is one of the most expensive items in preparing you as a counselor psychologist.
If, within the framework of your therapy, you understand that the chosen direction is not close to you, then you can try other directions, for example, before choosing transactional analysis, I tried NLP, hypnosis, and body-oriented psychotherapy on myself as a client, and client-centered psychotherapy - you can also try and look for your own direction, because in psychological counseling there is no universal direction that will suit absolutely everyone.
As soon as you understand that you have chosen the direction "to your liking" - start training and find a supervisor in this direction.
A supervisor is an experienced practicing psychologist with whom you will review your client work. One of your teachers can be a supervisor, but your personal psychologist cannot be him, since this will be the intersection of the roles of a psychologist and a supervisor, whose tasks are different: your personal psychologist works with your psyche and your difficulties, and you work with a supervisor with your customers' problems.
As soon as you start training in the chosen modality, familiarize yourself with the ethical code of this modality - start looking for clients who will be ready to work with you: free of charge or for a nominal fee, for example, the cost of the office in which you will receive them (to the office in which you will accept clients, there are clear requirements - you will learn about them during training and / or supervision).
Your clients cannot be your relatives, friends, acquaintances or colleagues from other places of work: the less overlapping of roles, the better, that is, it is advisable that these were people who are completely unfamiliar to you.
If you want to keep friends and relationships with relatives, forget outside the office that you are a psychologist, and again become a friend, spouse, etc. For many of my fellow psychologists, their first marriages were destroyed for this very reason: they remained a psychologist in their family - do not repeat their mistake (I know it is difficult;)
As soon as you find your first client, take supervision before the first consultation. After starting to work with clients, take regular supervision - it will allow you to correct those mistakes that you will make at work (and you will make mistakes - this is normal - after all, you are learning a new profession for yourself and mistakes are part of the learning process).
Also, do not forget about your personal therapy, because the more you work with clients, the more "material" you will have to "work through" with yourself.
In my experience, the sooner you start consulting, the faster your growth as a specialist will be: I often observed this from the outside in the groups in which I myself studied: as soon as a fellow student / s had the first client, he changed / her attitude to the material, his / her questions to teachers, etc. - his / her tremendous growth as a specialist took place right "before our eyes."
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