“What made you want to be a therapist?”
“What motivated you to become a therapist?”
“You? A therapist?”
These questions may be ones you might recognize in some form as they are typically asked by many when we decide we want to be a therapist. Your parents may have asked you why you chose therapy as a career path, your partner or friends may have inquired in some way as to what led you to be a therapist, the person interviewing you during your application process to enter into graduate school likely asked this, or even strangers may have asked you while trying to engage in small talk.
This overarching question of “why” might be asked often as others are curious of our stories or reasons behind our decision to enter into the mental health field and to help others.
Answering this question for others is the place we may often find we have a well crafted or thoughtful response. And if we were to step outside the responses we have curated for others, I wonder if you can sit with these questions for yourself, “Why did I become a therapist?” or truly, “what motivated me to become a therapist in the first place?”
Answering this question for ourselves is important in that this answer will act as a guiding post for you in becoming and continuing to be a therapist as it:
- Influences the type of therapist we choose to be
- Impacts the types of client concerns we gravitate towards/want to specialize in
- Informs us of the types of concerns we may choose not to work with
- Acts as our why during challenging seasons as a therapist
- Contributes to our motivation to stay in the field
- Influences decision making on what types of jobs or work environments we may want e.g. substance abuse center, private practice, OCD clinic, trauma center for domestic violence, holistic center, etc.
Although this answer likely will change as you change as a person and grow as a therapist, this question is important to periodically reflect on especially as we are starting out and reach different milestones in our career.
Whether you journal, talk through this out loud, make a board with pictures/visuals, voice record yourself, use your notes on your phone, etc., here’s a list of questions I encourage you to reflect on in solitude and to come back to at various points in your career development.
Questions
When did I first think about becoming a (therapist/counselor/psychologist/social worker)?
What was going on in my life at the time?
What excites me now about being a therapist?
Who motivated me in becoming a therapist?
What was my own therapy experience like, and how did it impact me? (if applicable)
What do I admire about therapists?
How does being a therapist connect to my current values?
What am I hoping to provide or offer to a (person/community/mental health issue)?
My hope is that these questions can offer you guidance especially when you feel clueless as to what type of therapist you may want to be, feel overwhelmed by the continued tasks in graduate school, or even to bring you back to the inspiration of what guides you to lead a life in helping others.
Acknowledements:
Photo by Hana Fleur on Unsplash