Pushing On

-


I think there comes a time when you stop blaming unemployment and start examining your own contribution to being unemployed. It has now been almost two years since I graduated, and I haven't been lucky enough to get a psychology-related job.

But I am not the problem. The counseling psychology job market is very small for various reasons, mainly because our country is yet to take mental health seriously. There are no jobs because therapy is still seen as a luxury, and therapy is not cheap. Ideally, we should have counselors in every school, hospital, and corporate organization, but we are not there yet.

The last time I checked, one psychiatrist serves at least three hospitals, and the only hospitals that have their own counselors and psychiatrists are level 4 hospitals and above.

When this year started, I swore to work on building myself as a brand and to start sourcing personal clients. By March, I had identified a niche and had already started building my online presence, marketing myself in that area, and looking for individual clients.

Has it been easy?

No.

First of all, I have identified three areas under counseling psychology that I’m interested in:

1. Loss and grief counseling.
My interest in grief counseling started many years ago. I’ve always been bothered by how people who are grieving are not treated the way they should be. The stigma around grief, and how mourning is seen as a taboo in our society is something I want to change. I’ve always wanted to make a difference in how grieving individuals are treated.

2. Mental health for caregivers.
Caregivers, in my opinion, are often neglected, especially those caring for family members: the elderly, the sick, people living with disabilities, or those with mental disorders. It’s hard work that often goes unnoticed. My own mother cared for our grandmother for years before she passed, and I saw how hard that was. There are experiences only a caregiver understands. It can be mentally and physically draining.

3. Wellness training and education.
I have a certificate in teaching, and that made me passionate about teaching, talking, and training. Wellness training is my third area of focus. I’ve done it a couple of times now, and I can proudly say I enjoy it. I love standing in front of people to teach and educate. I am an educator. I hope to get more opportunities in this area while continuing to build my one-on-one counseling practice.

This, to me, is a big achievement, because finding my niche has been a rough journey. It’s one thing to know what you’re good at and passionate about, and a whole different hustle to be good at it and start monetizing it.

So here I am, in this ugly season of working towards big goals. I’ve come to accept that employment is not guaranteed for me, and I’ve been exploring different ways to grow and earn in this field without depending on employment. I definitely get discouraged, about a thousand times a day, but I’ve been pushing myself since January.

I’ve given up many times. But I always pick myself up and continue working towards the goal I have.

I believe in the plan.
I believe in the goal.
I believe that things will fall into place soon.
I believe in brighter days.

I BELIEVE IN BRIGHTER DAYS!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Stuggle with Suicidal Thoughts

-
Image
I will never forget the night my mother said this to me... " Jael, I've noticed you've been quite of late. What's wrong?" Not her exact words but something similar and in Kalenjin(my native language).   Growing up, my mother always had us all in the living room after taking our supper for a short bible reading session and a prayer, these were the times she would do some sort of house keeping by addressing different issues in the family.  She still does that till date. I used to hate them a lot but I now see what it did to us as a family.   So, a few days before that, I cannot exactly remember what happened but I was mad at my parents for something they did, or something they did not do. I ended up going to our farm down hill where we have a borehole and contemplated jumping in but I some how went for the tall grass around. I burried my face in the grass, tightly grasped a bunch of it with my hands and let out I silent scream. I let go of the grass seconds...
Read more

It’s Okay Not To Know How to Grieve

-
Image
  Grief — I have come to accept that it is one of the most painful and complicated experiences anyone can face. The feeling of losing someone to death is unexplainable and extremely heartbreaking. For a couple of years now, I have worked alongside loss and grief clients in therapy and offered first aid and emotional support to the bereaved during burials. Most families hire first aiders to help relatives and the congregation in the morgue while viewing the body, when they read the eulogy, and when their loved one is being buried. This is the work I have been doing for a while now. Because of these experiences, I have come to appreciate life more and to be more gracious and empathetic toward anyone who is grieving. It doesn’t matter what relationship you had with the person or how close you were — grief is grief, and there is nothing more painful than knowing they are never coming back. We will never hear them talk, walk, work, breathe, or even open their eyes again. Grief is a pain...
Read more