How To Pursue a Career In Mental Health

With countless Australians inspired to change careers following the pandemic, workplace reward has taken centre stage. The workforce is now in search of careers that inspire, and offer some form of reward, and meaning following a long day’s work. And with this, careers in fields that help others have begun to land at the number one spot for many of us.

That being said, pursuing a career in mental health might be something you’re more motivated to do than ever before, and we have a list of tips and requirements to help get you there! Keep in mind that although the mental health fields are regulated and do require formal education, there are a number of ways to meet these demands and online solutions are making these more flexible than ever before.

Take a look below at how to pursue a career in mental health.

First, Understand the Requirements

To kick things off, you’re always going to want to make sure you understand the requirements in a specific career and do a little self reflecting to determine if this is something you would really like to do or not.

It’s always good to take a gander at an online course for example, and read up on the types of studies and workflows you’ll be doing in the career of your choosing – and a diploma of mental health will really help you out here. This will give you some much-needed insight into what to expect, and also give you direction into what types of careers there are in the mental health fields.

For example, a psychologist, therapist and a counselor are quite different and so you will always want to double check with the educational requirements before fully committing to a career change into mental health.

Find a Specific Role

Once you’ve taken a look into the requirements for the industry, you can then take a deep dive into all of the roles and careers on offer.

You may already know this, but there are countless different paths to take in the mental health field and there often really is a role for just about anyone out there. For example, there are the ‘typical’ common mental health roles such as the aforementioned therapist and psychologist, though there are also roles in youth and social work as well as careers in drug and alcohol counselling and more.

Keep in mind that finding your niche, or a specific role is always a good place to start and from here you will be able to better build out your skill set and education to best land a place in one of these roles.

Develop Attributes You Already Have

It isn’t a secret that people who work in mental health really do have a natural knack for the job, and are often described as simply, ‘nice people,’ though a lot of work goes into this.

When looking to land a job in the mental health field, it is imperative you want to help people and you’re going to do your very best in your day-to-day to understand and work with your clients and patients to enhance and improve their lives.

With that, we want to make it clear that skills such as empathy, listening, understanding and lifestyle planning are as developed as possible. You will need to (and should) work hard to develop these essential skills during your studies to better provide care to those who need it most. These types of skills are going to make you much more desirable to employers.

One final point to keep in mind on the topic of attributes, is the fact that you can build and develop these types of skills with practice. If you’re concerned that you’re not empathetic enough, you can become better at this with practice and education.

Build Some New Attributes

In a similar vein to working on the attributes you already have, we will go over some that you may not – and should work on building from the ground up. These are the sorts of skills and perks that make a great mental health worker, and will keep you in the role for longer and working more effectively.

Compassion

One of the most obvious skills you will need to possess and develop is your ability to be compassionate with those who are struggling. Work on this skill at your own pace, though do your best to learn the genuine act of compassion.

Critical Thinking Skills

Another key attribute you will need to develop are your critical thinking skills. Not only will you be working to analyse and understand your client’s troubles, but you will need to actively think about how you will rectify these in your patients’ lives.

This means working to put out recovery planners, and general suggestions in real time, so mental organisation and critical thinking skills are key.

Patience

Our final attribute is one that many of us lack – patience.

In the field of mental health and social work you’re going to need to have a lot of patience with your clients, given that sometimes they will slip up or not follow your suggestions exactly. You will need to keep at it and do your best to help them out even if you feel as though they’re not listening at one point in time.

As the age-old saying goes, good things come to those who wait.

Conclusion

All of the above points in mind, it is clear to see that diving into the mental health field isn’t all too difficult and with a good education, some persistence in your skill development and being selective about choosing the right role, you’ll be well on your way to a career in mental health.