Working for a nationally and internationally known institute has great benefits. Personally, I appreciate the opportunity to make a contribution to a larger whole and be recognized for that contribution.

I work with patients as individuals, couples and groups to help with anger management, dialectic behavior, and cognitive behavior. I also have administrative duties, like supervising all of the social workers and advising them regarding patient consultations, policies, and program development. Much of my time is spent face-to-face with patients or with my staff. I typically see about 4-5 individual patients per day for therapy, and group sessions are usually 1½ hours long. I love the clinical and supervisory roles of my job. I truly enjoy meeting and working with patients and performing various therapies to find solutions to their issues. As a supervisor, I get to meet with staff and discuss the specific needs of patients, exploring different medical therapies for the benefit of the patient, the legal issues that we might run into, or other patient-related issues.

You have to have a true caring attitude for people in this role, and a real knack for service to humanity. The whole service piece is probably one of the biggest requirements for this type of work. I think you also have to have a certain level of spirituality and knowledge about yourself, including what you can provide and what you can't. It's very important to have a good understanding of who you are and what skills you can bring to help somebody. You also need to be a people person and a team player, considering what is good for the whole versus the individual. You need to have a really good understanding of human behavior, to be able to figure out why people do certain things or make some of the choices that they make. You have to be able to give people some insight into what their behaviors are and how they can change them, and more importantly, convince them that they have the ability to change.

Explore the many different interests that you have. Realize that you may change your path, and that is OK. Work hard at learning and be intense. I think we take so much for granted as younger people, and sometimes we need to recognize the fabulous opportunities available and take full advantage of them, rather than focusing on less important things.