Consulting on the side

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Hi!

I am in a Mental Health Counseling Master's program in NYC. Some of my professors talk about how they do some consulting on the side. I would like to be able to pay off my student loans in the future!

I was wondering if anyone is currently doing it or knows of anyone doing it.

I was always thinking of doing a 1 year I/O Psych program in order to be able to consult.

Originally Posted by tshielad

I was always thinking of doing a 1 year I/O Psych program in order to be able to consult.

Um, I think you are GROSSLY underestimating the market here. A one year I/O degree for org development consultation? Dont think so.

"Counsulting" can mean a variety of things and mostly this activity is reserved for doctoral-level clincians/researchers OR masters-level I/O psychs who have substantial experience to back up their marketing themselves as "consultant extraordinaire..."

Consulting is getting paid to provide your opinion (or do something) about something that impacts them. It can take many forms, and the best/worst thing about it is that everyone can claim to do it.....The trick is identifying something that you can provide that is value to someone else, and then convincing those people to pay you for your services.

The vast majority of I/O degrees/certificates like that are junk. They are $-makers for universities and don't really add that much extra to a person's learning. Even a 2-yr MS in I/O can be iffy, unless you go to a top-notch place and make good connections and go above and beyond your learning. Most people will want you to have experience at what you are doing because they value results over degrees, though the degree can help.

A true I/O degree is a stats-heavy battle of attrition where you learn a ton about things that <1% of people could possibily care about, but that knowledge allows you to do what 95% of people couldn't do right...which is why they need a consultant.

So this message is rather unrelated to the topic and is for Mr./Mrs. Erg923 and Therapist4change:

I surf these sites quite a lot and always see your posts. Most of them are very intelligent and provide fantastic advice, but I'm honestly curious....with all the time you spend generously posting on this site how much time do you have left to get your work/studies done?

T4C has also been quite helpful in the psychiatry forum.

I'm suspecting T4C just is highly passionate about the field and that's why there's so many good posts.

Ah couldn't agree more, but how do these individuals find time to do their real world work

Originally Posted by whopper

T4C has also been quite helpful in the psychiatry forum.

I'm suspecting T4C just is highly passionate about the field and that's why there's so many good posts.

Thank you whopper.

To answer GLC, I amassed the majority of my posts during my last few training years, which was also when I was a Senior Mod, so I blame SDN for at least one publication and presentation never getting done. I don't have time to mod anymore, though I usually catch up on here during lunch and on my bus ride home now.

I have a couple pet peeve topics that I'll follow more closely, but thankfully there are some great posters on here like erg923, Markp, JonSnow, etc. who pick up the slack.

There's a valuable lesson to be learned from this: RUN now while you can!