Paid jobs in clinical setting

[Psychstuca]

I have a question for people on this forum who attend professional schools and work at the same time (or happen to know people like that).
I am looking for a part-time paid job to at least partially support myself when I am in school. My question: is it possible to find a part-time employment in clinical field for grad students in clinical psych? If these jobs exist, how can I find them?
So far I've only discovered two types of related positions that do not require license and sometimes do not require too much of clinical experience: Rehabilitation (worker, counselor) and Case manager. THe last one requires more experience. But these jobs are so scarce, I have applied and heard nothing.

I understand it all might heavily depend on the background. I have no extensive clinical background, just 1 yr of clinical practicum experience doing therapy and teaching psychoed classes for people with severe mentally illnesses. I also have done life coaching part-time for a few years. Being a mid-life career changer, I have plenty of other experiences from previous careers, but they are not related to clinical or working with clients (teaching (long time ago), business, science research). I am in Northern California.

Does anyone know students in Clinical Psych working paid jobs in the clinical or educational-clinical settings? What do they do?
I do know that many schools post related jobs for their students, but I am hoping to find a job before September, before the school starts... And I know these jobs don't pay a fortune, but I would prefer that to doing something totally irrelevant to my future career.

Thanks to anyone who will respond. Am I the only one having these thoughts?

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[RayneeDeigh]

Most Clinical students I know don't have much time for outside work, but I do know some who work as psychometrists for the local prison.

 

[Jon4PsyD]

Everyone I know in doctoral programs does not have the time for extra work. However, a few people I know all do hosting/waitressing at restaurants. It's a 4 hr a night job, you do that 3 times a week at a really nice restaurant and you can go home with $450-600 a week (a lot more if you are actually able to work more than 3 days, which I think you wont be able to do..)

Jon

 

[erg923]

If you have time for an outside job the first year....id be surprised. Its typically discouraged and first year is typically very course heavy. It's not like undergrad where you can work 20 hours/week and still take a full load. Then again, if its a Psy.D. you wont be putting in RA hours I suppose. When I was getting a masters in a separate program, I worked as a nurses aid (sometimes called Mental Health Technician) on the psych floors at hospitals. Usually pays decent, very flexible schedule, and generally do not need any kind of prior clinical experience. You may also be able to wiggle into getting position as a psychometrist with a bachelors. That is great experience!

Check criagslist for jobs. however, most people in my program who have paid clinical or research positions got them through connection with professors within our program. So make good impressions and hopefully your professors are connected to local research or clinical projects. I am working now at a paid position that I will be gathering dissertation data from. So killing 2 birds with one stone there fortunately. I fell into it on accident by giving my vita to a professor, which she passed around to her colegees without my knowledge... Couples weeks later I had a job offer.

 

[73BARMYPgsp]

I have a question for people on this forum who attend professional schools and work at the same time (or happen to know people like that).
I am looking for a part-time paid job to at least partially support myself when I am in school. My question: is it possible to find a part-time employment in clinical field for grad students in clinical psych? If these jobs exist, how can I find them?
So far I've only discovered two types of related positions that do not require license and sometimes do not require too much of clinical experience: Rehabilitation (worker, counselor) and Case manager. THe last one requires more experience. But these jobs are so scarce, I have applied and heard nothing.

I understand it all might heavily depend on the background. I have no extensive clinical background, just 1 yr of clinical practicum experience doing therapy and teaching psychoed classes for people with severe mentally illnesses. I also have done life coaching part-time for a few years. Being a mid-life career changer, I have plenty of other experiences from previous careers, but they are not related to clinical or working with clients (teaching (long time ago), business, science research). I am in Northern California.

Does anyone know students in Clinical Psych working paid jobs in the clinical or educational-clinical settings? What do they do?
I do know that many schools post related jobs for their students, but I am hoping to find a job before September, before the school starts... And I know these jobs don't pay a fortune, but I would prefer that to doing something totally irrelevant to my future career.

Thanks to anyone who will respond. Am I the only one having these thoughts?

I worked as a facilitator at an agency that provided Domestic Violence Batterer's Intervention group for the first 3 years. If you live in a state that mandates that kind of treatment (most do now) for offenders, you can probably get a job like that. The experience was great and although my supervisor was an LMFT I was able to add it to my internship application as "other relevant clinical hours." I worked about 10 hours a week, plus writing reports at home (about 3 more hours a week) and made about 1200.00 a month.

 

[Markro311]

I worked as a facilitator at an agency that provided Domestic Violence Batterer's Intervention group for the first 3 years. If you live in a state that mandates that kind of treatment (most do now) for offenders, you can probably get a job like that. The experience was great and although my supervisor was an LMFT I was able to add it to my internship application as "other relevant clinical hours." I worked about 10 hours a week, plus writing reports at home (about 3 more hours a week) and made about 1200.00 a month.

Whoa, I need to get on that. 1200 a month?

 

[psychwanabe]

I agree that it's tough to have the time to work outside of the program. Some of those in my program do work in a clinical setting, however. There are some that teach at local colleges (after getting their Masters), do assessments for local psychologists, do ABA with children with autism. These jobs are out there and you may be able to squeeze in a few hours depending on your program.

 

[docma]

All of the suggestions below are good. Students I know who graduated with the least debt had waiter/waitressing jobs in situations with good tips. And the advantage there is that the work is a complete break from the usual student routine/clinical stresses (though customers and bosses and colleagues can seem diagnosable at times....). However, it can also be a good strategy to get a part-time job in human services because it can be an edge in internship or first job. For example, work in residential treatment, inpatient/milieu programs, treatment centers/substance abuse, schools with SED kids, older adult day services, emergency rooms/intake--all translate into clinical skill sets that can be an advantage. Pay will be less than wait jobs with good tips but experience more transferable. To find jobs, I'd search under health/government/non-profit and look for job titles that include counselor,mental health worker, mental health practitioner, intake worker, crisis worker. You may find per diem work that is flexible enough to do while a student--but it requires persistence because jobs are scarce...Good luck...

 

[Psychstuca]

Thank you so much for these great tips! Already looking at Craigslist and other job engines for suggested job titles.

Psychometrist/Psychologist assistant in forensic setting looks most appealing, but I don't see these jobs advertised...

If anyone has any suggestions where to find these jobs, I really appreciate that. Could it be a word-of-mouth job, i.e. you have to know somebody who knows somebody?

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Assessment jobs are mostly by word of mouth. Ask around with your profs (and their friends), talk to your county/state level APA offices, etc.

Working is easier on the back-end of the training....at least it was for me. My first two years I focused purely on my classes, research, and practicum. My third year I worked and it was REALLY busy, but my fourth year it was much more manageable.

1. TA, RA, GA are the easiest positions to find.
2. Teaching at the undergrad and/or another local undergrad once you have your MS (if applicable).
3 Handle assessments for a private practice clinician.
4. Counselor / Psych Tech / etc. positions

Just a few off the top of my head.