As many of you know, I recently graduated with my M.S. in clinical psychology. I am working towards becoming a marriage and family therapist which unfortunately means that a masters degree alone does not grant me the ability to start my professional career. The BBS requires me to gather 3000 supervised hours over the course of 2 years (post-grad) before I am eligible to sit for the licensing exam.
While I was finishing my degree, I was working as a marriage and family therapist trainee at a local county facility. This was allowing me to gather some pre-degree hours that I was able to apply to the overall 3k total. After my trainee-ship was up, I was asked to stay, even though it meant I would be working for free. I was told that if I stayed, when a paid position came up, it would be mine. The benefit for me was that I could continue to collect supervised hours towards my license, and the benefit for them was free labor.
I worked for free from the end of May until the end of September, and as promised, a paid position was given to me. The best part was that not only was it a paid position, but it was paid very well. At this point, I'd been working for the site for over a year, and felt pretty comfortable in my ability to do the job. Things were really looking up for me professionally, and finally having a well-paying job meant that Brian and I could consider looking for our first home. I was really excited to open that chapter of our lives.
Three weeks later I was fired without notice. When asked why, I was told that they could not discuss it, and that was that. I was left confused, embarrassed, angry, sad, and without a job. That was almost a week ago, and I still don't know why it happened. I've attempted to get more information, but still have nothing.
On Friday, I had to file for unemployment for the first time in my life which was....well, a more than humbling experience. I never thought that it was something I would have to do, as I thought that working all those years to obtain a masters degree would help keep something like this from happening.
Financially, Brian and I are fine, and we will continue to be fine. I know this. We are incredibly lucky to have been given the opportunity to have our 1 bedroom apartment rent-free in exchange for managing the complex. Mostly it is just frustrating, as our dreams of moving away from this situation finally became a reality, and then disappeared in the blink of an eye.
I've spent the past few days feeling defeated, a bit depressed, and questioning my ability as a therapist. I have never in my life been fired from a job. In fact, I have never even received a negative review from a job. I take pride in my work ethic, and if I was doing something wrong, I would have liked to have been given the opportunity to correct it. Unfortunately, the situation has left me not knowing whether it was something I did or not, and without the opportunity for professional growth.
I will continue on, I will move forward, and things will work out for the better. This is another thing I know. I will spend my free time looking for another internship that will allow me to get my remaining hours, and eventually, I will find one. However, it doesn't change the fact that I'm still confused and upset about the entire situation.
