I can so relate to your situation. In the beginning of what is often our first job(s) in mental health, we often begin in agencies that are under-funded, under-prioritized, and often mandated to provide clinical care to clients while providing clinical training to new mental health professionals. That was certainly my experience in public mental health. If your workload is like mine was, you are likely never to find yourself completely “caught up” on your paperwork and constantly putting out fires, looking for resources, etc. It’s important for you to realize that this IS the nature of our dysfunctional mental health agencies. It sounds as if you have gotten a that clinical base that you needed and it may be time to consider moving on to a new setting.

When I left Tarrant County (Texas) Mental Health in the 1980′s, at my exit interview I explained that I was leaving because I could earn 30% more money elsewhere and that I did not see a career path of upward mobility. I was also tired of not ever being caught up on my work and felt that my contributions of staying late and coming in early were increasingly taken for granted. The human resources professional I spoke with said “We don’t expect you to stay here over 5 years. We think of ourselves as a training ground and know that you can make more money elsewhere.” I appreciated her telling the truth but would also have liked to have known that going into the job.

Community mental health is so important . . . to new professionals as well as assuaging some of the clinical needs in our communities. However, it’s rare to find an agency setting that does not use up and burn out the creativity and optimism of new professionals. As harsh as it sounds, my advice to any new professional is to do your stint in community mental health and then move on unless you have the stamina to work long term on initiating change from within the organization.

It’s not ethical to ask clients for testimonials. And, in some states, it might even be considered illegal to do so. One of my favorite places to solicit testimonials from is my colleagues. Other places that you can gather evidence of your good work is via presentations and classes that you teach and through much of the volunteer work that you do. If you sit on a Board of Directors or you coordinate a charity event . . . . These are places to consider asking for evaluative statements of your work. The only place you cannot ask for testimonials is from your counseling / psychotherapy clients.

Marketing Checklist” Is You Head Shot Appropriate and Authentic

How a Tiny Picture of You Can Drive Traffic to Your Website or Blog

Like you, Aaron, I got my head shots for $75 and am very pleased with the photographer’s work.

I think the trick to getting the right shots for your professional image just requires giving some forethought to the display of . . . cleavage, chest hair, skin, accessories, props, etc. After all, if your clientele is predominantly bikers, then tatoos and leather are probably smart things to be showing in your photos. Conversely, is you clientele is primarily made up of fundamentalist Christian pastors, a more conservative presentation might be more appropriate. I’m not suggesting that you present yourself as something other than you are. However, we all have multiple identities and as mental health professionals we make judgement calls about which of those identities we choose to surface; and, as business professionals, we would be wise to be cognizant of the likely implications related to making those judgement calls, too.

The clearer you get, Justin, about your niche, the clearer you will get about that tie and jacket. I would suggest – to both men and women – that you wear solid colors rather than stripes or other patterns and make sure that you are neatly groomed.

And, as for those “good” professional photos and those “not-so-good” professional photos, I’m game! Just make sure you include your own opinions and I’ll be glad to post them here!

I’m currently mentoring a former colleague who in is the process of leaving public mental health and going into private practice. I’m going to show her your blog post about this very important topic because not enough is written about how to portray a professional image in our profession. As for me, I found a professional photographer on Craig’s List who was doing some moonlighting and did my photo shoot for around sixty dollars, it was money well spent!