How can psychologists find their niche?
The American Psychological Association has 53 divisions representing various subfields of psychology yet there are still far more specific areas in which to specialize. Whether just starting out or looking to expand or make a career change, finding a niche within psychology can feel overwhelming. How does one decide what path to choose?
Beyond the main career paths of teaching, research, or clinical psychology, or a combination of all three, the options for where you specialize or where you work are endless.
With an ever-changing health care market, business world, and cultural shifts, options for psychologists are constantly expanding. It was once novel to have a therapist embedded in a medical practice and we are now seeing this model everywhere from hospitals to pediatrician’s offices.
There are psychologists working in software design and others with airline pilots. Psychologists are working to stop school shootings, increase vaccine uptake, and ease migrants’ paths as they enter our society.
One list of interesting positions includes those who work with animals as co-therapists; a psychologist who helped NASA choose astronauts who can handle the pressures of space travel; and another who took a risk and jumped in at the beginning with a start-up company that offers online behavioral health self-help courses.
How to start your search?
Sometimes the best path is the least direct. Obviously, you will need to pay the bills so finding work that is steady and supports your lifestyle will be essential. But within that or during that, always being open to new ideas and opportunities can lead to greater fulfillment.
“Take stock of what you are really passionate about and interested in and don’t be afraid to go off course a bit and get new training, try new things,” said Marla Zucker, Ph.D, who was a clinical psychologist specializing in trauma for 20 years before deciding to re-train and turn her focus to sports and performance psychology.
She has recently moved to working full-time as a sports and performance clinician in Brookline, Mass., after leaving a teaching position at Boston University.
“I think it would have been easy to stay on the path I was on but I am really glad I took the risk,” she said. “I realized that I was feeling pretty burned out and there were other aspects of my life I could potentially lean on that would reinvigorate me.”
Moving forward this way, by being open to change, also means that you should not expect to have all your decisions made before you finish your education. The training is what often allows you to step up and take on a new role.
“There are so many needs in the world and we can get hung up thinking, ‘Is this the right place to apply myself?'” said Michelle McCauley, professor of psychology at Middlebury College where she oversees the Conservation Psychology Lab, looking at ways to promote positive environmental behavior. “Just be open and curious and you will find ways in all the courses and all the opportunities you have.”
“Don’t wait to get prepared until you know what you are preparing for,” she added. “Be prepared and learn more and then you will find your niche as you are moving forward and upward.”
Expect change. One common denominator for many of the psychologists interviewed in this publication over the past three decades has been the circuitous routes their careers have taken to get them to where they are now.
Zucker first worked with trauma victims before realizing that it was time to move on. Yet, even though she did change careers after 20 years, she would not have altered her career path.
“I think my beginning in trauma has made me a better clinician,” she said.
Michelle McCauley, is a professor of psychology at Middlebury College where she oversees the Conservation Psychology Lab.
McCauley started out doing applied psychology in the legal arena before she stepped into her current role. Her early work was often in family situations, and with victims of child abuse.
“When I had my own children, that work became hard for me in a different way,” she said. “At the same time, the importance of protecting our environment for the next generations became clearer.”
For those interested in these paths, both sports psychology and environmental psychology are wide-open fields, said Zucker and McCauley.
“Clinical psychology looking at eco anxiety has become a hot area,” said McCauley. “There are many on-ramps for students interested in this work. The advice I give people is that you want to have a very solid grounding in human behavior to work out how to get people motivated to lean in and engage.”
For Zucker, being able to move to a full-time practice of sports therapy has been low-effort, although she did take 10 years to allow it to grow organically with just a website and word-of-mouth. She sees potential for growth all around her.
“It is not tapped fully,” she said. “I am turning clients away frequently. I think that what is really needed are people with both clinical and sport and performance specialization who can work across the spectrum, across performance and clinical issues. That is where there is a big need.”