Assistant Professor Joslyn Armstrong Offers Career Advice for Recent Graduates
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In a recent interview with job search company zippia.com, Joslyn Armstrong, assistant professor of marriage, couple, and family therapy, discusses what she believes recent graduates in mental health fields will need to know in order to find success, why the demand for mental health services is on the rise, and how technology and teletherapy will continue to play a significant role in the field. According to their website, zippia.com aims to “provide expert opinions on what aspiring graduates can do to start off their careers in an uncertain economic climate.”
“The beauty of the mental health field is that you can find work in any part of the country, because the number of people seeking mental health services continues to rise,” says Armstrong. “I believe that there may be a higher demand for mental health clinicians and therapists in rural areas because those areas tend to be less populated with mental health professionals.”
Armstrong also advises that recent graduates will need to be prepared to clinically work with diverse families, including racial-ethnic families and LGBT+ and queer families.
“Our world is becoming more varied, and clinicians see rising numbers of racially and ethnically diverse clients or sexual and gender minorities,” she explains.
Finally, in the context of COVID, the need for clients to be able to access mental health services online has increased exponentially and teletherapy has become essential. Armstrong suggests that master’s level graduates in the mental health counseling field must have skills related to practicing and implementing teletherapy in their clinical practice, as well as flexibility and adaptability in their therapeutic services.
Armstrong is currently featured on zippia.com’s panel of experts, and her full interview is available within the article Experts Weigh in on Current Job Market Trends.
