Okay, I know you read the title of this blog post. Yes, maybe it might not be a super “big life choice,” but I’ve been thinking lately about my next steps as a first year school psychologist.
Background
So, just as some background information, I was all set up to continue my school psych journey at my current elementary school and add in another school. For elementary school psychologists, they are responsible for two schools. Once you’re up in secondary, you stay at one school (to help with the school psych to student ratio).
While I was all set up for my two elementary schools, our psychological services coordinator sent out an email saying that there was a high school available for elementary school psychs. I didn’t think anything of it at first… but then I kept thinking. At one point, I was thinking about how much I did not really enjoy the testing aspect of the role. When you’re in elementary school, the majority of the job is to test, also known as the “testing machine.” I also felt like I wasn’t really “helping” the students. In the long run, I guess I was, but the job didn’t feel like I was actually helping and doing more of the mental health type of things (i.e., counseling). I thought about the pros and cons of possibly going from elementary school to high school.
Reflection
With that said, I decided to just reach out and see what our coordinator thought about me being in high school. Before getting on a call with her, I decided to pray for doors/opportunities to open and for my heart to align with what God wanted me to do. As I prayed, I had a thought about a Bible verse talking about how God’s strength is perfected in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). I got on a call with the coordinator and told her that if anyone else had already reached out, then she should go with them since I was still a little wishy-washy about what I wanted. One thing that she told me was that anyone who goes straight to high school find that they typically stay there. And you don’t need to know everything. You will learn as you go.
After that call, I talked with a few other psychs that I know and pondered on the thought for about a week. I talked with some friends as well to get some insight on what I should do. I’ve always said that teenagers can be scary, especially as a collective LOL. But during my time in practicum and internship, I’ve seen that teenagers are not so bad. During this time of reflection, I already started to draft up an email to my elementary school. I think I had already made up my mind, but was a little hesitant to officially say anything.
Moving Forward
So to wrap up this story, for the 2025-2026 school year, I will be a high school psychologist! I’m excited for a change and for growth in my career. It is also a little nerve-wracking because I’ve had a lot of experience working with the little ones, so it’s a new environment. As I’ve heard throughout my whole grad school experience, we have a “growth mindset.”
- I can try new things.
- I can learn from new experiences.
- I am still growing in my career.
