Career paths: Executive coach vs therapist

[retrainingmaybe]

I don’t post a great deal but I’ve name changed because this is very outing. Basically I’m looking to move my career on and I can’t decide which way to go.

The background is that I’m a vet. I work in small animal clinical practice and I do that part time around the family needs and DH job which is also intense. I do enjoy it and I still find it challenging but it’s also very stressful sometimes. I have always loved spending time with new graduates, encouraging them and teaching them and seeing their confidence and competence grow. I’m also interested in human psychology and behaviour and recently have completed a MSc research project which was positive psychology/wellbeing/resilience for the profession.

I do want to carry on with clinical work but I want to expand my career in a new way and once the littlest is at school pursue working more on the wellbeing side. So I am exploring options for this.

The first thought was to go down the councillor route. (I’ve always said this was my back up career if I ever couldn’t be a vet) but I’m worried this will not provide enough of an income to allow me to swap over some of my work days and also it might just be the same as I’m doing now but without the animals, so not really a progression.

The second option involved more of an industry/corporate role, training and coaching but I know less about this side. It sounds interesting but I’ve never worked for any big corporations and I’m not sure what that would be like. Obviously at the moment I have a lot of autonomy and I’m used to that.

Sadly I’m not near any of the vet schools and I wouldn’t be able to financially take the hit of moving away from clinical into university teaching.

Sorry it’s long and niche! I’m grateful to hear any thoughts on my conundrum

Presumably you mean counsellor and not councillor?

Maybe you can start by volunteering just to try it out? Without giving up your current role first?

thanks for the reply. What sort of volunteering do you think?

I’m currently training as a psychotherapist. I am also qualified as an executive coach. All my work experience is corporate. I would suggest training as a therapist for you, given your background.

Thanks for the reply. That’s really interesting. What have you chosen the therapy route?

I think because coaching is limited. Therapy can get under the bonnet on a way that coaching, ethically, cannot. And I really want to help people.

Whilst exec coaches do not need expert knowledge of an industry they do need experience operating at senior lever in organisations or expert knowledge to win credibility with clients.

Thanks that’s interesting. I don’t have experience on the corporate leadership. What sort of expert knowledge?

And this, too.

Thank you, can you say a little more about what constitutes expert knowledge and how to acquire it?

I have known psychotherapists with expertise with groups and individuals work successfully with senior people- or academics with extensive knowledge of organisational design etc- but leaders are looking for exec coaches to be able to draw on their experiences operating at senior level within organisations, public sector, private or charity.

Set yourself up doing AHCs independently. I know vets who do it as a sideline and boy they're constantly full. Get someone to do the admin bit, get OV status and you're laughing. Hours to suit and can easily plan time off.

I’m looking to pursue an interest of mine not just find something else to do

It is better if you try the practice once under some supervision and guidance and when you find that helpful, then you can continue with it.

I would definitely think shadowing would be the best way to go here. It seems that you don't have that much real knowledge of either of the careers you're considering, and so it might be blindly going into something that isn't gonna work out for you either because you don't like it or because you don't have the right experience for it. So probably best to try and shadow someone for a while to understand If it's right for you

They are both a big departure from being a vet. Neither pay well and most are self employed, so you are selling yourself hard all the time and have excellent networks to attract clients. Corporate HR roles has been hit hard by AI and its likely to get worse.
How about something related to animals? Riding for the disabled, therapy animals all seem to be growing areas and there maybe something you could carve out for yourself?

It’s impossible to shadow a therapist/counsellor in any meaningful way - the work is confidential and I can’t see any client wanting someone observing their session.

What I would say is decent training isn’t cheap, do you have money to invest in training and are you ok with it taking a bit of time to recoup that investment? Counselling tends to be a second career choice for people but it’s not for everyone, done well it carries an emotional impact which needs support and supervision. It can take time to build a client base and to gain experience and expertise. It can be good as a second income to a secure primary job, so your bills are paid regardless of your client list, can be a flexible way of working and is rewarding and worthwhile, but it’s not easy.