Job Outlook in Alabama

[aspiring42]

TLDR: In Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, or Florida, can I reasonably expect to find a job as a PMHNP making $80000 annual salary?

I am a man living in Birmingham, AL who is coming to nursing after becoming disillusioned with counseling. I went to school for a Master's in clinical mental health counseling, and loved my job working as an outpatient substance abuse therapist for teenage clients, for $30000 a year. I buckled down to try and earn my next level of licensure, which I was assured would bump me up to $35000, so that then I could pay $60-$100 a month for weekly supervision over the course of 1000 direct care hours (If I took 30 more hours of graduate level coursework in counseling, but up to 3000 hours without the added time and expense of extra schooling) and eventually earn $40-$45k as a LPC. Finally, If I worked my way up to executive director of a program, or switched to to management side [sic] and found a positiion as a QA director, I could possibly make as much as $70k, in 5-10 years, if a positions becomes available. I was working for a larger, non-profit agency, running an outpatient clinic by myself, with minimal supervision (sometimes my supervisor could meet with me via skype once a week, sometimes not). The hours were long, and I was commuting from an hour and some change away, daily. In any case, I got tired of doing the work of a psychologist for a waiter's pay with little prospect of a raise any time soon. After all, I want to start a family with my wife while I am still in my thirties. I saw my sister earn her associates in nursing, become an RN, and, within a year, get raise after raise, promotion after promotion in responsibility and privelege just by being good at her job, while I was busting my butt, and getting little more than my clients' and their probation officers' telling me they appreciated me.

I'm working on pre-reqs to enter an accelerated master's in nursing program at UAB. When researching specialties, I read about a desperate need for PMHNP's in some places, and an oversaturation and scant jobs in others. I'd love to use the skills I have in psyche and be paid a decent wage for it. I know money isn't everything, blah, blah, blah, but when you don't have enough of it to start a family, when all you have ever wanted is to be a father, then money becomes very important. Plus, my sister is very happy,as a nurse, and our personalities, and mentalities are very similar. I do feel "the call" to help others by nursing.

So my question is this: in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, or Florida, can I reasonably expect to find a job as a PMHNP making $80000 annual salary?

It seems too good to be true. I started college in 2003, and between then and now, there has been a constant cry that we need more and better mental health care in this country, and that there is a increasing demand for mental health professionals to serve geriatric and veteran populations. Meanwhile, funding for mental health has diminished over and over, and facilities have been closed at an upsetting pace. With the way mental healthcare is funded in our country, I don't see hw it can make sense for a PMHNP to be paid as much or more than a licensed psychologist (according to some sources). When I worked in mental health, there was a set payscale for therapists of specific levels of experience and licensure, and no room for raises or salary negotiation, as that scale was set by how much the department of mental health would fund a mental health agency each fiscal year. Is mental health funding different in medical settings?

Anyway, I am fascinated by the human body, and mind, and I want to use my talent to make a living by helping others. I'd be willing to go into any nursing specialty where the job outlook is good, and the payscale is at least $80k annually. Would PMHNP be a good fit, or am I more likely to meet my needs as a FNP, geriatric NP, or neonatal NP. Maybe in your experience, another specialty I haven't considered has better prospects. I'd appreciate any feedback.

[LPC2RN]

Hey Aspiring,

Where to begin? Well first off, if $80K is your goal, then any and every organization will hire you. The VA appears to be at about that level, maybe a little less but their pay scale goes up from there. Anywhere else, such as private practice, it is not unheard of to see new grads starting at $100K. In my area, they can start at about $115K. I have seen other areas, such as Arizona, starting at $120K. If you are ambitious enough, I have heard of independent PMHNPs with a few years experience making >$150K. Why you may ask would someone with a MSN make more than a psychologist? Because there is more money in medicine.

In regards to the nursing profession. Beware that the medical bug might bite. I too was a counselor and wanted to go into nursing strictly to work mental health. However, as you study and learn about the human body, you may find other systems to be fascinating. You may find that you would enjoy the work flow of a different setting or you may enjoy the skills used in one setting over another. I went into the ER after I graduated and I loved it. I did not want to do med-surg and have to see the same patients every day. I liked getting them in, drawing labs, running tests, giving them drugs, and getting them out.

When I went back to nursing school, I thought it would be easy as I compared it to my previous educational experience but it was much more difficult. If you decide you want to do it, be prepared for a lot of hard work and long days. You may have to put in 60-70 hours a week, especially if you plan on working at all during your education. With that being said, I do not regret my decision one bit. If I had to do it over again though, I would have probably gone the PA route instead of NP. I could have taken another year of pre-reqs and gone straight into a 2-year PA program instead of having to get my ASN, BSN, and now MSN. My 6-year course could have only taken 3-4 years. Not only that but going through a PA program gives you flexibility. You can work psych and make the same as an NP or you could work in the ED or in surgery because you are trained as a generalist and your supervising doc trains you in the specific area.

You say it sounds too good to be true. If you are saying that, then it is only because you are seriously underestimating how hard it is to get that degree. Trust me, by the time you complete the training, you will realize that you will have a skill set that not many have. You will look back and say, "anybody really could be a therapist and that is why they only make $35K a year." You will know that you have earned that six figure income.

I think you will like the fit, being a counselor and going into psych. When it comes to psych specific courses, you will have an advantage over your classmates, especially if you used the DSM as part of your counseling practice. Good luck. I think you will enjoy the ride.