Therapist turned nursing student

PatMac10,RN, RN · Aug 27, 2012

I'm sure there is someone who has done thus, give it some time. Maybe you can eventually work as a psychiatric nurse specialist or practitioner and due counseling and prescribe/manage the mess if your pt! Just a thought! Congrats on starting nursing school!

Katie71275 · Aug 27, 2012

Not a counselor, but a social worker. Im wondering how I can combine both. I finish my nursing degree in May...and right now am doing volunteer work as a social worker.

Kms210 · Aug 28, 2012

Thanks! I just hope it's the right path for me. I've always heard the term, "you can be a jack of all trades or a master of one" and I think about that a lot. I wonder if I should stick to one profession. We'll see. I hope nursing is my passion, I really do! And thanks for the congrats!

Kms210 · Aug 28, 2012

Katie- I wonder if you could be an RN case manager? Since you already have some case experience with social work. That would be a great job.

Katie71275 · Aug 28, 2012

Kms-I probably could...but I really like to be on the floor directly with patients vs managing a whole bunch of them.

bstombaugh · Aug 28, 2012

Does anyone else have a master's in counseling and also a nurse? I am finishing up my master's in the coming year and starting nursing school tomorrow. I'd love to work as a counselor one day a week and a nurse the other days and just wondering if anyone has gone through this process.

I complete my Masters in Counseling Psychology in December and begin nursing school on Thursday. Since I already have a degree, I'll finish my BSN in less than two years. I'm really happy you posted this because I also was curious if anyone else had this background and transitioned to nursing.

I hope to still include therapy because I do love it, hopefully I can obtain a position as a back-up or crisis counselor one day a week or so as I go to school - I think in your case as well that it is totally doable.

Just curious, what led you to go to nursing school after the counseling path?

As I was doing my first round of clinicals, I followed a psychiatric nurse practitioner around for a month and decided that was ultimately the career I wanted. My second practicum I spent a semester at our state psychiatric hospital and got a lot of great experience in both fields (observing nurses and psychologists and psychiatrists). I plan to stick with psych, but am definitely open-minded to other specialties.

Best of luck to you!