Kay Cartee

I attribute my success to the Lord and hard work. I could not do this without the Lord. That windshield time I have during my hour and 20 minute drive to work is my time with the Lord, and I pray for my clients before I ever go into therapy. I have a PsyD in Christian counseling, and if people want me to bring in my Christian faith when I do counseling, I'm more than happy to do that. When I look back at my journey, going to school full-time while working full-time and doing an 8,000-hour internship, I was brain dead and just kept going. I would open up my planner and whatever it said to do, I just did it. It was so intense that it took me three years after finishing my first master's to deprogram my brain and settle down. But I got it done, I got it through, and I've never stopped. I'm going to be 70 in August and I'm still working 40-plus hours a week because I love what I do.

When I was working with therapy and children, I was taking that home and having trouble sleeping. A lady I was working with said to me: Put everything that you hear in an imaginary backpack on your back. When you pull up at a certain stop every day on the way home, take that backpack off, roll your window down, and drop it out. Then go home. Then when you come back to work, stop at that same spot, put that backpack back on, and come on back to work. I did that for about three months, literally. I stopped at that place, took off that imaginary backpack with all of the troubles for the day in it, dropped it out my window, and went on home. Every day, I'd stop, put that backpack back on, go back to work, and I was able to start sleeping then. I could leave my work there and not take the troubles home with me so I couldn't sleep. It worked, and I hear some pretty horrific stories, so this advice was invaluable.

I would tell them to be sure you have a good support system. Know that when you go in, it's going to be hard work. Be sure you know what you're doing and don't give up. Have a good support system, because I didn't have a good support system or emotional support, because I was single. I just kept pushing through. I've seen a lot of younger people in my class sitting in the break room, just crying. They were just burnt out, and they dropped out. They didn't make it. So, if you're gonna start, have a good support system for yourself, and know it's going to be a tough road. I don't know if you know this, but your master's is way harder than your PsyD or PhD. That master's is a tough one.

The biggest challenges right now are that therapists are very hard to come by for a lot of people. Because I'm dual licensed, I have an advantage. However, one of the things that happens in the state of Kansas is that unless you have certain licensures besides your name, you can't collect insurance. So that puts you at a disadvantage in the state of Kansas. I can go to any other state in the United States except Kansas and collect insurance. But in Kansas, you have to have clinicals under every licensure you have, or you can't collect insurance. Now, I can work for companies and collect insurance through companies, but not on my own. This puts me at a disadvantage in the state of Kansas. At some point, I hope Kansas reverses that, because all other states have. Kansas has not. So that puts therapists at a disadvantage in Kansas.

My Christian values are the most important thing in my life, end of story. And if I ever do something, I own my behaviors. If I ever tell you I'm going to do something, I do it. So, ethics are very important to me. I bring my faith along with my therapy because I pray for my clients before I ever go into therapy. That windshield time that I have during my drive is my time with the Lord. I have a PsyD in Christian counseling, and if people want me to bring in my Christian faith with them when I do counseling, I'm more than happy to do that. If they don't want it, I don't. But if they want it, then I'm more than happy to do that.