Princess Johnson Higgins

I really attribute my success to my school and my coworkers and my supervisor - the people that have just been in my life professionally since deciding to be a counselor. My graduate program at the University of Montevallo has an absolutely amazing counseling program. The professors are super caring, the class sizes are small, so you get a really good understanding of things. My supervisor, Missy Smith, is one of five certified sex therapists in the state of Alabama, and that is my goal - to become a sex therapist. I start my certification for that in April. Her allowing me to work under her and get more experience in the field that I'm interested in has made me a lot more confident in myself. And my coworkers at the Wellness Center where I am now just make me feel like I'm not crazy when I'm not using big therapy words or speaking as academically as I could. They really allow me to keep being myself in my sessions and with my clients, and that has also solidified my confidence as a counselor. So just really all the people that have been in my life through this journey have been amazing helpers.

The best career advice I've probably received has been to find your niche and stick with that. There is a tendency, and I feel like this happens to a lot of people, where they feel like they have to be good at literally everything - at least as a therapist, that you have to be good at everything to be able to be a good therapist. But I've learned that people have niches for a reason, and if you find your niche, and if you get really good and you're really into what it is that you're doing, you're never gonna feel like you don't know what you're talking about, you're never gonna feel underqualified, and you're never going to be hurting for clients, because people are going to be looking for what it is that you offer. And the more that you can offer in that specific field, the more attractive you look to folks.

I would tell her to stay true to herself. There is a counselor for everybody, there's a client for everybody, and though the process is hard and it can be frustrating and you can get burnt out, just remember that you're not doing it for the money, you're doing it because you care about the clients, and that's what matters. So just maintaining yourself and making sure that you can still be yourself while you're practicing is what's most important.

I guess the biggest challenge in my field is being able to separate myself from my work, because of the work that I do and how close I get with my clients. You see somebody, you talk to somebody for an hour a week for 2 years, and you're talking about literally everything. You get so connected with these folks, and so when things happen in their lives, it can have an impact on your life. And so for me, personally, the hardest thing about my job is being able to disconnect from clients when the session's over and when my day is done - realizing and understanding that I'm just a person and I can only do so much is probably the hardest part of everything.

I feel like, for me personally, probably integrity and honesty. In the line of work that I'm in, you can be really good at your job, but if you're not personable, and if you're not honest, and if you're not truly yourself, your clients can know that, and you don't get any work done. A lot of times in therapy, the work is done in session, but if you don't have the rapport with the client, if they can't trust you, if they don't feel like you're a person, they're not gonna talk to you and you're not gonna get anything done. And so for me, it is integrity and honesty and making sure that you remain yourself with your clients and outside and professionally, because you are your brand. You have to be able to be that person all the time. And if you're putting on a facade all the time, that's exhausting. Just be yourself and who you are all the time. It's easier for you to refine that and know when to let certain things out, but you're always still being yourself.