Vickie Rabino

I had beautiful, wonderful parents - I'm the only girl out of 6 boys. But when I was in high school, I had a great friend, and his parents kind of took me under their wing. I never thought about going to college. My dad had a 6th grade education, I didn't think I was smart enough, and I didn't think I could afford it. But my friend's dad worked for Texas Education Agency and got a job as a professor at Abilene Christian University. I was doing missions work in Medellin, Colombia, and they came to visit me and brought the whole family. They asked me what I was going to do when I got back, and I said I'm gonna get a job and get an apartment. They said, no, you're not, you're going to college. I said I can't do that. But they let me live with them for 4 years, rent-free, didn't pay food, didn't pay rent, and made sure I graduated college. They changed my whole trajectory of my life. And I am the only college graduate in my family.

Be a risk taker. You know, when we fail, that's when we learn. And failing is just a chance to learn something. So be a risk taker. If it doesn't work, learn from it and move on. We don't have success unless we've had some failures.

My industry is actually full of a lot of women, and women can do whatever men can. I've been told that since I was a kid - I had 6 brothers, I was out there pumping iron with them, and playing baseball and football, and all of that. A lot of times women get limited, but I actually think in therapy, as a therapist, we need more men. I think women are great at therapy, especially the empathy and that kind of thing, but we have some great male therapists, but I think we actually need more.

One of the biggest challenges is that when you don't work, you don't get paid. So when you're taking time off for more learning, going to a conference, or taking a class, you're not only paying for that, but you're also paying because you're not earning money during that time. As for opportunities, I think we can use a lot of our knowledge on social media and share, because some people can't afford to go to a therapist. So I think there's a chance for us to share our knowledge and help people through social media. I also think that we can donate our time - one of the things I'm fixing to start next month is working and donating a few days a week to a ministry in Santa Fe, Texas, for free mental health.

Being optimistic, being authentic, and being yourself are most important to me. And having a great work ethic - you can't go into therapy without being willing to work. You're not gonna help anyone if you don't put in the effort. You have to be prepared and willing to put your whole self in. I know there's teachers, educators, doctors, whatever, that go in and just do the minimal, but you're only going to make a minimal change at that point. So you have to be yourself and do your best work.