Psychologists brave new career ventures

By Bridget Murray
Monitor staff

A few months shy of turning 40, psychologist Norman Anderson, PhD, thought he?d settled comfortably into being a professor at Duke University his whole life. He enjoyed working with his students, and he was forging ahead with his research on hypertension among African-Americans. Becoming an administrator 'had never seemed at all appealing,' says Anderson.

Then he got a phone call. A woman from a search committee told him the government had created a new Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and she wanted him to direct it. He said no. She tried to lure him over a second time, and again he declined. She called a third time and pleaded: He had the right background in social, behavioral and biological science. He had the diplomatic skills needed to glide between Congress and the scientific community. Then she said something that sold him on the job: As the first director he would design the office from scratch, creating its structure and operations. Nobody had done this before, and it was not going to be easy. Three years later, Anderson is still enjoying that charge.

'Scientists are always attracted to the mystery of the unknown and the challenge of solving complex problems,' says Anderson. 'The fact that I would still be contributing to science made the administrative aspects of the job easier to swallow.'

Anderson?s move reflects psychologists? growing inclination to brave a midcareer switch into something new. Some, like him, try a whole new setting. Others develop new skills to add to their repertoire. A surge in university enrollment of nontraditional graduate students illustrates this rush for midlife retooling: About 60 percent of the nation?s part-time graduate students are ages 30 to 50, according to 1995 data from the U.S. Department of Education.

Taking a closer look at the phenomenon is a session at APA?s Annual Convention, 'Midcareer: new directions,' at which four speakers will explore why and how psychologists pursue new training and new jobs. Held 9? 10:50 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 14, the session is the last of three in a convention series 'Careers and change: death, rebirth and midcareer shifts.' (See the May and June Monitor issues for articles on the other sessions.)

Speakers at this last session hope to ease the anxiety psychologists may have about reconsidering an established career path.

'There?s a lot of trepidation about making major career changes because people are used to the old and familiar,' says Mary Beth Kenkel, PhD, chancellor at the California School of Professional Psychology and chair of the session. 'But a change doesn?t mean you lose your old identity. You can blend two professions into one, shift back and forth or have several career identities at once.'

Why make a change?

Among the many forces driving psychologists? urge to retool their careers are marketplace changes such as managed-care or downsizing, a growing demand for technological and computer skills or a 'feeling that what they?re doing has grown stale,' says Kenkel.

Regina Gerstman, a career transitions researcher who recently received an educational psychology doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin, suggests several tip-offs that it?s time to make a switch, the major ones being:

? You?ve spent a year feeling miserable in your position.

? You feel your career has turned into a punch-the-time-clock 'job' instead of a calling you enjoy and feel passionate about.

At that point, 'it?s time to drown out the voices of friends and family who may warn you against radical change and instead jump forward,' says Gerstman, a 46-year-old former social worker making a career transition into developmental psychology and running workshops on midlife career change.

Making that midcareer jump can bring on 'panic about possibly not becoming all that you can be in middle age,' says psychologist Ravenna Helson, PhD, another panelist who researcher women making midlife career shifts.

'But that same panic can motivate you to break out of a rut and approach your career with renewed creativity,' says Helson. She also suggests that people aim for enjoyment rather than fame and fortune in a new career path. That usually brings more fulfillment than viewing it as 'your last chance to make your mark in life.'

Adding to your repertoire

Psychologists bent on trying new career paths often equip themselves with extra skills, the convention panelists say. Some opt for additional law, computer or business training or specialize in an emerging area that needs behavioral health expertise, such as aggressive driving or coping with new technologies. Others, such as Kenkel?s fellow convention panelist Michael Enright, PhD, seek additional certification in nursing.

Enright, part of a team of primary-care nurses and physicians outside Jackson Hole, Wyo., is taking online courses in psychiatric nursing from Vanderbilt University. Certification as a psychiatric nurse practitioner will allow him to prescribe psychoactive drugs for his patients, a needed capability in rural areas where psychiatrists are scarce, he says.

'Adding on prescription privileges enhances your employability and makes you more attractive to managed care,' says Enright.

And while psychologists seek cross-training in other disciplines, people from other disciplines seek additional training in psychology as well, Kenkel says. In her post at the California School of Professional Psychology, she sees nurses, lawyers, social workers and business people opting for psychology training.

Gerstman calls this clamor for second advanced degrees a trend toward 'multiple career identities,' and she?s focused her dissertation research on 19 graduate students in different disciplines who fit the profile. Most of those she interviewed say they plan to integrate their old careers with new ones, blending law with speech communications, for example, or architecture or business with social work.

Shifting settings

Integrating old and new careers doesn?t necessarily require extra training, the convention panelists say. Often, they say, it?s simply a case of applying the skills you already have in new work settings, as Norman Anderson of NIH has.

Switching settings benefits you and your new employer?it enriches you personally, and it brings a fresh perspective to your new work environment, says Anderson. He uses his behavioral research background every day, drawing on it to educate Congress about the link between behavior change and disease prevention. He also applies it when deciding which research proposals deserve agency funding.

'In my new post I?m still continuing what I started in academe by furthering my contributions to science,' says Anderson, who enjoys the work enough to stay in government. But in a world where people increasingly make several career transitions, he says he?s open to anything.

'I?ve learned to never say never,' says Anderson.