From the author: I wrote this article six years ago. It’s interesting to re-read now... This article was written based on the integration of the experience of our Psychological Center “Here and Now” over the first 6 years of its existence. Over the years, I have observed what happens to psychological organizations and individual professionals in their growth and careers. I wonder: which of them reaches the level of demand in the market of psychological services and what is the reason for this? Over 15 years of my own practice as a psychotherapist and over 6 years as the head of the Psychological Center, I have come to some conclusions that I would like to share. For experienced therapists, my thoughts will probably not be new, but for beginners, I hope, they will be useful in thinking about their future. There are more and more psychologists in our country. In my opinion, all Russian universities - private and public - have somehow organized, if not a psychology department, then at least a specialty within some kind of humanities or natural sciences department. We know what the fate of these graduates is. Many of them become disappointed and find themselves in other areas of life. Our Center receives weekly resumes from psychologists seeking to work in their specialty. When I read their resumes, I somehow look for these 7 reasons, which will be discussed. 1. Academic background? No, the power of personality What is worth from the very beginning? I don't think it's education. And not even a strong desire. At the core of our profession is sensitivity to one’s own experiences and the ability to overcome one’s own crises. Strength of mind. Not in the sense of suppressing fears or great willpower. And in the sense of a complex mental organization - vulnerability, the ability to feel deeply, a tendency to self-reflection... Such a person has not lived a very simple and smooth life since childhood - he experiences more than others, faces more existential loneliness, and gets “stuck” in difficult situations. But he overcomes it. Because he trusts himself more than others. And he relies on his feelings, and not on other people's thoughts. Values ​​his experience and does not betray his difficult choices. They experience and live everything that happens. Some of these people enter the psychology department. It seems to them that at the university they will find themselves in an environment that they so lack - sensitive, healing, tolerant of their eccentricities and soul-searching. Naturally, disappointment sets in - higher mathematics, which you have to take and pass in sessions, is not about that at all. Fellow students are not as open as we would like. Many people talk mostly about the prestige of the profession or possible earnings. Another thing is evening or second higher education. More people come there motivated by the reality of our profession. These are people who already soberly assess the small material prospects of practical psychology and psychotherapy. And most importantly, their choice of their own values ​​has already been tested by life in other professions and spheres of life. For a humanistic psychologist and psychotherapist, there is another important component in this personality strength - internal freedom. I myself had to go through a very big transformation. Brought up in the era of socialism, I understood very well that the whole world is divided into white and black, bad and good, right and wrong. The collision of these introjects and my own thoughts and desires, in many ways, led me to the profession - I had to look for a way out. 2. My life's work I have seen many people who engage in psychotherapy as a hobby. These are often extraordinary, creative, smart, and capable people. But they are different from those who earn their living from our profession. And this is important. Why? Because then we really become sensitive to such “details” of therapy as “resistance”, manifested in lateness, non-arrival of clients; gifts; Clients’ interest in your personal life and disputes about the amount of fees. If the money you receive from a client doesn't mean anything to you, thenthere is a high probability that you will not be upset if the client finishes therapy or simply does not come again. You may not be a very attentive therapist or not a very meticulous one. Or not very analytical. When the number of clients depends on your quality of work, and the amount of money for living depends on this, you must agree that you work differently than for interest. There is another meaning in this phrase that means a lot to me - “my life’s work.” This is the power of desire. I once said to one of my students in a passion: “You have so few clients because you don’t want them enough.” I truly believe this - a sought-after therapist has a passion inside. Passion for a deep, open and powerful encounter with another person. You have to love it in order to withstand hours and even years of meetings filled with tears, irritation, and boredom with a person to whom you essentially owe nothing. “I still have enough love for them,” my teacher said. I know from myself that when this love and passion ends, clients leave you. 3. Academic education Still, it is very difficult without a good education. Let’s not say that tightening control in the country will lead a person who claims to be a psychologist (without a state diploma) to the collapse of his career. It's in the future. Today the situation is different: simply talented people without psychological or medical education receive practical training in the field of psychotherapy. And many work as therapists in private practice. But that's not the point. Without a good academic education, you do not get a systematic view of a person and his life. Without studying the views of other smart people, and they have been thinking about the same thing for centuries, your own theory of personality, on which you rely when analyzing in your work, is not formed. I myself, like Vygotsky, received this education as an autodidact - during the 4th years of postgraduate study at the Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education, attending in turn all the continuous lectures of the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University. In my case, this was the only possible option. Yes, and very attractive - I only went to lectures in my specialty, skipping higher mathematics and other science that had little to do with practice. However, I really regret this. I have a candidate's degree in psychological sciences, but not a psychologist's degree, which means that material that does not belong to the candidate's minimum was left without testing in the exams. 4. Good practical training For a long time I thought that only in our country things are like this - a person leaves the university with a diploma and... doesn’t know how to do anything. But, after talking at one of the intensives with two trainers from the USA and Poland - Robert Nader and Bogna Kowalska, I was surprised to learn that it is the same in Europe and America. Upon graduating from university, the future therapist or psychologist is looking for a good practical school - a private institute or a psychological center. There, for at least five years, he receives the missing practical knowledge and develops skills, working first with colleagues, and then with his first clients under the supervision of senior comrades. Yes, that’s right - at least 5 years. Because a year is an introduction to one direction or another, gaining experience in group therapy on oneself, then 3 years of training in a basic course and at least a year (preferably 2-3 years), advanced training in supervisory groups. For beginners, this seems like an eternity. For me and my colleagues today, this seems to be just the beginning. 5. Community. It is easier to grow together. To have your place in the market of psychological services, it is very important to have your own environment. And not only for recommendations - also in order to have collegial support. Difficult cases can be handled together in cotherapy, or you can receive supervision in a group or individually from a colleague who speaks the same language as you. Participate in conferences and intensive events in your community to see the work of your colleagues and show off your own. After all, it is so important to be sure that everything is okay with you. The community offers new topics for comprehension, different points of view in dialogue. And it still doesn’t give