After 12 Years, $150,000 In Student Loans And Three Degrees I’ve Come To The Conclusion My Job Does More Harm To Society Than Good

I’m a mental health counselor. I’ve spent 12 years in school, have three degrees and $150,000 in student loans. When I was a little girl I always knew I wanted to help people. I had this fantasy future where I’m sitting in a chair helping somebody else and it was just so fulfilling. I’ve been doing this professionally for years but the more I do this job the more I feel empty inside. I feel like this job does more harm than good to the community. It actually makes me feel dehumanized. <br><br>I wish I could tell you how many times my patients are denied care because they don’t have the proper insurance. So many times my patients have been denied medication because the insurance company said it’s too expensive. I’ve had patients be denied treatment just because they were on Medicaid. I have patients who apply for disability only for me to find out they’ve been denied and I’ve learned that the social workers at Social Security only spend about 20 minutes reading through the applications. I feel like I’m just being paid to pretend to care for people who are in need when in reality there’s nothing I can do to help them. <br><br>The system is fucked up and I don’t know what to do. I feel like I need to get out of this career but financially I just don’t see how I’m able to. I feel really lost right now.