Daphne Boston ⋅ Seattle, WA ⋅ 20 years experience

Hi Jamal,

Thank you for your service. I normally recommend to job seekers who are considering changing careers to join the professional society for that field, if there is one available.

That's one of the most efficient and effective ways to learn about the field and meet people who are already in the field. You can network with them and discuss your career change interests with them. These societies offer semiars, mentoring programs, conferences, and trainings that help increase your knowledge in the field. You can find mentors this way and learn out about entry-level jobs and/or volunteer opportunities in the field where you can get your foot in the door and grow.

There is a professional society for behavioral health, its the National Assocation for Behavioral Health (NABH). https://www.nabh.org

For career coaching, there is the National Assocation for Career Development (NACD). https://www.ncda.org . There's also the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM), https://www.shrm.org , which is a great organization. I'm a member of SHRM.

Some societies have reducted or waived membership fees for new members, upon request. So you can try them out for 6-months or a year before you invest financially.

Best to you in your career change endeavors.

Henry ("Dr. Hank") Stevens ⋅ Fort Lauderdale, FL Human Resources Quality Assurance, LLC (Now Retired) ⋅ 50 years experience

Your information baits three questions: 1 - what are the TALENTS necessary to do the job you are contemplating filing, and 2 - Just what are YOUR talents? 3 - Is there a correlation between the two?

IF you are not clear about what YOUR talents are, there is a great assessment tool (free) that will help guide you. They also have an on-site interpretation of the results that may point you in a good direction too. If you have some difficulty interpreting the results and would like my off-channel assessment (also free), please provide me with the 4 letters and the percentage of each [should look something like I-42, N-8, T-45, J-50 to my e-mail address hlstevens42@gmail.com.

The web site for the assessment address is: http://www.humanmetrics.com/personality

Regards, Dr. Hank

Jerry Welsh ⋅ Middleville, MI Master Military Transition Advisor/HPS GPO ⋅ 30 years experience

Jamal,
First thing you need to do is start researching the career and seek a mentor. I think you will find that entry level into the field will require and Bachelor degree and for sit down counseling a Masters. You will only discover the requirements via research, and that may be accomplished by going on any job board and pulling down positions that have the titles you are interested in and take a serious look into the qualifications required.
Informational Interviews are another great way to find out about the career, but make sure you conduct these correctly so you will also build a semi-network from your interviews.
HireMilitary has a great information piece on "how to conduct informational interviews".
I agree with the previous comment, do not quit your day job, as it may take sometime and money to obtain the education to start the credential building-an it may take non paid or very low paying internship to get into the field. Without that inflow of cash you may have to drop our and restart if cash becomes short.
Thanks for your service.
Depending upon where you are and what degree is required, make sure you check out in the interviewing or with the mentor what universities are the "right" ones. A degree from an online university in an area that has a university with a great reputation for behavior health, counseling etc. will add to the portfolio.

Richard Byrne ⋅ Hillsborough, NJ Intel Corporation ⋅ 53 years experience

I've added links to information & videos under these sections of my EE webpage that might be useful to you.
http://eehot.com/ee.html#mentoring - traverse BLS.gov, SSGT Nichols' F45VIP training
http://eehot.com/ee.html#networking - Free LinkedIn premium for 1 year
http://eehot.com/ee.html#vosb - Veteran Owned Small Business
http://eehot.com/ee.html#funding - startup funding
http://eehot.com/ee.html#jobs - commercial job searches
http://eehot.com/ee.html#gjobs - F Gov job searches.

You might also want to check out https://www.nremt.org/

For higher education you might prefer:
https://www.liberty.edu/online/about-us/
https://www.liberty.edu/online/

http://eehot.com/ee.html#va - look under GI Bill & VRRAP & education

Maybe don't quit your day job, while you prepare for your future.

Commercial job search "Behavioral Health" you location 16 jobs found:
https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=behavioral%20health&l=Mc%20Ewen%2C%20TN&sc=0kf%3Aattr(FCGTU%7CQJZM9%252COR)explvl(ENTRY_LEVEL)%3B&vjk=67d09ba462620ba9

Commercial job search Life Coaching" you location 12 jobs found:
https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=life%20coaching&l=Mc%20Ewen%2C%20TN&sc=0kf%3Aattr(FCGTU%7CQJZM9%252COR)explvl(ENTRY_LEVEL)%3B&vjk=bd7117f01ab0e684

Examine the job openings, plan if necessary to supplement your skills according to job requirements.