Counselor looking for feedback (El Paso, Fort Bliss: live, military, moving)

[vegmommy]

Hello El Paso,
We are moving at the end of this month to you lovely city. My husband will be working at Ft Bliss. I am a licensed mental health counselor and am trying to get the lay of the land in El Paso. Are private practice therapist thriving? I do not speak spanish. Will this be a problem? Any therapist out there with feedback I would greatly appreciate it.

[malamute]

I don't know if any post on here. Not being fluent in Spanish will certainly limit the job opportunities for you here, especially in a field that requires patient contact. Maybe some of the Fort Bliss expansion will help you, there is a lot of concern over post traumatic stress with the military - I'd start there and also check with jobs in certain areas of town.

[elamigo]

Originally Posted by vegmommy

Hello El Paso,
We are moving at the end of this month to you lovely city. My husband will be working at Ft Bliss. I am a licensed mental health counselor and am trying to get the lay of the land in El Paso. Are private practice therapist thriving? I do not speak spanish. Will this be a problem? Any therapist out there with feedback I would greatly appreciate it.

I do not believe you will have a problem with the language. Why? If you are working at Ft. Bliss you will be working mostly with either Soldiers and/or their families and that pretty much says most of your patients know English.

Now, if you are going to practice outside in the local economy, there may be less people that may try your services. However, even then I do not think this will be much of a problem.

You may not agree with this but personally I believe that white people look more for these type of services than hispanics so I do tend to believe you will have enough clientele.

Now, if you are going to establish your own office, you may then be able to hire Spanish speaking counselors and that would offset whatever gap you may encounter.

Welcome to El Paso and to Ft. Bliss!
My youngest daughter is starting her masters this fall with UTEP. Her degree program? Family counseling!

I actually considered going into counseling myself using my GI Bill. I still at least a year to go before I decide whether to go this route or not. I do not that regardless of which way I go, it is a field I love to read about all the time.

You have a great day.
El Amigo

[luplor]

There are few Tri-care affiliated agencies that provide service to the active duty people and veterans and families. So there are agencies or practices downtown that do not require spanish.

[mistabinks]

Just look in the phone book. This field does well here. This forum is very quick to say something will not do well here just because they have not heard much about it. You have lived here before so you know the Spanish situation. Don't let the negative nellies tell you that you have to know how to speak Spanish. It helps and gives you an added advantage but you don't have to know it to thrive here. I have a small business, I do business all over the city, and I never talk in Spanish. It hasn't hurt me yet.

Also, since you have lived here before, you should know that there is not straight line here regarding Whites and Hispanics. El Paso has been extremely ahead of the curve as far as integration. It is very hard to draw the line. I wouldn't go by White and Hispanic when thinking about clients.

[AJsMOM83]

I work in the Mental Health Department at WBAMC (the Army hospital) and our clinic in in dire need of mental health counselors! You should apply online at www.cpol.army.mil We just posted a job announcement with 5 positions available looking for counselors. Since you will be dealing primarily with Active Duty, speaking Spanish is not required.
Good Luck!