The discussion board threads this week led me to think about pro-ams in my line of work. As I’ve mentioned before, I currently work in the field of mental health and suicide prevention. Obviously, psychotherapy and the prescribing of medications must be done by a certified professional. However, there is a lot of room for pro-ams to contribute in policy, advocacy, and community mobilization.
Since 100% of my income springs from suicide prevention work, I guess I would be considered a professional. But it was my work as a pro-am that allowed me to become a professional. And isn’t that the ultimate goal? To transition from pro-am to professional, like the tennis player cited in the class text?
Many crisis hotlines employ counselors who don’t have any formal degree but instead have been through intense training programs. This allows the hotlines to employ a lot of counselors at less cost, or no cost at all if they take volunteers.
Our field is also strongly supported by suicide survivors, or people who have lost a loved one to suicide. They have formed statewide coalitions, community task forces, support groups, and they advocate for mental health legislation. These survivors have turned their personal loss and grief into action, and many survivors have educated themselves to reach the pro-am level. They all have their own separate work for non-related businesses and organizations, but ultimately their true passion has become preventing suicide, overcoming stigma, and promoting awareness for the issue.
At first I was skeptical about the pro-am concept because it seemed like having a glorified hobby. But after considering the real-life application to my work, I am more convinced that this is a real phenomena and extremely valuable to the success of my field.
