The Lingo Network Blog

By Nate Lingo, Founder of Lingo Network

I wasn’t supposed to be a therapist. I was supposed to be a veterinarian.

That was the plan throughout most of my childhood: go to Purdue, study pre-vet, survive the science courses, and spend my life working with animals. But somewhere along the way, fate—and Psychology 101—intervened.

I had an eccentric, engaging professor who made me feel something I hadn’t felt in a while: excitement. Meanwhile, my biochemistry course felt like it was designed to weed people out. Psychology was different. I loved listening to people’s stories. I loved thinking deeply about why people do what they do. More than anything, I became fascinated by the idea that people could change—and that maybe I could too.

For a while, I thought religion had the monopoly on personal growth and transformation. But psychology introduced me to a different possibility. Maybe we have more agency than we realize. Maybe we can heal. Maybe we can grow. Maybe we can help others do the same.

That realization changed everything.

I changed my major. I changed schools. I changed jobs. Eventually, I changed the direction of my life.

As I began working with kids who were struggling, I realized something simple but important: I wanted to help. That was my why. I spent hours reading, reflecting, and learning. For the first time, I felt like I had found the path I was meant to be on.

Then the reality of the work hit me.

I was young, and the work was hard. I worked with teenagers who were hurting themselves, families in crisis, and young people carrying more pain than anyone their age should have to carry. I still wanted to help—desperately—but the emotional weight felt overwhelming.

Eventually, I convinced myself I needed a different direction. I finished my psychology degree and swore I would never go back to school.

Instead, I worked construction, retail, and factory jobs. The kinds of jobs many people take while trying to figure out what comes next.

But no matter what I did, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was meant to do something more.

So I joined AmeriCorps.

During that time, someone suggested social work. “If you want to help people for real, become a therapist.”

I didn’t know much about the profession, but the idea stuck with me.

At the same time, I found myself drawn to the Peace Corps. The opportunity to serve, learn, and experience a different part of the world felt impossible to ignore. Then something unusual happened: I was accepted into both programs on the same day.

One path led overseas.

The other led to graduate school.

I chose graduate school first, and later followed through on the Peace Corps dream by spending two years in Mongolia.

That experience changed me in ways I still struggle to fully explain. Living abroad expanded my understanding of people, culture, resilience, and community. It also gave me something I desperately needed at the time: clarity.

When I came home, I knew this was the work I was meant to do.

But I also knew something else.

Something wasn’t working.

Not therapy itself. Not helping people. The systems surrounding the work.

Over the years, I’ve worked in community mental health, hospitals, schools, residential programs, nonprofits, private practice, long-term care, and leadership roles. I’ve supervised clinicians, run programs, and sat in executive meetings where budgets, staffing shortages, retention concerns, and organizational priorities were discussed.

I’ve seen this profession from many different angles.

And no matter where I went, I kept seeing the same thing: dedicated clinicians trying their best inside systems that often made it difficult to sustain the work they loved.

I’ve experienced burnout. I’ve questioned whether I could continue doing this work long-term. I’ve wondered whether I was in the right profession.

At one point, I found myself asking a question that never really left me:

If this is happening to me, what’s happening to all of us?

The more therapists I met, the more I realized I wasn’t alone. So many of us entered this field because we wanted to help people. Yet many of us found ourselves isolated, overwhelmed, struggling with documentation, navigating unclear expectations, lacking mentorship, or wondering how long we could continue at the pace we were expected to maintain.

That question eventually became the foundation for something bigger.

In many ways, it’s why Lingo Network exists.

I started this profession because I believed people could change.

I’m building Lingo Network because I believe our profession can change too.

Not simply through better jobs, although those matter. Not simply through higher pay, although that matters too. But through stronger communities, better support, more transparency, meaningful professional development, and opportunities for therapists to grow throughout their careers.

I believe therapists deserve more than job boards and occasional continuing education. I believe we need places where clinicians can connect, learn from one another, explore leadership, develop specialties, and find support when the work becomes difficult.

Most of us spend our careers helping other people grow.

Who is helping therapists grow?

That’s one of the questions I’m trying to answer.

And I don’t want to answer it alone.

I want to hear from you.

What’s your story?

What has helped you stay?

What has made you want to leave?

What do you wish existed in our profession that doesn’t exist today?

I’m collecting stories, insights, frustrations, and hopes—not simply to talk about the problems, but to help build solutions.

Because I believe the future of our profession should be shaped by the people living it every day.

My story is only one story.

Every therapist has their own version of why they started, what almost made them leave, and what keeps them going. Those stories matter. In many ways, they’re the foundation of what I’m trying to build.

Tell me yours.

I’m listening.

— Nate Lingo

Founder, Lingo Network

hello@joinlingonetwork.com

If this resonated with you, share it with another therapist. And if you’d like to help shape what comes next, join the conversation and get notified as Lingo Network launches new opportunities, support groups, and professional development resources.