A Case Study in the Development of Advising Resources for an Interdisciplinary Field: Introducing Michigan Mental Health Helping Professions

“How do I become a therapist?” This manuscript overviews a process of developing career guidance materials for aspiring mental health therapists, with the goal to serve as an illustrative case study in the curation of advising materials for other interdisciplinary fields. The newly built resource is called Michigan Mental Health Helping Professions (https://mimhhp.com/) and exists as a free and user-friendly reference website. The issue which led to the initiation of this project is that psychology students and other future Michigander helpers previously had no streamlined source of information to consult when wishing to learn about vocational pathways in the mental health realm. Advice is available for those who have already decided upon a specific route (e.g., clinical psychology), but this tool aims to fill a large advising gap by supporting those who have questions and uncertainties at earlier stages of career planning. The manuscript lays out the context of the project and the methodology through which qualitative interview information was collected, and presents a set of key themes garnered throughout—performance metrics of the website itself as well as observations and suggestions for other professionals embarking on such an advising journey.