The Next Step?

Ever since we moved, I've been going slightly crazy trying to figure out what my next career move will be. When I finished college, I was certain that I'd end up as a counselor/therapist of some sort.  I hadn't quite pinned down what licensure I wanted or what specialty, but I'd been working towards a human services career for the previous 4 years.  When I graduated, I was very excited to begin my career.

Then I got a job in the field working with "at-risk" adolescents.  At first it was okay- I was good at it, but the work environment left much to be desired.  I thought perhaps it was specific to that agency and just the "nature of the field" (as my supervisors so often liked to claim) so I stuck it out.  Then it went from crappy to unacceptable.  I still assumed it would be fine if I stuck it out longer (naive much?), but began speaking out more often- trying to get the ball rolling for positive changes.  My intention was to improve the program within my Unit and help make it more consistent and efficient.  Unfortunately for me (and the poor clients) that particular agency is far more interested in saving money and following ancient (read: ineffective) protocols than in actually helping the families it claims to serve.  

My instincts (eventually) told me to get the hell outta there, but by the time that happened- the administrators had figured out they wanted me gone as well.  Apparently they aim for a staff full of mediocre (or worse) employees who really don't give a shit.  I am proud to say I do not fall under that category.  

Long story short: I no longer work there.

Leaving that place was honestly the best thing that could have happened to me.  In retrospect, it was actually even worse than I thought.  I know its better for me to be out of that environment, but any sudden change in employment is cause for stress.  I went through a typical grieving process, but at this point I am much more settled into the acceptance phase.  It may have taken me while to sort it all out in my head enough to make sense of the whole fiasco, but ultimately I feel much more content with the decisions I made and clearly see that it was for the better (if not a blessing in disguise!).

So now I need to figure out what to do.  I know I want to change careers, but to what? And how do I go about figuring that out?  What's the next step?