Pros
You get to work one-on-one with clients and make a difference in their daily lives. There is potential for rewarding work. You build your own schedule and can rework it very easily if you have a conflict. You can work as much or as little as you'd like.
Cons
You have to really love working with people in order to do this job. Most of my coworkers had remained in the field despite the cons because they gained so much satisfaction from the job. Many of them talked about being unable to afford their bills and doubted they'd ever retire. It was very disheartening and I burned out very quickly. So many cons that I can think of. You'll be driving all over town to see clients, no compensation for gas. You need to set strict boundaries because otherwise you will be expected to do many things outside of your role. I felt like a companion, a babysitter, and a cab driver rather than a mental health professional. I was often put in unsafe situations with clients who had a history of lashing out at staff. I felt very unsupported and taken advantage of by clients and the organization itself. The pay is abysmal. There are sneaky things that you cannot bill your full rate for, like supervision, training, paperwork, and meetings. You'll make minimum wage for those. If a client cancels a session, you aren't getting paid unless you make it up on your own time. I worked lots of weekends/evenings trying to catch up on hours, but inevitably you will fall behind. I was constantly making less than I anticipated because of no shows/no paid personal time/no paid vacation. Making money was never what it was about for me, but I literally could not support myself in this job. By the end I was completely emotionally and financially exhausted. I would not ever recommend working here.
