“The emphasis is all about accepting others and trying to understand others,” he says of studying toward being a therapist. “And that’s the whole key to actual social justice and social work—trying to understand where someone else is coming from and not judge it as wrong or silly. Everyone is different. Most people are well-meaning, and let’s try and find a way where all of us can just accommodate each other as best as possible.”

Taub admits his focus wasn’t always so selfless. The 43-year-old clinician didn’t set out on his current path until less than a decade ago. After initially completing undergraduate work years earlier in Touro’s Lander College of Arts and Sciences with a degree in Computer Science, Taub sought employment in the financial sector. It was lucrative and stable, until 9/11 turned a nation and his profession inside out. He initially rebounded by starting an independent business, but felt as if his work lacked purpose and, upon much soul-searching, enrolled in the Graduate School of Social Work and started anew.

“After outsourcing, the whole [computers] field had a hard market,” he recalls. “And I was part of that. So I’m looking into other fields here and there, but it wasn’t satisfying doing this all day every day of the week. I felt that I’m good with people, and I guess you would say I’m very spiritual, and [social work] made sense.”

The biggest reality Taub had to reconcile, particularly while trying to support a family, was the significant difference in income. That, and the irony of likely putting in more time for less gain. “The truth is I work more hours now than I did as a computer programmer,” he acknowledges. “It’s just that I try to balance in my own mind, in my own heart, that yes, maybe I’m giving up some more money, but I am doing maybe God’s work during the day.”

Not to mention, a symbiotically productive relationship developed between his practice and personality at home. “I am a better father and husband because of it,” he affirms. “I was a pretty nice, decent father in the past, but I actually learned how to understand and communicate and really give more independence to family members based on my own experience with the needs of others and the rights of others, and people’s right to have their own track for themselves. That’s how I balance it. I see I have to make money, and maybe I actually work harder for it, but I do find that gratifying in the sense that I’m a better person for it as well.”

Taub’s aptitude for listening to others has served him well, but if he hadn’t been in tune with his own instincts before re-enrolling at Touro, none of this would have come to fruition. So the wisdom he hopes others hear most resoundingly is to follow what’s in your gut, not how an opportunity can provide material gains. “You need to do work that you really like doing,” he advises. “And it really doesn’t matter what it pays, because if you do what you like to do, you will be successful. You will grow. You’re going to be motivated to work at it and excel at it and enjoy your life more, even if it’s tiring. At least you’re going to be happy.”