Additional Education
November 20, 2013 1:48 PM   Subscribe

I completed my masters in counseling psychology back in December. I have been unable to find a job doing therapy as of yet. It seems like most of the places I've applied to work for want someone with a CADC in addition to their masters degree.

I am unable to go the CADC route because it is a certificate program at the graduate school that I attended and you cannot get financial aid to help pay for the four or five classes that are required.

I have been told by several people that to really be considered for a job that I would need to obtain a PsyD. For those of you unfamiliar with this, it is a doctorate of psychology that is more clinical focused.

That being said, I am unsure of what to do next. If I were to apply to enter this type of program, I may have a decent shot since I did fairly well in my masters program.

On the negative side, I am already 38 and have a lot of student loan debt to pay back from my masters. I'm not sure whether I am bright enough or whether I have enough drive to succeed in a program like this.

I spoke with a couple of psychologists about this and they indicated that the doctorate would not necessarily be a worthwhile investment since psychological testing is almost never paid for by insurance and hence many clients will not pay for it.

On the personal side, I enjoy studying psychology. The idea of learning how to administer several of these instruments sounds interesting, but again this would put my life on hold until I am 42 or 43. Financially this would put me in student loan debt of roughly $240,000 if I combine the cost of the doctorate program and the debt I have already incurred during my masters.

I feel stuck right now as far as the future is concerned. I still want to be a therapist, I'm just not sure whether I have enough experience to take it to the next level.

If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them.
posted by nidora to Education (3 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
What types of jobs are you looking at? There are jobs out there but they don't usually pay that well because (depending on where you live) you are limited in what clients you can see. For example, where I live, the only clients a non-licensed MA can see are self-pay and medical assistance. Have you looked into whether or not you can get licensed as an LPC? At least that way you would have access to a somewhat wider client base. Of course, you need a certain number of supervised client hours in order to be eligible, so you would have to take the low paying jobs to get the experience. If its really the only thing holding you back, is there anyone that you could borrow the money from in order to take the CADC classes?

I have a PsyD. I loved learning how to administer the tests and would have loved a job doing that. But, my current job has nothing to do with testing. I really don't do much therapy anymore either. My job consists mainly of administrative work and clinical supervision.

I would research your other options before jumping into a PsyD program. Its not just 5 years and you're done. Many places require a post-doc and then you have to pass the EPPP in order to get licensed (which opens up the most job possibilities). You will likely not be paid well during your post-doc. You might not be paid well after you get licensed, depending on where you work. I had $250.000 in student loans just from my PsyD program (got my MA along the way) and I didn't have undergrad loans. Before I got on the income-based repayment plan my loan payments were over $800 per month. Its considerably lower now but I'm going to be paying those loans for the next 25 years. I wish someone had sat me down and really explained how all of this was going to affect my life. Feel free to memail me if you have any other questions.
posted by Nolechick11 at 9:25 PM on November 20, 2013


As Nolechick11 says, it depends on where you live. It might help if you said what state you're in, because the licensure and insurance issues really vary by state.

In North Carolina, my mom was able to be licensed as a "Psychological Associate" with an MA, and open her own practice and be covered by clients' normal mental health insurance coverage. She had to have a "supervisor" who was a PhD, but he was not even in the same city as her--I think they had to meet monthly. Later, as insurance rules changed, she got licensed as an LPC as well because some insurance companies preferred that licensure over the MA one.

Another option is some sort of support position. Before going into private practice, my mom worked for a number of years as a counselor at a state university in disabled student services. Because health insurance is not involved in those sorts of positions, licensure is not as big a deal.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:36 AM on November 21, 2013


Have you looked into the crisis services in whatever area you're in? In the states I've worked, Crisis has been a great "first job" for you to get lots of experience quickly as well as just rack up the hours you need for licensure. There's also less demand for additional "counseling" requirements like CADC, and you do a lot of networking for future moves into different companies.

In my experience, PsyDs are not necessarily an asset - not only are they expensive and time-consuming, but many places don't have the budget for a PsyD salary and won't hire because of it. I would really save that as a "last resort" type of thing.

It's a tough field to navigate for a number of reasons (differing and complicated state/agency requirements, lack of open positions, etc etc etc), so hang in there!
posted by carlypennylane at 6:14 AM on November 21, 2013


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