Are There Any RA/DL Masters Program in Psychology that qualify for State Licensing?

In order to keep my options open and the difficulty I'm having trying to locate a Masters program in Marriage and Family Therapy that I can start this fall, I'm considering a Psychology/Counseling program.

Anyone know of a DL Master's program that qualifies for licensing. I'm trying to understand Indiana's requirements for sitting for the LPC exam but I'm not quite sure I understand it. It discusses required hours and course areas but gives different requirements for required hours.

If I posted it could someone explain it to me?

Thanks in advance.

Shawn

 

NCU ? www.ncu.edu ?

 

Try Capella University

Yes, I highly recommend Capella University's MS in Human Services' Specialization in Marital, Couple, and Family Counseling/Therapy. This is the Clinical/Licensure program, and meets CACREP standards for program content and internships, etc. This program meets or exceeds state licensure requirements, and is close to CACREP accreditation (similar to psychology's APA accreditation, but for counseling programs - a high distinction indeed). I'm a Capella MS graduate - and my program met WA State licensure as a mental health counselor, and my PhD program (in process) with Capella - Marriage & Family specialization - will meet the state's licensure requirements for LMFT, if I want a double license - but probably won't bother. The LMHC is all I need thus far . . . .

Michele Boudreau

 

Shawn,

I forgot to put the URL's in for Capella's clinical counseling track programs. Here are program descriptions for both the Marriage & Family Therapy specialization, and for the clinical mental health counseling specialization - masters levels:

http://www.capella.edu/reborn/html/schools/humanserv/marital_mstr.aspx
http://www.capella.edu/reborn/html/schools/humanserv/mental_mstr.aspx

Enjoy!
~Michele Boudreau

 

I think a distinction must be made between licensing in psychology and counseling. I don't think any state will license you to practice psychology with a masters degree. If you want to practice at the masters level you will need to do so as a Licensed Professional Counselor. I agree with a prior post, Capella has an excellent program. You can also look at Liberty, SCU in Montgomery, and West Alabama University in association with CSU. There are probably others but make sure that the state of Indiana (My adopted state - Greenfield - to be exact) will accept the school as meeting the requirements.

Good Luck!!!

 

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for the information on Cappela. I'll check them out. They do provide the internships and practicums required to meet state licensures, etc?

Thanks again,

Shawn

 

Career Options

I'm intent on obtaining licensure to practice while on continue with a Ph.D. after the Masters. If licensing for Master's level degree's in psychology are not available, then I need to pursue the counseling programs.

It sounds as if Cappela may be the right schools and unless there are other suggestions.

Shawn

 

Anyone know of a DL Master's program that qualifies for licensing. I'm trying to understand Indiana's requirements for sitting for the LPC exam but I'm not quite sure I understand it. It discusses required hours and course areas but gives different requirements for required hours.

If I posted it could someone explain it to me?

Thanks in advance.

Shawn

RESPONSE:

Shawn,

I would suggest that you contact the Indiana Licensure Board directly and ask specific questions that will clarify the issues you raised above.

Good luck!

 

MA licensure

Actually there are a few states that offer a second tier licensure, Michigan being one of them. It is called (in Michigan) Limited Licensed Psychologist, and requires a MA from a R/A school, doesn't matter if it is B&M or DL in nature. However APA has declared war on states with MA level Licensure.

Here in Michigan, the legislature has enacted a cont ed law for licensure renewal (both for PhD and MA level licensure) as well as a proposed law that would require MA level to document 1 hour of supervison with a fully licensed psychologist per 30 hours of clinical work, that the fully licensed psychologist who supervises has to be a specialist in each and every case where service is proivided as well as have personal knowledge of every case. Another proposed requirement is that the supervising psychologist's name, address and phone number must be presented to the client in the first session ("hey new client, this is my mommy/daddy, talk to them if I'm not nice to you").

The irony is that LLPs are the only Master's level discipline of counselors (not MSWs or LPCs) that would be regulated in this way, the other two are allow to practice independently without any type of supervision. I looked at the Indiana (actually my birth state, still consider myself a transplanted Hoosier after 27 years) laws for psych, social work and mental health counselor about four years ago because of the grandfathering provisions they were offering in MHLPC. They are complicated.

I support the earlier recommendation of talking with the licensing board directily.

Tom Moore

 

Re: MA licensure

Actually there are a few states that offer a second tier licensure, Michigan being one of them. It is called (in Michigan) Limited Licensed Psychologist, and requires a MA from a R/A school, doesn't matter if it is B&M or DL in nature. However APA has declared war on states with MA level Licensure.

Here in Michigan, the legislature has enacted a cont ed law for licensure renewal (both for PhD and MA level licensure) as well as a proposed law that would require MA level to document 1 hour of supervison with a fully licensed psychologist per 30 hours of clinical work, that the fully licensed psychologist who supervises has to be a specialist in each and every case where service is proivided as well as have personal knowledge of every case. Another proposed requirement is that the supervising psychologist's name, address and phone number must be presented to the client in the first session ("hey new client, this is my mommy/daddy, talk to them if I'm not nice to you").

The irony is that LLPs are the only Master's level discipline of counselors (not MSWs or LPCs) that would be regulated in this way, the other two are allow to practice independently without any type of supervision. I looked at the Indiana (actually my birth state, still consider myself a transplanted Hoosier after 27 years) laws for psych, social work and mental health counselor about four years ago because of the grandfathering provisions they were offering in MHLPC. They are complicated.

I support the earlier recommendation of talking with the licensing board directily.

Tom Moore


RESPONSE:

Tom,

Actually there is an organization that represents the professional interests of masters level psychologists, NAMP. I have attached the URL for their webpage that provides the states where MA level Psychologists can practice, although not as independent Psychologists.

At one point NAMP contemplated aligning itself with the American Mental Health Counseling Association in order to increase the viability of its members political and professional clout by obtaining state licensed professional counseling status. However, this did not materialize.

Master degrees in Clinical Social Work, Mental Health, Rehab and Professional Counseling are terminal clinical practice degrees and prepare practitioners for independent practice, without the necessity of obtaining a doctorate. This is reflected in the clinical content of their curriculum.

As you are aware, the APA has enormous political clout. They have historically considered the Masters degree in Psychology as being the initial step in the educational process and insufficient to practice independently. The majority of psychology state boards of licensure have agreed with their position and it appears that it will be a very difficult task to change their posture regarding this matter.

http://www.enamp.org/home.htm