Cummings Graduate Institute

Good to see you back again, Rich.

 

A lot depends on the economics of the location. If you think that's low (and it is low), you should've seen some of the ones I've read that have been posted out of Western New York. There was one place that was asking for clinical social workers with at least 3 years experience, pay: $38K, and it became obvious that the jobs were competitive because they were taking resumes in ROUNDS with an "impress us with/catch our attention..." field in the application. With that kind of pay for that type of position, I would need a personal mental health counselor to keep me from harming myself on the job.

 

That's a really big handicap in approaching the world and I'm surprised you would want to brag about that.

"I see no room for nuance and rather than accept that people might use phrasing I don't like I will latch onto a single word and conclude that it is obviously malicious and fraudulent intent" is an incredibly sad way to go through life. Honestly, I can think of very few professions that would embrace an applicant who basically admits that everything is black and white, there is no room for interpretation and everybody is clearly a scam artist. I'm guessing that aside from trucker your next best career option would have been police inspector dedicated to bringing in Jean Valjean.

Lots of people say they "Attended" a certain school. Some graduated. Some didn't. Some, like me, said they attended one school despite their degree being awarded by another.

I also tell people, if they should inquire, that I'm of German-Irish descent. I am. I also have a smattering of Swiss, Swedish, Scottish and a few other lands which my venerable ancestors decided to seed with Neuhausian franchises. That doesn't make my statement of being "German-Irish descent" false. It's just a simplification. It isn't an "aha!" moment if you find that great great ancestor from whichever canton. Though I can absolutely picture you doing that sort of thing and then launching into how I am obviously a liar and a con artist, a scammer of the worst variety who has concealed his sordid past. We must ask ourselves, after all, what else am I trying to hide? And why, exactly, did I attempt to conceal that Swedish lineage?

Most people make statements like these because they aren't actually out to appease you and because sensible people don't take every word literally or consider the omission of a particular word to be clear and convincing proof of a conspiracy.

 

Aside from agreeing with your various points above, it's obvious that you're hiding your Swedish lineage because you are a member of either La Constance or Valhallaorden. But don't worry, I won't blow your cover.

 

Btw, here's the Cummings announcement...

https://www.deac.org/UploadedDocuments/Public-Notices/Accreditation-Actions/072219_AC_meeting_report.pdf

Also, ISSA now offers a bachelors program and Hypnosis Motivation Institute apparently pulled itself back from the brink.

 

Although, as in your example, there are certain situations where a non-licensed person with an appropriate degree under clinical supervision can be referred to as a "Clinician", overwhelmingly this title is reserved for licensed and certfied practitioners in the healthcare professions (ie, physicians, nurses, Social Workers etc). Please refer to Wikipedia under the term "Clinician".

For example, in certain underserved areas where it is difficult to hire licensed professionals, unlicensed professionals under appropriate supervision are needed and can refer to themselves as Clinicians. However, the title Clinician generally is reserved for appropriately trained and licensed practitioners.

 

Wikipedia? I'll pass and stick with the dictionary definitions.

In any case, I don't doubt that the overwhelming perception is that unless you're licensed you're not a clinician, but when it comes to the concept of "perception is reality" I believe there is wide misperception (things many believe to be true but actually aren't), and then there is reality.

 

Once again you're attempting to put words into my mouth. I have made no conclusions. But I have raised questions, acknowledged possibilities and, at times, even probabilities. And when I do, it is not speculative about a person's heritage but about the claims being made about their academic credentials. And yes, everyone is suspect when it comes to academic bullshit. That's because of human nature.

As for playing Inspector Javert, nah . . . I'm way too much a moral ethicist. (Even though both Javert and Valjean had some great songs.) But that's why I don't tolerate the kind of bullshit I see on the Cummings website.

So, did I ever mention that I attended Northeastern University? It was for a one-day workshop called "Film as a Teaching Tool," which I took during my Union doctoral days. What, I never mentioned that? Perhaps it's because I would think that claiming to "attend" Northeastern would be sleazy.

Now, I have only one problem. Do you know what an "ear worm" is? It's a song that constantly plays in your mind, often the last song you heard on the radio before leaving your car. And right now, I can't get rid of the ear worm of "There, out in the darkness, a fugitive running, fallen from grace . . ." The culturally illiterate crowd here on DI can look it up, especially if they have no clue about Valjean and Javert.

 

And based on the majority of dictionary definitions of the term "Clinician", the perception and reality of the use of this title are the same!

 

Not in any of the ones I've read.

 

Which ones did you read?

 

Webster
Cambridge
Collins
Princeton's
Macmillan
Oxford
Dictionary.com
Medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com
TheFreeDictionary.com
YourDictionary.com
Vocabulary.com
LearnersDictionary.com
Wordnik.com
Cancer.gov Terms Dictionary
WordReference.com
FineDictionary.com

... Anything else, Jan?

 

I have consulted a friend of mine on this question and she has told me that typically there is a period of time following graduation (with a Masters) that Social Workers need to accumulate supervision hours before they can take their licensing exam. It's usually about 2 years. She said that during this time they are referred to a "Clinicians" (if they work in the psychotherapy field) by their employers and co-workers. She added that they do virtually identical work with the exception that they only see clients who have Medicaid insurance, not private insurances and not Medicare. I'm guessing that this is true throughout the country but she could only say for certain that it's true throughout New England. In this regard the she stated that the job title has nothing to do with the license status. She said that people with other degrees (other than MSW degrees) are treated the same way. They're all referred to as Clinicians even prior to licensing.

 

"Anything else"? A review of these dictionaries' definitions generally refer to the use of the term Clinician as highly trained individuals such as Physicians. Nurses and Psychologists (all of whom require licensure)! There is no mention of professionals who meet your perception of reality.

So, although the title Clinician can be applied to unlicensed providers of health/social/health services who are supervised by licensed supervisors in certain contexts, the unlicensed professional needs to be very careful in how he/she represents themselves to a client/patient to avoid any misperceptions of their level of training, expertise and lack of licensure.

 

I think that was the point, no?

I don't think anyone suggested otherwise.

 

My friend who is a Russian immigrant and a Veterinary Doctor in Russia is working in the US as an Associate Veterinarian, basically performing all the duties of the Licensed DVM. The requirement here is to be in stage 2 of the program for foreign Veterinarians working toward becoming licensed in the USA. Stage 2 means the board verified the education and found it to be comparable to the US, and approved score in TOEFL, with 2 years window to pass the licensure exam.
Everybody refers to him as Dr. Liberman but he is not licensed yet in the USA but doing his work under the supervision of licensed DVM. His pay is about 60% of that of the licensed DVM.
The clinic is happy to have him, customers love him my pets included .

 

I believe it is possible to be a Physician, a Nurse or a Psychologist without being licensed. Otherwise, I dispute your statement that in the majority of states referring to yourself as a Clinician infers that you are licensed. Infers? Really?

 

Um, Kiz, did you perhaps mean to say that it is not possible to be a physician, nurse, or psychologist without being licensed? You're usually pretty spot on with these things, so may we assume that not including a not was simply a grammatical faux pas?

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying this interchange about the definition of clinician. It's nice to see a pissing contest in which I am not involved.

 

If you look at the actual definition of the term "Nurse" you'll see that the concept of a license is nowhere to be found.

nurse1
/nərs/
noun
noun: nurse; plural noun: nurses

1. 1.
   a person trained to care for the sick or infirm, especially in a hospital.
   synonyms: carer, caregiver, attendant; More
   informalFlorence Nightingale, nursey;
   informalcandy-striper
   "a team of skilled doctors and nurses"
   • dated
     a person employed or trained to take charge of young children.
     "her mother's old nurse"
     synonyms: nanny, childminder, governess, au pair, nursemaid, crèche worker, childcarer, babysitter, nursery nurse; More
     ayah, amah;
     metapelot;
     informalnursey;
     datedbonne
     "she had been his nurse when he was a little boy"
   • archaic
     a wet nurse.
   • Forestry
     a tree or crop planted as a shelter to others.
   • Entomology
     a worker bee, ant, or other social insect, caring for a young brood.

On the other hand, we have terms such as Registered Nurse or Licensed Practical Nurse which explicitly include the concept of a license. But the term Nurse, by itself, does not include the requirement of a license.