Hello, I am now somewhat convinced to switch degrees from Human Services to Psychology by a few of the posters. My current field is in the Mental Health / Professional Counselor. I have no desire to teach or do extensive research. My main purpose for obtaining a doctorate degree is for personal satisfaction and to obtain expertise / knowledge in better serving my clients. Please provide me your opinions to why Human Services is a better option for me. Why or why not? Thanks. JB
1) because you don't want to be a psychologist 2) because the Human Services concentration may have a bit more variety and grounding in occupational application of counseling 3) because you should go with what "feels" right. 4) you'd be a bit unique 5) You could still teach psych in most schools - you may be more suited to teach other courses with a human services type degree as well. One of my psych professors had an Ed D after a clinical psych MA. One of my Computer science profs had a PhD in testing psych, go figure. 6) as with multiple choice exams, your first inpulse is usually correct. I have no experience with PhD programs - I've lurked around looking into programs just in case I go nuts and move on to a higher ed degree. Good luck - I say stick to your guns and make the degree about you, not make yourself in the image of the degree.
A PhD in Human Services (such as the one at Walden University) could conceivably work well for someone like myself who already has a license to practice but is interested in pursuing an area of special interest on the Doctoral level. A PhD in a non-clinical division of Psychology (such as Developmental Psychology or Cognitive Psychology) might serve equally well. If I were in your position I'd be looking at the research interests of the relevant faculty members as well as the dissertation abstracts from the past 5-10 years. This would give you a pretty good idea of the orientation of the Department and the variety of research they support. Good luck, Jack (who has no connection to Walden)