PhD in Counseling at Liberty University

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Disregard

I would steer clear of this program. It's not APA-accredited, which might interfere with licensure or career prospects (check your state regulations). Liberty University is not well-regarded in academia or among mental health professionals, or even among many fundamentalist Christians. If you're considering practicing solely within the evangelical Protestant community, this might work, but otherwise it might be a waste of time.

Re: your second question, since both your degree and your practice would be in counseling, it is entirely appropriate to use the initials Ph.D after your name.

Thank you for your prompt response. In terms of actual practice I would be practicing under my Masters license (LMHC). The PhD would really be more so for possibly teaching.

Has anyone heard of Hattie R. Rosenthal College of Psychoanalysis of Heed University?
www.heed.edu/college_of_psychoanalysis.htm

If you're interested in teaching, you might look at counselor education programs instead of counseling psychology programs. These are CACREP-accredited, not APA-accredited. You can use their web site to find accredited CE programs: http://www.cacrep.org/directory/directory.cfm

If you select "doctoral" under "program type," you'll come up with all counselor education/supervision programs.

Heed University is either a high-end diploma mill or a low-end unaccredited school. I would be suspicious of any program with such a poor web site. They also seem to have very few faculty members.

Originally Posted by GeorgeRamosJr

Thank you for your prompt response. In terms of actual practice I would be practicing under my Masters license (LMHC). The PhD would really be more so for possibly teaching and being able to charge a little more in session.

Has anyone heard of Hattie R. Rosenthal College of Psychoanalysis of Heed University?
www.heed.edu/college_of_psychoanalysis.htm

I'd be careful about the bolded portion above. I could be wrong, but I believe insurance companies are only going to care what level you're licensed at; if you aren't licensed as a psychologist, then you won't be able to bill using doctorate-level rates (although again, others can correct me if I'm mistaken).

Also, even if you go private pay rather than insurance, charging more could send the wrong message to your clients, considering you'd still be licensed at the master's level. Not quite the same as charging more for psychotherapy because you held a doctorate in a completely-unrelated discipline, but still, I don't know that I'd consider it to be a "best practice."

Short Answer: AA is correct that insurance companies credential and set rates based on licensure....and not degree. In regard to $-only practices...you are free to set whatever rates you want, and many people choose to aim high.

Long Answer: Often times some of the most expensive people are not the best or highest training, they just are the best at convincing people they are worth the extra $. There is a whole body of research dedicated to the perception of value/worth, much of which has created/supported multiple generations of consulting companies.

When I was a young consultant (in a different field), I made a point to charge more than my similarly experienced competition because I knew some people would choose me because I charged more. There is often a faulty belief by people (especially within the corp. community, but also amongst individuals) that $$$ = Better. I had data to support I was better, but that data wasn't known at the initial judgment of value. Some people use this approach in clinical practice, though there are a few ethical considerations that need to be considered....none of which I'm going to cover here because that costs extra.

Yikes... The li'l old insurance person in me just cringed at reading this one.

If you want to charge more, then charge more; but as AA & T4C both have mentioned, it's not acceptable to pass yourself off as something you are not. They're going by your license. Something else to take into consideration (and look into your state's regulations), there are some places that do not routinely pay master's level therapists unless there are special riders on the policies paid for by the group (i.e., employer)--in other words, they only pay for doc-level providers (MD/PhD/PsyD only) who are licensed as such. Insurance boards/panels require quite a bit of documentation and they do delve into your education prior to approving you as a participating provider for their company, so I wouldn't recommend misrepresenting yourself in an attempt "to get more money" from them... Although you may very well be able to if you only accept private pay as others have mentioned....