Treatment of Abused/Maltreated Children

[mcpdmcpd]

Hi guys. I have a quick question on qualifications to become a therapist that treats children who have been abused (physical/sexual/psychological):

Which graduate degree would be more suited for direct treatment as opposed to simultaneous research and treatment (which I can infer that a Clinical Psychology degree is necessary [correct me if I'm wrong])? MSW/LCSW? Or can a MA/PhD in counselling psychology also suffice?

Thanks for your time.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Ollie123]

Plenty of clinical psychologists are primarily/only clinicians so long-term that degree doesn't mean you are maintaining a research career. Counseling psychology works the same as clinical in that regard. For both, you do generally need to get at least a moderate of amount of research training IN school (unless you for one of the extremely poorly respected/"fake" doctorates like Argosy).

The LCSW is probably your best bet if you want to avoid research training altogether.

 

[wesleysmith]

I can't say for certain what is best. I can say my MSW program has a trauma specialization with a Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) training project second year placement where you take additional courses and seminars to be trained and supervised in TF-CBT with children and adolescents who have developed mental, emotional, or behavioral issues as a result of traumatic exposure. It is part of a national training program out NY. But it is certainly not unique, so it would be a possible route for you to consider given your interests. However, I can't guarantee you will completely skip the research aspect with an MSW, it will just be considerably less ( i.e., no doctoral thesis), but not non-existent depending on the program.

 

[mcpdmcpd]

I can't say for certain what is best. I can say my MSW program has a trauma specialization with a Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) training project second year placement where you take additional courses and seminars to be trained and supervised in TF-CBT with children and adolescents who have developed mental, emotional, or behavioral issues as a result of traumatic exposure. It is part of a national training program out NY. But it is certainly not unique, so it would be a possible route for you to consider given your interests. However, I can't guarantee you will completely skip the research aspect with an MSW, it will just be considerably less ( i.e., no doctoral thesis), but not non-existent depending on the program.

Thanks for the reply. At this point I'm on the fence about whether I would like to go for the amount of research that is involved with the clinical/counseling route or the amount that is involved with the MSW route. But it's definitely nice to know there are TF-CBT components out there in some of these MSW programs.