What is the difference of having a Bachelors degree in Social Work and a Bachelors degree in Psychology? I would like to help people who have mental issues in regards to coping. Maybe an abuse, rape or rehabilitation counselor. Someone who helps women who have suffered from some kind of crisis. I've noticed that a lot of the people that I am involved with (friends,associates,boyfriends etc) do have some kind of mental illness or portrays the traits of someone who could suffer from mental illness are eccentric or are odd in some way. When I say help people who have mental issues in regards to coping. I mean being there for them when they need someone to talk to. Not so much as being the person who prescribes them medications.
Doing what you describe here will most likely require a minimum of a masters degree. This would typically be a masters in social work or a masters in mental health counseling. My practical experience with practicing clinicians is that there isn't much difference between the two in terms of clinical practice or reimbursement. There may be training differences, and social workers may have more flexibility/variability in work settings and responsibilities, but- as relates to doing direct therapy- they have always seemed to me to be interchangeable degrees/credentials. A bachelors in social work may be more appealing to social work masters programs, but I'm not really sure on that. I taught in a Masters in Mental Health Counseling program, and currently teach in a Masters in ABA program, and there was/is a pretty good mix between people with bachelors in psychology and social work (with a smattering of other social science majors thrown in there). These masters programs typically require the student to pay tuition, with limited opportunities for funding while in school. Students in masters program may be able to have outside jobs. You may be able to complete this training in the area you currently live in.
To take it further, many people who do what you describe above have a doctoral degree (either a Ph.D., or a Psy.D) in clinical or counseling psychology (look to other threads for differences between degrees/program types- for purposes of the current discussion, they will all allow you to do what you describe above). Doctoral degrees may offer you greater flexibility with what you, with higher salaries. They will also take a lot more time (2-4 more years of school; additional supervised pre-degree and post-degree clinical work). Doctoral training can be fully-funded (e.g., you pay no tuition) and come with a stipend (you get paid to be a teaching or research assistant), but these funded program are highly competitive and typically require stellar undergrad academic achievement, combined with demonstrated experience with clinical research. Most of these funded programs are associated with traditional universities or colleges, with professors involved in research and clinical work. Outside of funded positions, doctoral training in psychology can be VERY expensive, with total tuition costs of 100-200K plus! Funded such an education with student loans can result in monthly student loan payments that are way too high for what you will ultimately earn with a degree from such programs. Most students who go into doctoral training programs in clinical or counseling psychology have bachelors in psychology, though there are some exceptions (I actually have BS in Sociology). Good doctoral training is comprehensive and time consuming, and it is very unusual for students to be able to hold down outside employment to defray costs. You will most likely have to move to another area of the country during you doctoral training.
In summary, the quickest and cheapest rout to do what you want to do is to pursue a masters degree that would lead to credentialling as a social worker or mental health counselor. Funded doctoral programs can be cheaper monetarily, but with much higher time commitments and opportunity costs. The trade-off is potentially higher salaries and more job flexibility, variability. If you aren't sure which route you want to take, the safest bet would be to major in psychology as an undergrad. In either case, starting off at a community college and doing really well can save you 10s of thousands of dollars and often leads to automatic acceptance into bachelor's programs (e.g., at state colleges or universities). If you then go on to nail it academically during the two last years of your bachelor's education, the associate's degree is not likely to hurt you that much. One caveat is that you will be late to the game in developing relationships with professors and getting research experience that may be helpful should you choose to go the funded Ph.D./Psy.D route.
Incidentally, I work with toddlers and actually do juggle during most of my assessment sessions. It is a great way to get their attention, as well as to distract them. I suggest that, somewhere along your path, you learn to juggle!
