Best route for a international career changer for psychotherapy

[hinamori]

Fellows, please advice on the best/shortest/most affordable way to become a licensed counsellor/psychotherapist in the US (California, Oregon, or Washington). This is my end goal though I have not desided yet on the specialization. Now I think I would be interested in helping teens and adults, so maybe Marriage and Family Therapy would be the best area for me. Also I am interested in computer-human interaction and social psychology areas. As you can see, I am totally lost but very enthusiastic about changing my career and starting to help others.

Educational background: Bachelor's from a top university in Russia, specialized in Regional Studies and Translation of English and Spanish. NO psychology-related courses in the transcript, unfortunately.

Work experience - law administrative personnel, translations, marketing, customer support - 7 years in total.

As I think it doesn't make sense to go back to school for 4 years to get Bachelor's with major in Psychology, I need to find a way to complete prerequisites of Master's programs which as I understand all require several credits of Psychology and Statistics.

After an exhausting research of the plenty of universities and colleges in the US, I am now considering three possible starting points:

1. Post-bacc Certificate (1-2 years) at a University
2. Associate Degree (2 years) in a Community College
3. Pre-Masters program or Custom program at a University

What is the best way from your point of view?

I need to make sure that this career is a good choice for me before enrolling for a Master's or PsyD program. So I hope to get an entry-level job as an Assistant etc. after completing this first educational step. That is why the program should be eligible for OPT (as I am an international student).
Also it should be affordable (I think no more than $12000 per year including all fees).
Could you please advice any specific programs or colleges, preferably in CA or Oregon?

I would appreciate any thoughts on my case and would reply to any additional questions. Thank you!

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[singasongofjoy]

I would probably do a post-bac program; I think the coursework would be harder/more focused than at community college (although I could be wrong; I do know a couple of intense community college profs) and you might also be around folks who have similarly done more research into the various options for pursuing a therapist career afterwards which might be helpful. Then I would go for a masters. Generally, social work has the most flexibility. I don't know about any specific programs.

 

[hinamori]

I would probably do a post-bac program; I think the coursework would be harder/more focused than at community college (although I could be wrong; I do know a couple of intense community college profs) and you might also be around folks who have similarly done more research into the various options for pursuing a therapist career afterwards which might be helpful. Then I would go for a masters. Generally, social work has the most flexibility. I don't know about any specific programs.

Thank you very much for your opinion!
Some master's programs requirements do emphasize that transferring credits from community colleges is not available, so it might be a problem.

Now I tend towards doing a post-bacc program or a prep-course at a University. But the cost of attendance and probability of getting an entry-level job after these programs is what bothers me regarding these options.

 

[singasongofjoy]

Thank you very much for your opinion!
Some master's programs requirements do emphasize that transferring credits from community colleges is not available, so it might be a problem.

Now I tend towards doing a post-bacc program or a prep-course at a University. But the cost of attendance and probability of getting an entry-level job after these programs is what bothers me regarding these options.

I'm confused about the transferring credits from a community college to a master's program. I don't see that as a problem, per se, but rather as an inevitable impossibility and I am confused about why you think that would be possible. Why would that ever be possible? The reason to take classes at a community college would be to show that you have the pre-requisite background knowledge to start a master's program, but I can't imagine why they would transfer and count as credits towards the master's program anywhere under any circumstances because they are not masters level classes. Maybe there is a language difference in how you are using that term and how it is typically used here. Transferring credits might happen if, say, you got a master's degree, and then you applied to a PhD program (where of course you typically get a master's along the way, doing a thesis and all that). Then, if your some of your master's classes were similar enough to those offered in the doctoral program, (either by comparison of courseowrk and syllabi, and/or having to pass a comprehensive test of the material covered in the class offered by the doctoral program) then you would perhaps receive permission to have that class transfer, meaning you would not have to repeat the class at the PhD program because it is so similar to the class that you already took and mastered. (or you might be able to transfer a thesis if you did one in your master's program- if the PhD program looked at it and the committee thought it was good enough, you might be excused from doing a second thesis as part of your PhD program). Community college credits might transfer to an UNDERGRADUATE program, because they are presumably more or less on the same level (i.e., not graduate level work).

 

[danibrittany]

A psychotherapist is a well-paid profession in the United States. You can expect the salary anywhere between $52K and $56k. However, there is a slight variation depending on your location. You need to be passionate about the problems of other people and helping resolve their internal conflicts. Besides any certification or training, what you need is empathy. Besides, the usually mind trickery you may also need to manage the administrative side including caseload, documentation, counseling individuals or groups, and identify & resolve emotion or psychological issues.