Guidance counselor

[djmsms13]

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I'm a Junior in college and I'm starting to do some research into grad schools and such; when I graduate I plan to work in the school system as a guidance counselor and then eventually work in a private practice. During my grad school search the obvious choice would be to major in educational or school psychology. But my thought is to major in counseling psychology and I've even found a few programs were I can specialize elementary if secondary counseling. I figure majoring in counseling would be a little bit more beneficial if I want to eventually get a PsyD and do private counseling. I think my plan is smart but after speaking to my academic advisor she seemed to think I was on the wrong path and I don't think I am, just looking for more opinions.

 

[Rapunzel]

School counselors or guidance counselors are part of the history of professional counselors, but now are a different degree and license. Usually it is master's level. School psychologists can be master's level, and focus more on testing, and identifying students with learning disabilities, developmental disabilities, etc. Neither of these would usually do private counseling, unless they have a dual degree and dual license. If one has a degree in school counseling, it is possible to respecialize in mental health counseling with about a year of master's level coursework and an internship in mental health counseling. One can also respecialize from mental health counseling to school counseling, which also would require about a year of master's level coursework and an internship in school counseling. I know people who have done both respecializations - usually because they discover that they prefer the other work, but it would be possible to do both.

If you want to be a psychologist, private schools such as Argosy would readily accept you with either master's degree, but that wouldn't be most people's first choice, as these schools are very expensive, usually unfunded, and can be a challenge to get desired internship placements.

Another option for you would be to find a PhD or PsyD program that allows a combined focus on school psychology and counseling psychology. There are a few such programs at state universities, and are usually much less expensive, better funded, and have better statistics for internships and future employability. They accept students with a bachelor's degree or with a master's degree and may or may not allow students with a master's degree to count some of their graduate credits, usually not for more than one year of the doctoral program. Getting a master's degree first is not much of an advantage.

I have a master's degree in mental health counseling, and would like to become a psychologist, and have found that while I can work as a master's level counselor, which is better than I could do with my bachelor's degree, it is not an advantage for getting into a doctoral program (other than Argosy or other expensive private or online programs, which are not really what I want because the degree might not even be licenseable in my state, besides the huge debt).

 

[Rapunzel]

Also, I have found that counseling psychology programs tend to be designed with a focus on university counseling centers. The programs I looked into didn't offer much opportunity to work with children or youth, except for those programs with a combined specialty in school psychology. Some clinical psychology programs allow for a child psychology specialty.

 

[PickMePickMe]

I think a lot of this might differ by states, but in most states and definitely in Canada, training for school counselors usually involves a Master's degree in school counseling, but that program does not cover therapy, assessment, interpretation and stats to the extent required for further studies and licensure. Your adviser might have thought that the programs you were looking at seemed inadequate in preparing you for a good PsyD program, even if it was a "counseling" degree, and I think there's a good chance that he/she might be right.

I think a Master's in school psychology might be more in keeping with your goals, as it would provide more psychometric training, research opportunities, and options for further training (at least where I live). Also, a PhD in school psychology would qualify you to be a licensed psychologist (also at least in my area) and provide private practice. You can also train in counseling psychology and then re-specialize like Rapunzel suggested, but if you're interested in working with children in the school system, I'd just go straight into school psychology; a school psychologist is just as official a psychologist as a counseling psychologist, except that they only train to work with children and adolescents with a focus on school settings.

 

[lookitssara]

1. You can do private practice with a masters degree as well, you just must be licensed. The pros involve less time and less money. The cons are less physician referrals and more difficulty being insurance reimbursable.

2. The actual duties of the ideal school psychologist are NOT always executed. In many states, school psychs are almost solely employed to do testing/consultation. If you want to do actual therapy/counseling with students, realize you would have to seek out districts/principals that would allow you to do this. A doctoral program in school psych generally would give a much more thorough training that would make you more competitive for these competitive positions (although the field as a whole is not so competitive, I imagine it would be in districts that have a more progressive view on school psychs).

3. Some districts hire mental health counselors on top of school counselors (which is the term now replacing "guidance" counselors). Some of these are hired by the districts, some technically work for a university or CMH agency and are placed in schools.


4. What exactly do you want to do with students in a school? There are usually big differences between the day to day roles of the school counselor and the school psychologist (although their idealized positions have a bit of overlap). Do you intend on working in the school for a few years, then applying to PsyD programs? Are you looking for a path that will allow you to finish the PsyD in less time (this is rare from what I hear)?

 

[futureapppsy2]

Additionally, to add briefly onto what PickMe stated, in every state but WY, people with a PhD or PsyD in School Psych can be licensed as Psychologists and work in hospitals, clinics, private practice, etc., as well as working in schools, if that would be a consideration for you.