Having both a license as a psychologist and as a LMHC?

[CogNeuroGuy]

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I have seen some psychologists who have their license to practice as a psychologist also hold their master's level license simultaneously. Is there a purpose or advantage to doing this?

 

[erg923]

I have seen some psychologists who have their license to practice as a psychologist also hold their master's level license simultaneously. Is there a purpose or advantage to doing this?

One doesn't supercede the other?

 

[deleted343839]

I have seen some psychologists who have their license to practice as a psychologist also hold their master's level license simultaneously. Is there a purpose or advantage to doing this?

The only time I've ever seen someone practice with a Ph.D. in psychology and a counseling license is when the Ph.D. is in a non-clinical field and the person wants to call himself/herself "doctor."

I've also seen people maintain licenses as marriage and family therapists and as psychologists, which still seems redundant to me but I sort of get it.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I view it as a greater professional liability and cost. Each license has a board, requirements, CE's, etc. Also, there needs to be a clear delineation of practice, as standards and scope of practice are different amongst different licensures.

The only time I've really seen this was with sketchy providers who are licensed as a mid-level (e.g. MFT) but have a non-licensable degree in something else…but they still call themselves "Doctor". It is incredibly misleading, so I do not recommend going that route.

 

[calimich]

Something similar was often debated in my graduate program as our dept had both APA counseling psych (CP) and CACREP counselor ed (CE)doctoral programs. The CP phd led to licensure as a psychologist (LP) while the CE phd led to licensure as a professional counselor (LPC). As I understood it, CP students could, with only an additional class or two, become eligible for the LPC. CE students, on the other hand, had a much more difficult time "adding" the requirements to make them eligible for an LP, such that in reality it never happened. We had one faculty member, who was kinda old school, who held both licenses, and several adjuncts who held both. Opinions varied, and sometimes made for intense intellectual departmental debates. The LPs who held dual licensure said they had more professional flexibility (e.g., the ability to supervise students seeking ACA licenses). LPCs sometimes spoke about "unfair" requirements and old "turf wars" between APA and ACA. LPs holding only one license spoke about professional identity, scope of practice, ethics to the consumer; similar to what T4C mentions above, I think.

 

[wesleysmith]

One of my professors is a licensed psychologist, lpc, and lmsw (lcsw for my state). I have no idea why.

 

[smalltownpsych]

One of my professors is a licensed psychologist, lpc, and lmsw (lcsw for my state). I have no idea why.

As Calimich mentioned it might be to help with providing supervision. I supervised a social worker for some time and they needed to get a certain number of their hours from an LCSW which was a challenge because we had two psychologists on hand, but no LCSWs.

 

[G Costanza]

I'm about a year away from being licensed as an LP, LPC, and MFT. The only reason I keep paying the fees is that I can supervise students at a UCC from a wide variety of programs.

 

[deleted407083]

I'm still in school, but close to obtaining my LPC from my terminal masters. I intend on keeping this until I can get my LP (few years away). If anything I can get some paid externships now, and it might help with post doc, pre-licensure time. Not sure if I will keep my LPC after unless it is helpful for Supervisor a few years down the line. Other thoughts on this? Is this helpful for predoc internship (Obtaining one, during, etc)?


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[Therapist4Chnge]

You can't count hours under one licensure for training hours towards another licensure….so the "helpful" part during pre-doc internship would be for side $ doing contract work for an agency or similar (if your site allows for that, which it probably won't). For post-doc if could be more useful for side income, though it depend again on the site and if they allow for "outside" work.

 

[chicandtoughness]

There's also the possibility they got their LMHC/LPC/LMFT, and then later on went back to school to get their doctorate in psychology. If you already have the credential anyways, there's not much harm in maintaining it (just a few CE credits and the jurisprudence exam in most states) while you work towards full psychologist licensure.

 

[eremitestar]

I'm still in school, but close to obtaining my LPC from my terminal masters. I intend on keeping this until I can get my LP (few years away). If anything I can get some paid externships now, and it might help with post doc, pre-licensure time. Not sure if I will keep my LPC after unless it is helpful for Supervisor a few years down the line. Other thoughts on this? Is this helpful for predoc internship (Obtaining one, during, etc)?

I have an LPC from a terminal masters. As was mentioned previously, you can't count the hours you're working independently as an LPC toward training as a psychologist (you're technically working under your supervisor's LP license). Some people in my program worked in private practice on the side for extra income during the program. Those hours DID NOT count for practicum or internship applications, but they made some money and could put it on their CVs. It doesn't really make any difference on internship. Most sites I looked at prohibit having another job on the side during the training year (not that I have enough time, anyway). Whether it helps you land an internship I think depends on the site. My internship is at the VA, which doesn't currently hire LPCs (though I've heard rumblings about that changing), so to them it's just extra letters on my e-mail signature. However, I've heard from others that it can be helpful in matching to community mental health agencies. Even if you get it, though, its utility is limited. In most states it takes 2 years of full-time supervised experience to get your LPC. It can be more like 3-4 if you're trying to use your hours from part-time practica in your doc program. Then you only have a year, maybe two, during which you can use it before internship renders it useless. Unless you're in a state that lets you get licensed with minimal post-grad hours required, I'd save the time and money and just wait for the LP.

 

[deleted407083]

I have an LPC from a terminal masters. As was mentioned previously, you can't count the hours you're working independently as an LPC toward training as a psychologist (you're technically working under your supervisor's LP license). Some people in my program worked in private practice on the side for extra income during the program. Those hours DID NOT count for practicum or internship applications, but they made some money and could put it on their CVs. It doesn't really make any difference on internship. Most sites I looked at prohibit having another job on the side during the training year (not that I have enough time, anyway). Whether it helps you land an internship I think depends on the site. My internship is at the VA, which doesn't currently hire LPCs (though I've heard rumblings about that changing), so to them it's just extra letters on my e-mail signature. However, I've heard from others that it can be helpful in matching to community mental health agencies. Even if you get it, though, it's utility is limited. In most states it takes 2 years of full-time supervised experience to get your LPC. It can be more like 3-4 if you're trying to use your hours from part-time practica in your doc program. Then you only have a year, maybe two, during which you can use it before internship renders it useless. Unless you're in a state that lets you get licensed with minimal post-grad hours required, I'd save the time and money and just wait for the LP.

Thanks for your advice (as well as T4C). I have just obtained the post-masters hours requirement. They don't discern between intervention and support hours, so it was fairly easy to qualify during my doc program. I understand that if I'm using my LPC license, I can't count it toward another licensure. It's not hard to obtain the LPC for me at this point, so I might as well finish the process and hope for some benefits later from doing so. Can't hurt obviously.


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[PsychCrazied]

I obtained a masters in Mental Health Counseling before I started my PhD in Counseling Psych, I had a professor who was trained as a Psychologist (licensed as one and actively engaged in APA (general and a few divisions)). However, since he was a professor in a CACREP program, he was also license as a LPC. I believe he is considered a fellow with both ACA and APA. However, I don't believe he does much active clinical work. So people may have it for academic/job reasons.

 

[Shooter]

Potentially: newly licensed psychologist, supervising masters students, NIH loan forgiveness contracts, insurance panels slowness, pride, laziness.

 

[ClinicalABA]

Not quite the same, but I hold licensure as a psychologist (soon to be in two states), board certification as a BCBA, and- just in the last week, due to changes in state law- state licensure as a behavior analyst (fees, ceus, etc. are stupid expensive). While it may be different with LMHC vs Psychology, the different cents and licenses allow me to legally practice in different areas, as well as bill insurance for different codes. What might be the same as the LMHC thing is that I can formally supervise and teach approved courses in different areas. It also allows for higher levels of membership status in applicable professional organizations. Also, as with the LMHC and Psych license issue, it's an accurate representation of clinical training and experience, and also potentially good marketing.

Fyi- annual licensure fees combined= $957.50

ETA- Licensure/certification can also impact your or others ability to offer CEUs for workshops or presentations you do. For example, BCBA CEUs may require that a BCBA is conducting the training.

 

[bmedclinic]

There's also the possibility they got their LMHC/LPC/LMFT, and then later on went back to school to get their doctorate in psychology. If you already have the credential anyways, there's not much harm in maintaining it (just a few CE credits and the jurisprudence exam in most states) while you work towards full psychologist licensure.

I've always assumed its some variation of this. That said, I have zero interest professionally in supervision of counseling students, so I hadnt considered that until this thread. But those have got to be the two primary reasons.