Is there any work in the mental health area that...

[hum1]

does not require any licensure?

I have a bachelor's degree in psychology, an MSc in clinical psychology and an MA in psychoanalysis (from Portugal and the UK).

I am realizing that one cannot do any kind of work in California related with mental health area without having a licensure (psychologist, LMFT, LCSW, LEP, LPCC). Since I only hold a master in clinical psychology and not a PhD, I cannot apply to become a psychologist. My question is.... Then why do people do a major, a bachelor’s degree or even a master in psychology if this does not lead you to any licensure and thus you cannot do any work in the area of psychology?

Thank you for your replies...

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[CaliMac]

Many master's programs can prepare you to sit for licensure exams and the 3000 hours of clinical experience required. The programs will list this eligibility (and their respective accreditation, depending on the field) in their promotional materials.

Other master's programs are intended to be used as stepping stones to prepare for applying to doctoral programs.

 

[hum1]

CaliMac, thank you for your reply.

My question is also: Are there any jobs in the mental health area which do not require a licensure, or anyone who has contact and works in this field has to have necessarily a licensure?

It makes perfect sense to take a master in order to prepare for a doctoral program. But does this means that a master degree does not have any professional value by itself? And one has to consider the very slim odds of getting accepted in a doctoral program, so wouldn't this make a master degree a huge financial and time consuming risk because without a doctoral program it becomes irrelevant?

 

[wesleysmith]

There are plenty of masters degrees that lead to licensure: MFT, LPC, LMHC, LCSW. if your masters program doesn't happen to be one that qualifies for one of these masters level licenses, and you're interested in a doctorate, then hopefully you gained some research experience and a good GPA, something that may aid you in getting accepted (may, I don't know PhD/PsyD programs well enough to say). If you got neither, then I'm not sure what to say, it may have been a huge time consuming financial risk, as you said. Hopefully that's not the case, with your educational background it's entirely possibly that there are some positions open to you, I'm just not too sure what types of positions these would be. Perhaps someone else will chime in with good new, good luck!

 

[socwrkr]

Yes, you can, and there are plenty of work for bachelor-level grads. Most counties, nonprofit, and for-profit mental health agencies hire bachelor-level individuals (regardless of their degrees). They function as case managers or recovery coordinators. With the move toward recovery, most agencies are cutting back on psychotherapy hours and doing more rehab activities centered at home and in the community; you don't need licensed people to do this. ACT (Assertive Community Treatment) teams use case managers primarily.

The agency that I work for had four therapists (including a clinical psychologist) at one point; now there's only me, an LCSW. I do the assessments and shorter and shorter-term counseling. We've been told, "We are not a THERAPY clinic" by our neoliberal, bottom-line-only-focused managers, but that's another story altogether :-(

Generally, Counties and some nonprofit agencies also pay bachelor-level individuals very well, starting in the mid $25/hour and higher. Look at the web sites of Counties and agencies like Mental Health Systems for salary info at the bachelor level.

Be wary of for-profit agencies, they generally pay their case managers diddly squat and work them to near death.

Child protection also hires bachelor-level grads to do social "service" work; here, you can work in Wraparound or other behavioral modification programs providing essentially mental health services.

So, in summary, a bachelor-level grad has many opportunities to work in the mental health field, and depending on where you work, you can make a good living wage.

 

[Spydra]

I second what socwrkr said. I did my BA in Psych and found there were plenty of mental health related jobs I could do, I just chose to go in a different area at that time. The well paying county ones are often very competitive and I just grew tired of jumping through so many silly hoops. When I got my BA I wasn't 100% sure I'd do a grad degree. I was open to the idea, but still unsure of my career path so I took time to explore before returning to school. I don't regret my degree choice or any of my career exploration at all and I feel like now I have a clear path for my future and the steps I need to take to get there.

I recently finished an unlicensed Master's degree (and I do not have the option of going for a license) and am back in the mental health arena. I knew that my degree would not have a licensing option before I started and it was the right choice for me. I spent a few years shadowing a lot of mental health professionals and loading up on volunteer work with all kinds of populations to learn about options. What I discovered was the work that the licensed Master's degrees were doing was of no interest to me, there were plenty of options with an unlicensed Master's, and if research became a bigger interest then I could go for a PhD.

So I've spent the last few months job hunting (and I'm in California too) and I am still finding that there are a variety of options for employment. However the search hasn't been easy because there are a lot of crummy offers mixed in with the really good ones. It helps to understand the area you live in and what the trends are in mental health because that will tell you what kind of jobs you're likely to find and what kind of salaries you'll see. Be open to working with different populations and if you're open to nonprofit/public sector/private/etc that will expand your options. The job ads don't always clearly state "unlicensed Master's please apply" so you need to look for key terms like case management/worker/coordinator, group facilitation, reentry, social services, mental health, social work, wraparound, crisis intervention, counselor, clinician, behavioral health, rehab, independent living, program coordinator/manager, advocate/advocacy, domestic violence, sexual assault, substance abuse, recovery, etc. Just because a job title has counselor/clinician/social worker in it does not mean they are looking for a licensed or soon to be licensed employee, so look at those ads too. Also some job ads are poorly written so expect to do some digging on their website or social media presence if company has one.

You may also want to familiarize yourself with some HR terms too because that could really help you weed out some of the crummy offers. I've been on some weird interviews the last few months that I could have avoided if I had a bit more knowledge of per diem, exempt vs non-exempt, contract, etc.

 

[socwrkr]

I second what Spydra said. Don't limit yourself by focusing too narrowly on just licensed positions. With your master's degrees, you may be able to get hired at a higher pay grade as a case manager or a case manager supervisor, depending on your experience. I don't have the stats, but from my own experience, licensed people make up a rather small population of the entire mental health field.

Mental health care in the US is made up of numerous non-licensed positions, including, but not limited to: child and parent partners for Wraparound programs; life coaches; child protection supervisors; mental health case managers; Therapeutic Behavioral Services recovery coordinators; CalWorks case managers; etc.

Again, I suggest looking up County and agency job descriptions, submitting applications, going for interviews, and seeing what happens.

 

[hum1]

Spydra, wesleysmith and socwrkr, thank you for your posts! From the information that I was getting from the licensure boards of CA, I was beginning to form the idea that EVERY mental health worker in EVERY job position, disregarding of the sector, had to had a licensure/PhD. I will explore my options more thoroughly and in a more hopeful way

 

[coolbanana]

To be honest I wouldn't trust a therapist without licensure. I understand you have quite a bit of training, but in the states it means a lot.

 

[hum1]

coolbanana, I understand and share your concerns, I would never start seeing a therapist that does not hold any licensure: or start any form of protected practice myself without first getting a licensure. I am very aware of the Ethics and deontological codes and these are the very much the same here or in Portugal, or in other any country.

 

[hum1]

Just a quick update, I found a very informative book about careers in psychology in the US in a book called "Careers in Psychology: Opportunities in a changing world", by Tara Kuther and Robert Morgan (2012).



This book is a good starting point to anyone who wants to pursue a career in psychology, to anyone who practised psychology in another country and wants to know the specificities of psychology in the US or to anyone who wants to change a career. The information is divided by area (clinical, developmental, social, health, sports, etc. psychologies) and degree (major, bachelor, masters, doctorate) as well as information of some job titles and descriptions, further readings, websites and salaries.