job prospect of MA in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in MFT

[iveetee]

Hi there,

i'm interested to pursue a MA in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage & Family Therapy in Pepperdine. However, i have some doubts about my career prospect after the course. With the MA in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in MFT, is it true to say that , i will be qualified to become a clinical psychologist or/ and a marriage & Family Therapist?

2nd, may i know the cost of this course for an international student?

Thank you!

Regards

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[erg923]

You will be a MFT. "Psychologist" is a legally protected that can only be used by those who hold a doctorate in clinical, counseling, or school psychology.

 

[iveetee]

Thanks for the quick reply, erg923.
Do you mean that i cannot work as a "clinical psychologist"even though the course is MA in Clinical Psychology ?

Thanks again!

 

[erg923]

You will able to provide therapy once licensed after that degree, but no, you are not a "psychologist" with just a masters.

 

[whypsy]

I agree with erg's reply. Just so you know there's very specific ethics guidelines about what you can call yourself at different stages. Basically you want to avoid anything that is potentially misleading to the typical lay person.

Using "clinical psychologist" or "psychologist" is bad and technically unethical according to APA without the PhD.

Technically I'm not even sure it's alright to say that you're qualified to be a Marriage and Family Therapist. Usually your state licensing board (LMFT) will tell you if you're qualified.

To be actually licensed requires ~2 years of supervised work and acceptable score on the national exams after graduation.

APA ethics code (2002) states:

"5.01 c
Psychologists claim degrees as credentials for their health services only if those degrees (1) were earned from a regionally accredited educational institution or (2) were the basis for psychology licensure by the state in which they practice."

It depends on your interpretation of this, but our professor interpreted it very conservatively and stated that in a public mental health context to not sign that we had master's degrees for fear of overqualifying ourselves in the eyes of those who are not aware of licensing procedures. That is unless we were already licensed.

 

[iveetee]

Noted. Thanks Erg and Whypsy for your enlightenment

 

[Tessie]

Hi there,

i'm interested to pursue a MA in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage & Family Therapy in Pepperdine. However, i have some doubts about my career prospect after the course. With the MA in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in MFT, is it true to say that , i will be qualified to become a clinical psychologist or/ and a marriage & Family Therapist?

2nd, may i know the cost of this course for an international student?

Thank you!

Regards

Hi,

A close friend of mine is going to Pepperdine for the MFT program right now, and I've applied there as well for this upcoming year. In California, you can practice as an MFT after you pass your licensing exam and gain a certain amount of experience working with clients (I think it's 3,000 hours, but I might be thinking of the psychologist requirements). Also, at Pepperdine, if you want to become a practicing clinical psychologist, you can continue your degree after you get the MFT to work towards a Psy.D (doctorate of psychology). For Pepperdine, though, you have to get the masters first, and then afterward, if you apply to the Psy.D, they say that they don't guarantee that they'll accept you. (I think if you do well in the masters program, though, you'd have a good chance). So, if I'm lucky enough to get into Pepperdine, I might try to do that. Anyway, good luck, hope that helps!

 

[Tessie]

(also, just ignore my message I sent you....I was having problems adding my message to the forum at first)