Lcsw

[TMS@1987]

I was wondering if I could get some feed back from you guys in regards to how the psychology community feels about LCSW's. are they well respected? are they a legitimate option for someone interested in working in therapy/counseling as well as non-profit organizations? I just wanted to see what your thoughts were on the subject, thnx

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[socialcog]

It has been my experience working in this field that the amount of respect a clinician yields is commensurate with his/her competency--regardless of the license of which they practice under. In the private practice arena, referrals are largely based on 'word of mouth'. Good practice will yield high referrals. There are plenty of very competent LCSW's that I interface with both in private practice and non-profits. I can say the same for MD's and PhD's.

 

[pingouin]

It has been my experience working in this field that the amount of respect a clinician yields is commensurate with his/her competency--regardless of the license of which they practice under. In the private practice arena, referrals are largely based on 'word of mouth'. Good practice will yield high referrals. There are plenty of very competent LCSW's that I interface with both in private practice and non-profits. I can say the same for MD's and PhD's.

^^^^^^

QFT

Very well-said.

 

[socialcog]

I am a therapist in private practice and I share a suite with 5 other clinicians of varied disciplines. One of my suitemates is a very skilled LCSW who has maintained a full private pratice for years due to her excellent reputation. Her retail hourly rate is $140/hr. She has the luxury of not accepting insurance for most of her client base. Her patients are happy to pay it as they know they are getting excellent care. She sees about 9-10 patients daily and has a 4 day work week. 36-40 patients at $140/hr....when you do the math...that is quite good money.

 

[positivepsych]

I'm glad your colleague is doing well, but people shouldn't be misled into believing that's the norm. Your colleague is the 1% exception. Most LCSWs are not making over $5K a week. Most psychologists and many psychiatrists don't even make that.

If it were that easy, everyone would waltz into a full-time private practice. The reality is that the private practice therapy market is overcrowded. Furthermore, like any other entrepreneurial business, the rewards are disproportionately skewed towards the top performers. That's why lots of LCSWs work in salaried positions, and new salaried positions pay about 40k.

 

[socialcog]

I never said my colleague was the norm and she doesn't pretend that her success was easy. She is a skilled psychotherapist practicing under an LCSW license, with a keen business sense, and has been doing this for 30 years. She didn't "waltz" into private practice and immediately make $291k/year. Patiently and strategically, she started a part time private practice while at the same time worked in a hospital setting. She methodically chose the hospital setting because that would allow her to showcase her skills to future referral sources. She maintained and nurtured all of those relationships and that turned out to be fruitful. Over the years, she honed her skills by becoming adept at a couple treatment modalities: one for couples and one for individuals. She knew that being a "generalists" in this competitive market would not set herself apart from the other practitioners.

So it is possible to do this--if you are smart and patient. Over the years you can position yourself in this competitive market. Positivepsych is correct in saying that the market is saturated with providers. But I believe it is saturated with mediocrity and generalists. Give yourself at least 5 years to get established.