Should I finish my PsyD?

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curiouscat777

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I'll toss my two cents briefly before others chime in:

You are an LCSW practicing independently with a client load of 8 with hopes of expanding I'm assuming.

Unless you want to do more evaluations/assessment oriented things or intend on leaving private practice, I don't really see the point of closing down your practice for 3+ years just to do more schooling.
If you wanted more teaching, you could go to seminars, enroll in CE things, trainings, certifications, etc.

Private practice itself, as you probably know, is all about your marketing, networking, and setting yourself apart. There's many ways to do that than from the potential gain that comes from losing 3+ years of income.

a little wordy because end of semester old fashioned but to summarize:

1. If you want to do more therapy, invest more time/money into yourself and your private practice than into a PsyD.

2. Credentials can be bou- I mean earned through certifications/trainings and all that.

3. Market and Network yourself better to make yourself stand out.
 
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Most of your questions can be directly answered by YOU. It's not even an opinion. It's simple math.

You know that your assumptions are correct, right? You have sat down, and called every single practice in the area, right? You gathered data before you went back to school, right? It's one day's worth of work. It's not even hard.

You just pick up the phone, say, "I'm looking for a therapist. Do you guys have a wait list? How much does a session cost? Okay. Thank you. (hang up)". Nothing above is a lie. Takes 60 seconds. Write that down into an excel sheet. Armed with that data...

a. Exactly what is the percentage of psyd practices with a wait list in your area? What is their hourly?
b. Exactly what is the percentage of lcsw practices with a wait list in your area? What is their hourly?

Using a&b, you calculate the increased income. Put that into the standard opportunity cost formula.

You could just go to the Beck Institute and pay for private coaching, or go to a psychoanalytic institute, or whatever. It's gotta be cheaper than the rest.
 
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