Too many Options

[mpsych161]

I am a non-working post-bachelor student. I majored in Psychology for my undergraduate degree. I am interested in Mental Health Counseling, Addiction/Substance Abuse Counseling, Art Therapy, Animal Therapy I have taken courses or gotten some experience in those areas. Is there a Masters degree that I should get where I can do all, or at least part of these fields?

Thanks in advance.

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[deleted343839]

No single master's program would cover all of those areas. Get a generalist degree in a field such as counseling or social work, and then follow up with additional reputable training/continuing education as needed to develop your skills in a particular area. Good quality generalist training will help you sort out your options. Just don't try to do it all - you'll be the proverbial "jack of all trades and master of none."

 

[ItsNotMe_ItsYou]

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[PsyDr]

I would look into your motivation for those specific interventions. Art therapy and animal therapy are not empirically supported.

 

[wtfook]

I am a non-working post-bachelor student. I majored in Psychology for my undergraduate degree. I am interested in Mental Health Counseling, Addiction/Substance Abuse Counseling, Art Therapy, Animal Therapy I have taken courses or gotten some experience in those areas. Is there a Masters degree that I should get where I can do all, or at least part of these fields?

Thanks in advance.

I see MSW's thrown around a lot on here and less so Mental Health Counseling programs. If your goal is to be a clinical counselor or therapist at the master's level, your best bet is probably either the MSW or the Master's in mental health counseling. Which one is better depends on the state you're in. Right now it is REALLY hard to be LPC licensed in California and pay before licensure is pretty low, for example. An MSW would be much better. In other states, like PA where I work, you have a mixture of both practitioners (Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Licensed Professional Counselor). Both are able to get licensure and practice in most mental health and counseling related fields. So your choice of which program would depend on whether you're more social work oriented or mental health oriented (check out their curriculums and see) and which will be a good balance of cost and training for your needs. There are masters programs in art therapy as far as I know. I'm not sure about the animal therapy. The problem is that they don't really have any kind of licensure process so it can be hard to find jobs in the more common mental health services agencies, where entry level positions would still like to see that you're license eligible either as an LCSW or LPC. As someone commented above, it would probably be better to do the social work or mental health counseling program and then get certification in art therapy or animal therapy later on.

 

[DynamicDidactic]

I think this highlights an important caveat. You should look into the licensure laws in your state and figure out which kind allows for licensure. Afterward, look for a degree that allows you to do the kind of work you like. The name of the degree can vary greatly (e.g., social work, counseling, psychology) but its more important to know the laws and the type of job you want.