08-17-2021, 10:28 AM
(08-16-2021, 10:39 AM)eLearner Wrote:(08-16-2021, 06:18 AM)studyingfortests Wrote:(08-15-2021, 09:38 AM)DeanLewis Wrote: It is very difficult to get licensed, let alone prepare for licensed practice with a general psychology degree. The curriculum is not adequate to prepare you for the NCE let alone the real world. If you want to be a licensed mental health professional do yourself a favor and enroll in an appropriate professional counseling (CACREP accredited preferably) or clinical social work program designed for licensure in your state. The other option would be to enroll in an APA accredited psychology doctoral program.
I kind of figured as much. What I was hoping was that I could find a program that would accept a bunch of the credits from the Walden General Psych toward a licensable degree (say MFT or LPC). The Walden Tempo General program is so inexpensive that it seems like one would save a bundle if this were possible. Alas, it appears it's not to be.
It could still work using Walden, but you'll need a bridge. Just check schools in your area that offer bridge programs like the ones I and Sanantone referenced and that's your way in to licensed counseling. However, you're more likely to find one in Clinical Mental Health Counseling than one specifically in Marriage and Family Counseling or Licensed Pastoral Counseling.
These bridge programs are not for non-licensable degrees to become license eligible, rather they fulfill two purposes, preparing a candidate to move from initial licensure to what some states call "clinical" licensure, in other words from supervised to independent practice. In other cases they are "top up" credentials for folks trained in schools that offer 48-hour programs to meet the newer 60-hour requirement that most states now require.
Also, in most jurisdictions, all graduate work toward licensure is required to be synchronously delivered, and therefore competency-based programs are generally ineligible.
P.S. LPC = Licensed Professional Counselor. Only six states regulate the practice of pastoral counselig.