Guest guest Posted November 4, 2009 Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 Hi Zonecoach, The timeframe to becoming a licensed mental health professional in the United States is 4 yrs if you get a masters degree (2 yrs of school plus two years supervised postgrad clinical experience) or 6 yrs if you get a PsyD (4 yrs of classes, one year of internship, one year supervised postgrad clinical experience). There are three different disciplines in which one can be a therapist with a masters degree: Clincial Social Work, Professional Counseling, and Marriage and Family Therapy. To become a psychologist one needs to get a doctorate. The PsyD degree is a doctorate in clinical psychology for people who want to be clinicians rather than researchers. (PhD programs are for those who also want to be researchers). PsyD programs are much easier to get into than PhD programs, and they are shorter. If you only get a masters degree, social work is probably the way to go. Clinical social workers have an easier time getting reimbursed by insurance companies than other masters level therapists. They also have a much easier time surmounting a big barrier to entering the field: Obtaining post grad clinical experience in order to get licensed, when almost all clinical postions require that one already be licensed. Good Luck! ACT Therapist I am another lurker coming out of the closet. I have a question for you all but especially the professionals. I live in Pennsylvania.About a year ago I went through a empty nest syndrome mid life crisis. A number of things happened but I saw a therapist for about 4 months and he was a great sounding board but i wasn't seeing improvement. I ended up at a bookstore and bought Get Out Of Your Mind. I spent Easter Weekend in my car reading the book and doing the exercises. It literally changed my life. I was able to make the decisions that I needed to make and I stopped my therapy. I spent the last session telling the therapist about ACT and he was very interested.I am now at that magical age of 50. I am not real happy doing what I am doing. I am in the insurance industry. I get paid good money but it isnt what I love. I have always loved psychology and the mind. I have many people come to me to discuss their problems and I love helping them. I am considering a career change but I am not sure what i need to do. I would love to be an ACT therapist. What would my first steps be. I have a degree in business.I am sure that ACT therapists are really needed out there. I can't learn enough about ACT. What would you suggest? Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 4, 2009 Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 Maybe you could start an ACT study group in your area to help others learn ACT and share your experiences with others. Quicker, cheaper. To: ACT_for_the_Public From: kkellyaddress@...Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 08:49:50 -0600Subject: Re: ACT Therapist Hi Zonecoach, The timeframe to becoming a licensed mental health professional in the United States is 4 yrs if you get a masters degree (2 yrs of school plus two years supervised postgrad clinical experience) or 6 yrs if you get a PsyD (4 yrs of classes, one year of internship, one year supervised postgrad clinical experience). There are three different disciplines in which one can be a therapist with a masters degree: Clincial Social Work, Professional Counseling, and Marriage and Family Therapy. To become a psychologist one needs to get a doctorate. The PsyD degree is a doctorate in clinical psychology for people who want to be clinicians rather than researchers. (PhD programs are for those who also want to be researchers). PsyD programs are much easier to get into than PhD programs, and they are shorter. If you only get a masters degree, social work is probably the way to go. Clinical social workers have an easier time getting reimbursed by insurance companies than other masters level therapists. They also have a much easier time surmounting a big barrier to entering the field: Obtaining post grad clinical experience in order to get licensed, when almost all clinical postions require that one already be licensed. Good Luck! ACT Therapist I am another lurker coming out of the closet. I have a question for you all but especially the professionals. I live in Pennsylvania.About a year ago I went through a empty nest syndrome mid life crisis. A number of things happened but I saw a therapist for about 4 months and he was a great sounding board but i wasn't seeing improvement. I ended up at a bookstore and bought Get Out Of Your Mind. I spent Easter Weekend in my car reading the book and doing the exercises. It literally changed my life. I was able to make the decisions that I needed to make and I stopped my therapy. I spent the last session telling the therapist about ACT and he was very interested.I am now at that magical age of 50. I am not real happy doing what I am doing. I am in the insurance industry. I get paid good money but it isnt what I love. I have always loved psychology and the mind. I have many people come to me to discuss their problems and I love helping them. I am considering a career change but I am not sure what i need to do. I would love to be an ACT therapist. What would my first steps be. I have a degree in business.I am sure that ACT therapists are really needed out there. I can't learn enough about ACT. What would you suggest? Thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 5, 2009 Report Share Posted November 5, 2009 Hi! It sounds like you have found a passion in your life! I'm not a professional but I have seen on Russ ' website that he offeres e-courses for " coaches " (i.e. not having a background in psychology as far as I know). One thing that I have noticed about the ACT community is an openness that is amazing. Someone I know (who is not a psychologist but works in health care) attended a 2-day ACT workshop (by ACT trainers) for professionals and it was no problem. She thought she actually knew more about ACT than many of the psychologists who attended! The trainers told her that they train all kinds of work categories: doctors, nurses, speech therapists, physiotherapists, coaches, etc. That's not to say that I think it would be appropriate for her to jump into using ACT at her job (and she doesn't think so either) since mindfulness-based therapies are NOTHING to be taken lightly (check out the training for MBSR...whew! It is years long. And you have to have a graduate degree). However, it would be interesting to see what Russ ' take is on this in his training for coaches. Starting a self-help group ... (maybe with supervision of an ACT therapist/trainer ... I have asked and it's not cheap but if you all chip in??) .... what a cool thing that would be! I'm actually starting to think about doing that myself now! Keep us updated! Bettan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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