Degrees, Licenses, and Certifications

      Something I get to do as a therapist that I never expected as a benefit of the job is being able to help people I love navigate finding their own therapist. Due to my ethics code, I could not provide therapy to someone who I already have a relationship with. However, I can use my knowledge of the field to help them find who they need to see. Have you ever looked for a therapist and seen a string of acronyms you don’t understand? Do you need an MMFT, LMFT-Associate? A PhD, LP? A Psychiatrist? An MA, LCSW Certified in EMDR? I hope you will be able to use this as a guide to find a therapist that fits your needs if you are looking and overwhelmed by the endless acronyms. 

      Before we get into this, I would start with an encouragement to find someone that IS licensed. There are plenty of people masquerading as therapists that have no business doing so. If you want help with mental health, step 1 is finding a LICENSED clinician. That means dump your life coach that just makes decisions you should be making or yells at you.

Degrees-Degrees are simply education. Someone can have a degree without having a license. Most licensed clinicians will have at least a graduate degree. This would mean they have completed a 4 year bachelor degree, or undergraduate degree, and went back for another degree. Exceptions would be Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselors (LCDC) or Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) Therapists. We will be focusing on graduate degrees.

• Doctoral Degrees-Doctoral Degrees range from 3-7 years of higher education. People with a doctoral degree either completed a masters degree prior to their doctorate or took a fast track doctorate and completed a masters at the same time. 
  • PhD-Doctor of Philosophy
  • PsyD-Doctor of Psychology
  • EdD-Doctor of Education
• Masters Degrees-Masters degrees typically range from 2-3 years of higher education. These degrees typically include class work, supervised experience as an intern, and some sort of final project like a thesis.
  • MMFT-Master of Marriage and Family Therapy
  • MA-Master of Arts
  • MS-Master of Science 

Licenses-For someone to have a license, they must have completed a graduate degree (Listed above) with the relevant coursework for their field, completed a state test to prove competency on the material, and have completed a determined number of supervised hours by an experienced clinician (or may be in the process of doing so).

• LP-Licensed Psychologist
  • Psychologists are often able to provide assessments, testing, and therapy. 
• LMFT-Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
  • Marriage and Family Therapists tend to have their training, or at least have special interest, in working with more than one person. Even when providing therapy to one person, they are likely taking into consideration the relationships you have in your life.
• LPC-Licensed Professional Counselor
  • The training of an LPC tends to be more focused on working with individuals. Not to say they don’t have any training in couples or systems, but it tends to be much more brief. They can also, generally, help with a range of issues.
• LCSW-Licensed Clinical Social Worker
  • Social Workers also focus on a large variety of topics. The programs tend to have a very broad scope. They tend to have extensive knowledge in resources and education. 

Certifications-Certifications would be the 3rd step for a licensed clinician. If someone has a degree and a state license, certifications tend to show areas of interest for someone and may give you more confidence if you are wanting help in a certain area. This is not to say someone has to be certified in something to be able to help, it just means they may have more training and possibly experience. Then again there are many clinicians with a tremendous amount of experience that choose to not get certified in one approach. They may even have all the necessary training without completing the process to be certified.

• Certified in EMDR-Treatment mostly known for trauma, but used for many other issues as well
• Certified EFT Therapist-Gold Standard for couples therapy
• Registered Play Therapist-Treatment used for young children and non-verbal adults

  

    Hopefully, this will give you some clarity when searching for a therapist. Look for someone that is qualified and seems competent in the area you need help. Don’t be afraid to ask them questions.