LCSWs must renew their licenses periodically according to protocols established by the licensure board in their state. Visit Site. Master of Social Work - Clinical Specialization. The MSW is also a part of state-level licensing for many kinds of social work positions. It is accepted for those credentials exactly because of the set of skills that it comes with. A big part of those skills come from requirements that include hands-on field work through practicum or internship placements.
These put you out in the real world, working with and for practicing social workers in a variety of settings. You get direct experience with people in need and learn the ropes of getting them the assistance they require. You are expected to bring a strong sense of enquiry to the problems of social injustice and inequality you face. You will put that together with sociological investigation into causes and solutions to problems, both at the individual and population scale.
For most MSW students, that means turning to loans and scholarships to make up the difference. Federal Pell grants are an option that is open to all students on the basis of financial need.
But there are also scholarships that are specific to social work or human services fields that you might want to check out. Some examples include:. Any professional social work association, either local, state, or national, is a good place to start looking for scholarship funds.
So are nonprofit organizations that are heavily invested in social services work. Another way to blunt the costs of the MSW degree is to take advantage of several loan forgiveness programs that are aimed at assisting graduates who enter the field of public service or healthcare. Social work straddles that line in a way that makes many MSW social workers eligible for both state and federal programs. For example, the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program can be used to write-off the outstanding balance of any federal student loans you have if you:.
There is also the National Health Service Corps loan repayment program. Run by the Health Resources and Services Administration HRSA , this program is designed to encourage students to take on jobs in high-needs communities and fields where there are worker shortages.
For social workers, that means applying under the Substance Use Disorder Workforce eligibility area or the Rural Community area of the program. As long as you are working in a qualified facility or job under the terms of those programs, HRSA will pay off your outstanding loan balances. For a social worker, MSW degrees represent some of the highest levels of qualification.
Depending on your career plans in social work, you may not actually need a full MSW. So when do you need an MSW degree? The most definite point is whether or not you want to practice clinically. Clinical practice is distinguished from other social work through the tools it can bring to bear on common problems social workers face. Those include:. Clinical skills require an extra level of training that includes hands-on, supervised therapy work with clients.
The licensing requirements for other types of social workers vary by state. For more information, check out our list of social work licenses by state page.
Individuals who are interested in community-based social work, such as community organization and planning, may not be required to pursue professional licensing after completing their MSW degree. For example, students who wish to pursue licensing in the State of New York must complete a minimum of 12 hours of clinical coursework for licensure. Due to the variations in state regulations for clinical social worker licensure, we recommend that students who plan to pursue a career in clinical social work to research the specific requirements for LCSW licensure in their state of residence while they research online MSW programs.
For students who are interested in clinical social work, some schools offer online MSW programs with a clinical social work or mental health concentration. The curriculum in these programs is typically designed for students who wish to pursue a career in clinical social work.
However, an online MSW program with an advanced generalist concentration may prepare students for clinical social work as well, depending on the curriculum of the program. LCSW therapists also have to pass a test to earn their license. The questions cover both clinical knowledge and your practical skills in treatment. Most states also have a state-specific test that covers ethics and regulations that cover LCSW practice authority in that state.
With a certain amount of on-the-job experience and specific training in that area, clinical social workers can get a certification in:. But they can give your job prospects a boost over the competition and assure clients that you have the right kind of expertise for dealing with their needs. Clinical psychologists provide psychotherapeutic services to patients and draw from many different schools of treatment, ranging from psychoanalysis to behavioral therapy. Going back to the student with the stomach ache from the example above — if the doctor referred him to a psychologist instead of an LCSW, the focus would be on exploring the roots of the stress and finding ways to assist the student in managing it.
The psychologist might use cognitive behavioral therapy to adjust the perspective of the patient on the stressors affecting him.
Long sessions of traditional talk therapy would help him better understand the causes and provide the mental toolset to minimize the trauma leading to the physical symptoms. Psychological practice specialties are just as broad and wide-ranging as social work. The American Psychological Association maintains a list of recognized specialties, subspecialties, and proficiencies in the field. There are 18 specialties and 3 subspecialties, even more than the 16 social work practice areas listed by NASW.
Psychologists can work in criminal investigations, study and advise corporate management practices, or look at large-scale social psychological phenomena, all without ever seeing a patient. Psychology came out of the even older discipline of philosophy. All that thinking about thinking primed a German professor named Gustav Fechner to set up some experiments about how thoughts are created and acted on. A fellow of his, Wilhelm Wundt, founded the first laboratory dedicated to psychological research in Leipzig in and suddenly the ball was rolling through Europe, with luminaries like Pavlov, Ebbinghaus, and Freud branched out into important applications of psychology like conditioning, memory, and psychoanalysis.
Psychologists through the ages have consistently been motivated by scientific study and experimentation with mental processes. That focus on what is happening within the mind is in contrast to the LCSW emphasis on broader societal concerns. But there are branches of psychology that study group dynamics and social psychology as well as individual mental processes.
All of those threads equip modern psychologists with a full toolbox of techniques and proven principles that are still relevant in treating patients today. For starters, psychology licensure requires a doctoral degree. That PhD or PsyD program can take up to seven years to complete, a much more significant commitment in both time and money than the MSW. But that also offers a much more in-depth education in psychological principles and practices. The course of study in an APA-accredited psychology doctoral program will include coursework in:.
Concentrations in different types of psychology practice are common in PsyD and PhD programs. Your choice in specialization will affect your entire experience, not just your practicum placements.
The coursework, research engagements, and your dissertation topic will all be heavily influenced by concentration. One big difference between a psychology doctorate and an LCSW degree is the dissertation. But a doctoral dissertation is a whole different level. The dissertation project can take up to two years of your entire doctoral program by itself and is considered a publication-worthy expression of your thoughts and learning.
Although some PsyD degrees now offer an alternative capstone project option, dissertations are still the norm in psychology degrees. Just to set the record straight, you can become licensed as a clinical psychologist with either of these types of psychology doctoral degrees.
But you might be wondering what the actual difference is if you are considering them as an alternative to the LCSW degree path. The PsyD, or Doctor of Psychology, is a newer option. It is focused on the practice of clinical psychology. That means it leans more on practicum, diagnostic, and treatment teaching. It incorporates research and theory, but mostly in support of genuine practice in the field.
The PhD, or Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology, is a more traditional, research-oriented degree that is weighted toward preparing psychologists for academic positions.
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