Which degree to pursue to help children?

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britstar24

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Hello everyone!

I am graduating with my B.S in psychology in May and I have decided to take a year off before grad school. I had a plan throughout my undergrad career that I wanted to go to grad school for my ph.d in clinical psychology. However, at the moment, I am confused and unsure on what degree to pursue. I am unsure of the ph.d route because of the amount of time, money, and I have no interest in teaching at all. However, I do have interest and experience in research. I started looking to MSW programs and becoming a LCSW, but my downfall is how much they make. Money is not main priority, but it is very important and I would like to be able to support myself. My passion is in children and mental health (diagnosing, treatment, etc) I have looked into developmental psych programs, school psych programs, social work programs, and psy.d programs. If anyone that is a child psychotherapist or a child psychologist that can help me, that'd be great :)

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I am unsure of the ph.d route because of the amount of time, money, and I have no interest in teaching at all.

The best path depends on what you'd like to be doing in your career. But I wanted to address a few of your assumptions. Most psychologists never teach. High quality Ph.D. programs are often partially or fully funded, so if you are willing to live on a low salary for 5-6 years you can graduate debt free. Most Ph.D.s end up in clinical practice, although research skills can come be valuable if you are working in a hospital, school, or other institutional setting.

This isn't to say that a Ph.D. is the right path for you, but just to correct misconceptions.
 
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Hello everyone!

I am graduating with my B.S in psychology in May and I have decided to take a year off before grad school. I had a plan throughout my undergrad career that I wanted to go to grad school for my ph.d in clinical psychology. However, at the moment, I am confused and unsure on what degree to pursue. I am unsure of the ph.d route because of the amount of time, money, and I have no interest in teaching at all. However, I do have interest and experience in research. I started looking to MSW programs and becoming a LCSW, but my downfall is how much they make. Money is not main priority, but it is very important and I would like to be able to support myself. My passion is in children and mental health (diagnosing, treatment, etc) I have looked into developmental psych programs, school psych programs, social work programs, and psy.d programs. If anyone that is a child psychotherapist or a child psychologist that can help me, that'd be great :)
I work with kids, they are about half my patient load. I have no regrets about going doctoral route other than I took out too much loans and didn't pursue the funded PhD route as I could have. As far as time goes, a few more years to be what I wanted for the rest of my thirty year career was a no brainer. I didn't want to be a social worker or a counselor and the further I went in my training the more clear I became with why psychologist was the right choice for me. Five years post licensure, it is even clearer. That isn't to say that others shouldn't choose other career paths and I know many social workers or counselors of various types that are clear with why they made the choice they did. On the other hand, I have met many who chose the masters route because it was easier and regret not being a psychologist. I am glad I'm not that guy.
 
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I'm a recently graduated child psychologist and at my program, I did teach - but only because I specifically requested to because I thought it would be fun (it was!). Most of the people in my program did NOT teach.
 
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