LPC or LSW in Pittsburgh/PA? (Penn: school, live in, internships)

[hallja]

Forgive me if this isn't the right forum for this, but I live in the Pittsburgh region (I am north of the city) and want to make a career change and earn a Masters degree (my undergrad is a BSBA in Human Resources). I think I have narrowed it down to becoming a counselor (mental health) and possibly working in a hospital counseling people. Pittsburgh seems to have a large healthcare market making me think this could be a good route for me career wise and job availability.

I have the option of doing an MSW and becoming an LSW or doing an MEd in Counseling and becoming an LPC. I have heard they are similar professions, but licensure in PA is obviously different.

LSW seems the easier route because there is no experience requirement for licensure, but the LPC requires 3600 hours of supervised experience before you can apply for licensure. However, the curriculum of the LPC degree interests me more personally compared to the MSW.

How does one get someone to give them 3600 hours of supervised experience to get the LPC licensure? Do you just work unlicensed as a mental health counselor?

Any comments/advice are welcome!

[Maroon197]

I'm not sure about Pennsylvania, but in most states you need the highest social work license to really be marketable and qualified for the best/highest paying jobs. In PA, that would be the LCSW, which requires 3,000 hours of supervised experience. IMO, social work degrees are vastly more versatile than counseling degrees, so that's the route I would take.

However, I would caution you to think long and hard about this career path before pulling the trigger. No matter which route you take, you will have to invest a good amount of money in your education program, likely do unpaid internships during your degree program that amount to glorified indentured servitude, and likely work in a very low-wage job after graduation while you are trying to earn your license. Some agencies will provide you with weekly supervision, but if your employer doesn't offer this, you will have to pay for supervision out of your own pocket (it's expensive) and complete it on your own time outside of work. When you do finally become licensed, you'll find that the pay is somewhat higher but still terrible overall (particularly given your education and credentials), and the work is hard and draining. Many people burn out quickly and start looking for a new career with less stress and higher pay.

IMO, given all of the challenges listed above, human services is really more of a calling than a career.

[mkfritts]

Hello! I am actually an LSW working in PA, so I feel like I can provide at least some insight on this.

You are right as far as for LSW, all that is required is that you receive your masters in social work and then pass a test for licensure. HOWEVER, most agencies (especially hospitals) will not hire LSWs to provide counseling services. Some might hire them on a provisionary basis with the intention that they will get their LCSW within the next two years, but in general an LSW does not provide one with the ability to get a job where the primary function is therapy/diagnosing/counseling. Maybe counseling in tandem with service coordination, etc, but for most official "counseling" jobs for social workers, companies are looking for individuals with an LCSW.

That said, I do agree with Maroon197 that an MSW will provide you with many more job opportunities and a more varied population than would an LPC. The benefit of an MSW would be that you wouldn't have to do counseling and could do a variety of other things social workers are trained in. However if counseling is what you would like to do, you will most likely want to find a career/agency that would support you in working toward your LCSW. I can't speak to how you earn the hours for an LPC, but for an LCSW you would need to be in a position where you were working therapeutically with clients and have weekly supervision with an LCSW for around 2 years. For some agencies, they will provide supervision as part of your job (we were always told in school that any job that provided free supervision was actually worth taking a pay cut for!). If your agency doesn't provide supervision you can still seek independent supervision, but it can be costly as supervisors are allowed to charge you what they would bill for a therapy hour, which can be upwards of $100/session.

Social work is a great profession, but like Maroon197 said it is more of a calling than a career. That being said I absolutely love it and I couldn't imagine doing anything else. But it is somewhat of a calling for me. If you are interested in more social work items you can post here. I'll check back and have had a variety of SW jobs over the years. I love getting people excited about SW, but it definitely isn't a profession for everyone (just like counseling isn't for everyone, etc).