Alphabet Soup: Common Professional Designations

What do all those letters after a therapist’s name tell you? This is a description of the most common meaning behind the letters. Be sure to ask a potential therapist what their theoretical and clinical experience is for the most accurate understanding of what he or she can offer you. Colorado does not require this at the moment. Most therapists have clinical training received after their degrees – this is not reflected in their credentials. Never hesitate to ask questions about a therapist’s qualifications to provide the service you are seeking.

Master’s Degree Training:

Therapists with a Master’s degree have two years of training after graduating from college. Depending on the degree, this may include up to nine months of supervised clinical training…usually 300-500 hours. Some states also require post-master’s supervised clinical work prior to licensure.

Doctoral Degree Training:

Therapists with a doctoral degree generally have a Master’s degree, followed by 3-4 years of classroom training, and a full- time, one year pre-doctoral clinical internship during which they work as a therapist under the supervision of licensed clinicians. Many doctoral programs also include 300-500 hours of supervised clinical work prior to their pre-doctoral internship. Finally, in most states one year of post-doctoral supervised clinical work is required for licensure.

Licensure,Certification, & Credentialing:

Credentialing refers to the therapist’s training – Master’s or Doctoral - and the field in which training was received…for example, Social Work, Psychology, or Nursing.

Licensure refers to how the therapist is approved by the state to offer therapy. In most states a person may not work as a therapist without being licensed. In Colorado this is not true, so some people work as therapists who are not licensed.

Some therapists licensed as professional counselors (LPC) have their doctoral training – though most are trained at the master’s level. Some therapists have doctorates (Psy.D., Ph.d., Ed.D.) – but are not licensed as psychologists. They may be licensed as a social worker or professional counselor instead. Most Psy.D. therapists are licensed as psychologists. Most social workers doing therapy are licensed as clinical social workers (LCSW).

Certified counselors have not been licensed in their field of certification. It may be that there is no licensure, or that licensure is new in the field – as with addictions. Most addictions counselors are Certified Addiction Counselors (CAC) – and there are several levels of certification. (eg. CAC-I, CAC-III).

Focus of Training:

The focus of training also varies by area of credentialing. For instance, most social work training is focused on community and agency work. Additional clinical focus is picked up in their supervised training and supervised clinical work prior to licensure as an LCSW. Training for Ph.D. and Psy.D. therapists can vary greatly. Ph.D. programs tend to focus on research to a greater extent than Psy.D. programs. Most Psy.D. programs are intensely focused on clinical work, with a limited focus on research. All licensed psychologists have received the one year full-time supervised clinical internship, and most have had one-year post-doctoral supervision.

Remember to Ask Questions...

About the things that matter to you! Every therapist is prepared to explain their training and experience to new clients.