choosing couns/psych course

123apple

Hi,
I am currently doing a foundation course in counselling and hoping to do further training. I am in my late thirties, am a teacher and also have a Masters. I had been hoping to do the MA in integrative psychotherapy in UL but unfortunately it is not running next year. I have a young family so unfortunately travelling is not an option for me. There are some degree level courses near or fairly near to where I live and I am considering these. Up to now I have been judging their suitability on course content, theoretical bent, and amount of experiential work as well as the bodies you would be able to seek accreditation with post graduation. However, with new regulation coming into the field, I'm worried that I would be silly doing a degree when a Masters might be the benchmark for recognition - does anyone know if this it the case? Also, fees for me are a bit of an issue - the MA in UL is very expensive and I have come across cheaper options for degree courses.
I guess, in summary, is, would doing a degree be a waste of time? It seems kind of strange to me that Masters level would be the standard. For one thing, there are very few Institutions in the country offering Masters level training courses. What would that mean for all the other courses? Also, I generally think of Masters as being an academic qualification rather than a professional training qualification - take teaching for example!!
Just wondering if anyone has an opinions/inside knowledge on the whole thing. I want to do this more than anything but I'm not in the mood for taking risks.

Thanks.

JuliusCaesar

123apple wrote: »

Also, I generally think of Masters as being an academic qualification rather than a professional training qualification - take teaching for example!!.

Well, it's getting more so. It used to be that an MSc was the Clinical Psychology qualification - it's now a Professional Doctorate (as opposed to an academic or research doctorate). MSc in Social Work. The old nursing and occupational therapy and radiography and pharmacy BAs/BScs will find themselves increasingly under pressure to upgrade and become MSc - or at any rate, there will be increased competition for people to have to have Masters in particular areas beyond a general Bachelors in nursing, OT etc. And in fact anyone working in a specialised area will have a Masters.

hotspur

I don't think you are going to be able to get a good answer to your question. The reason is that we just do not know what will happen with the proposal for statutory regulation. It may never happen.

Timescale wise if you look at slowly things are progressing with those health and social care professions which are being included in statutory regulation then you could be trained, accredited, and grandfathered by the time it came into effect for psychological therapies.

It is sensible to do a Master's to future proof yourself, but you would still, at a minimum, be allowed to work as a "psychological therapist" calling yourself a "counsellor" with a degree if statutory regulation came in as it was being proposed by the voluntary regulatory bodies (and there may not be good reason to believe that those recommendations would be acted upon).

Have you read the proposals that were put forward by the bodies? You can read it here: http://www.psychotherapy-ireland.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/download-registration-of-psychological-therapies-submission-september-2008.doc

There is no scenario in which doing a degree would be "a waste of time". As far as I can tell it would just mean that you may have to call yourself a counsellor and not a psychotherapist. But, as I said, those proposals may not be worth the paper they are written on.

123apple

Hmm, very interesting. I particularly like Hotspur when you point out that at no point would a degree be "a waste of time". I suppose I just wonder if spending 4 years doing a dgree is silly when I could spend 4 years doing an MA. The difficulty for me is mainly financial and finding something suitable near where I live. Anyway, as you say it is all speculative at the moment. I will definately have a look at the link you posted.

burkmeister

I came across a very interesting interview with Prof Bill Shannon, head of IAPPC (www.iappcare.com) in the journal 'Inside Out'

http://www.tivoliinstitute.com/news.php

the times a are a changing!