Look, I’m not here to defend the BBS (California’s Board of Behavioral Sciences) or any other licensing board. They’re not your friend. They require deeply flawed exams that even they know don’t work. Their disciplinary guidelines, especially around substance use issues, are unreasonably punitive. They are notoriously unresponsive. There are a lot of problems there. … Read more
We all remember the last semester of high school. A new life chapter was approaching. Our childhood was ending. We would soon experience the freedom of the college world. It was scary to know that we would be on our own, but we were itching to leave. We knew the quality of our work did … Read more
California suffers from a severe and worsening mental health workforce shortage. In fact, much of the US is in the same boat. There simply aren’t enough qualified mental health professionals to meet our country’s needs. At the same time, therapists in private practice often complain about their local markets being saturated. There are so many … Read more
In a previous post, we discussed the required hours of supervised experience for psychotherapist licensure and the history of that requirement. In this post, we examine the ever-growing educational requirements for a master’s degree that leads to licensure as family therapist, clinical social worker, or counselor.
Prelicensed therapists and counselors face a difficult road. Getting to licensure is a long and expensive process, so much so that even many well-qualified people drop out. All of us here at Psychotherapy Notes want to make your path to licensure a little easier. So we’ve collected resources here that can help you along the … Read more