In our last episode, we talked about how student loan debt is crushing the mental health professions. This time, we get a lot more personal. For this episode of the Psychotherapy Notes podcast, we interviewed two graduate students working on their doctorates at a private university in southern California. By the time they both graduate, they will together owe more than half a million dollars for their education.
AA should not be the frontline referral for every client with alcohol issues
A couple of weeks ago, we took a quote about alcohol treatment (AA, specifically) from Saving Psychotherapy and put it in an Instagram and Facebook post. It didn’t go well!
You can see our post there to the right. That was the image we shared. Here’s a sampling of how people responded:
- I find this to be a dangerous overgeneralization.
- Be careful with this. Lives are at stake.
- This is just wrong!!
- Dangerous, irresponsible statement!
Not only do we stand by the quote, the finding itself isn’t especially controversial in the world of research on treatment for substance use disorders. It’s mostly controversial among professionals who don’t want it to be true.
California licensing board saves 90-day rule, stonewalls on MFT exam
Good news and bad news, I suppose, from today’s meeting of the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. The most important good news surrounds the 90-day rule for supervised experience between graduation and registration as an associate. Good stuff first!
California’s six-year rule for AMFTs, APCCs, and ASWs: An explainer
Discussions about California’s “six-year rule” for associate marriage and family therapists (AMFTs), clinical counselors (APCCs), and clinical social workers (ASWs) often turn confusing. There’s a simple reason for that. When people refer to California’s “six-year rule,” they actually might be referring to either one of two different rules, both of which have six-year timeframes. Here’s a breakdown of both six-year rules.
Podcast episode 3: Student loan debt
No point mincing words here: Student loan debt is crushing the mental health professions. Perhaps it’s crushing you, too. According to a 2014 American Psychological Association study, the average recent graduate of an accredited PsyD program finishes their studies with $200,000 in student loan debt. Social workers similarly decry their debt loads, with at least one going so far as to declare the entire social work profession “untenable.”
In this episode of the podcast, we talk about student loan debt, and how it’s impacting those coming into the mental health professions. We review how $200,000 in debt can easily wind up being more than $700,000 by the time it’s finally paid off.