Which is better lmhc or lcsw

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This can involve education, case management, and networking with community resources in addition to diagnosing and treating mental health issues. LMHCs have an approach that helps their clients understand how their relationship with the wider community affects their own behavior and mental state, and vice-versa. This involves introspective counseling to address specific issues like substance abuse, behavioral disorders, and relationships with specific people like a partner, family member, or colleague.

Included among this is also the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders. You can see how these different approaches translate into key differences in work environment, but also some similarities. Landing a government job can take longer and involve an extensive interview process that requires you to follow a specific standardized approach. This social worker is licensed by the state board to provide mental therapy at a social work level.

The LCSW is held to a high ethical standard and is required to sign an ethics oath administered by the state. LCSWs can work privately with patients within a practice. Students learn to apply this knowledge to the use of psychotherapy in a variety of clinical settings, with individuals, couples, families, and other social groups. Other core areas of instruction include the laws and ethics pertaining to counseling, research methods in the field of counseling, and the identification and treatment of common forms of psychopathology.

Students learn to apply this knowledge in clinical and community settings, with individuals, families, and groups.

In counseling, students typically complete a formal practicum generally hours during which they work in a supervised clinical setting and have direct client contact. These practicum and internship experiences take place in settings like teaching hospitals and clinics or, in the case of school counseling, educational institutions. In social work, students in MSW programs are required to complete a designated number of hours of field education or fieldwork. Field instruction typically takes place at a social service agency, or in a hospital, school, prison, or other institution with a social work department.

Licensing for professional counselors and clinical social workers runs along parallel but separate paths. That will change your client base, because only people who can afford to see you will do so.

It also can constrain the amount of time and energy you put into a particular client. LCSWs, on the other hand, are far more likely to work for government agencies or non-profits without outside funding services. Their clients are more likely to receive services free of charge. Again, that affects the type of clients as well as the kind of engagement an LCSW has with them. Just as importantly, there are differences in the salary level and employment prospects for the two careers.

Both kinds of jobs are growing in the United States right now. According to the U. Bureau of Labor Statistics BLS , counseling jobs are growing at a much faster than average rate of more than 25 percent over the ten-year period leading up to , while social work positions are increasing rapidly too, with a 13 percent projected growth rate over the same period.

You are also going to wonder about how easy it is to get a job in the field. The BLS keeps up with employment and salary data on both social workers and counselors. The information, most recently updated in May of , is not perfect, though.

That happens to be the highest paid type of social worker, which aligns with the actual salary hierarchy out in the job market. The top industries employing those social workers were:. LPCs are grouped in with substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors, which skews the figures lower than what you are likely to find when you start working in the field.

In this broad category, substance abuse counselors are more likely to be the ones working in outpatient and other facilities, while LPCs are most likely to work in individual and family services. They are also far more likely to be self-employed. LCSWs can operate independently, but even then, they are largely employed directly by government and social service agencies. With relatively little experience, early in your career, you can become a business owner, with all the risks and responsibilities that come along with that.

And even in the private sector, you will have a bigger range of employment options. For example, the number of counselors employed in individual and family services is estimated to be more than 52, nationwide. In the same sector, for social workers, there are only 5, positions.

Information reflects national data not school specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed June On the other hand, your goals may not include small business ownership. You could be focused on goals that go beyond just salary and job openings in your industry. For example, many social workers go on to leadership roles and into the world of politics.

The close association of social work as a profession with social justice movements make it a natural stepping-off point to careers pursuing that goal. In particular, the close association of social work and big social justice and equity movements takes a lot of social workers off the streets and into state houses and capitol buildings. Many social workers engage in activism and lobbying, but the job has also been a consistent path into politics for some.

She also became the only congressperson to have voted against entering both world wars, putting her conviction in peace front and center while many others caved. Like Rankin, many other social workers who enter politics are trailblazers.