How to Become a Child Therapist

Video Transcript

"Hello, my name is Mark MacBayne. I'm the practice administrator for hematology oncology at UCSF. And I'm here today to talk about how to become a child therapist. Now, there are many different approaches to becoming a child therapist. You can become a physician and specialize in psychiatry, and some specialize in pediatric psychiatry. Typically, if you will go this route, you're actually going to be treating the medical aspects of mental illness, typically through medication. If you want to become a counselor however, there are several other career paths to take. First step of any, whether it be a PhD program in psychology or a medical degree in psychiatry, you need to go to college. You'll want to complete a four year course of study at a college or university, and then depending on the path that you wish to take, apply to either graduate school or medical school. To go the counseling route, you'll want to apply to a masters program in either marriage and family counseling or in social work. Or also in counseling, you can apply to a graduate doctorate program in psychology. If you do a masters degree in either marriage, family and child therapy, or in social work, it's an additional two year course of study, with postgraduate training. Upon completion of your education and postgraduate training, you can take the state licensing exam, either as an MFT, a marriage family therapist, or an LCSW, a licensed clinical social worker. Either path can lead to a practice in child counseling. If you do a PhD that's a four year course of study in psychology. And during this course of study, you will learn the skills of being a clinician as well as academic research. Typically, a two year or a masters degree prepared candidate is focused on practical counseling, whereas a PhD is prepared for an academic career in addition to doing clinical counseling. Either way, you must pass the state licensing exam and in this case, we're talking about as a psychologist, and you are then a licensed psychologist, whatever the course you take, whether it be an LCSW, an MFT, a PhD or an MD, ultimately you become a child counselor. This is Mark MacBayne. Hematology oncology practice manager at UCSF."