Professional Mental Health Providers:

Licensed Professional Counselors are specifically trained to provide mental health counseling services to individuals, couples, families and groups. Graduate degrees in counseling are required along with required internships and the passing of a national licensing exam  to ensure that a basic foundation of psychological knowledge has been learned. LPC's provide a variety of specialty counseling services. LPC's usually do not provide psychological testing such as psychologist's, and do not provide any medication management services.

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Licensed Clinical Social Workers also frequently have training in providing counseling services to individuals, couples, families and groups. Graduate degrees are required along with internships and national licensing exams to ensure a minimum standard of psychological knowledge. Many social workers have more training and knowledge than other professionals at accessing community services. Graduate programs in social work vary in their emphasis on providing counseling services, with some focusing on administrative or public policy issues. Many are well trained in the provision of counseling services, while others are not. Always ask about the experience level of the individual providing the specific services you may require.

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Licensed Psychologists are usually well trained to provide a variety of counseling and other psychological services. A doctorate in psychology (Ph.D., Psy.D or Ed.D.) is now required in order to be licensed in the state of Missouri, although many experienced psychologists were able to be licensed at the masters degree level at an earlier point in time, based upon their years of experience and lengthy internships and residencies. Psychologists also must pass a national examination to establish a minimum standard of psychological knowledge. Psychologists frequently provide counseling and psychological testing, while many others may be found in academia or in research positions. As a generalization, psychologists may have the most extensive training in the psychological services of counseling, testing and research.

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Psychiatrists usually provide medication management services. In our modern society, psychiatrists do no usually provide the traditional psychotherapy or counseling services that some have provided in the past. There are a small minority of psychiatrists who continue to provide counseling in addition to medication management, but most refer to other counselors or psychologists in the community, or employ counselors in their offices to refer to. Psychiatrists are the only mental health providers who are medical doctors (MD) or doctors of osteopathy (DO), and are the only mental health clinicians noted on this page to be licensed to prescribe medication.

By Paul Susic MA Licensed Psychologist  Ph.D Candidate

	Web www.Psychtreatment.Com