Therapist here... questions about further education

[IHateEducation]

I do have an MDiv. You do need an MDiv or equivalent...

[sanantone]

Thank you all again for the wisdom you've been sharing in this thread, I greatly appreciate it. I'm going to have to spend some time doing some research and these schools and these degrees and will either respond back here or post another thread.

Quick update: I spoke with Kairos and they informed me that since I'm not done with my hours yet and aren't a fully licensed therapist, I won't be able to enroll in the program. I'm about a year out from this... we did talk about the schools DMin program and it has me looking back at this option.

This question is for the people who are familiar with this degree: Is the DMin a degree that could possibly fit the criteria I cited earlier? Namely, could I still teach a course or two at a local school (I doubt a secular institution would be ok with this)? Does anyone know how flexible these programs are and would I be able to do my doctoral work around secular counseling through a Christian lens or something of the sort? The reason I ask is because while I am a Christian and my faith is important to me, I don't want it to hurt myself since I am a professional therapist. I don't want future clients to look at this degree and label me as a "Bible only" or solely a "Christian Therapist" or something of the sort. Then again, it could help bring in clientele that share similar religious views...

Thoughts?

No. The closest you will get is a DMin with a concentration in chaplaincy or pastoral counseling, and Kairos doesn't appear to have any official concentrations. The Kairos DMin appears to have a self-directed model; I'm not sure if your transcript will reflect what you choose to study independently. My educated guess is that colleges will just see the DMin as a religious studies degree that isn't really related to mental health. As for marketing as an independent therapist, the DMin will only be appealing to those looking for Christian counseling. That's not to say you won't get secular clients; they just aren't likely to be impressed by a DMin or to see you as more qualified because of it.

Why do you want a doctorate before becoming fully licensed?

[IHateEducation]

I don't necessarily "want" it before getting licensed. The hospital I work for is just offering me $5,250 through Guild for continued education so I want to do something sooner rather than later. Who knows if I will still be working there next year or if they will even have this offer a year later. That's why I'm somewhat trying to decide on something quickly.

[sanantone]

I don't necessarily "want" it before getting licensed. The hospital I work for is just offering me $5,250 through Guild for continued education so I want to do something sooner rather than later. Who knows if I will still be working there next year or if they will even have this offer a year later. That's why I'm somewhat trying to decide on something quickly.

Is the Kairos DMin self-paced? Despite the low number of credits, DMin programs are usually three years.

[IHateEducation]

I don't necessarily "want" it before getting licensed. The hospital I work for is just offering me $5,250 through Guild for continued education so I want to do something sooner rather than later. Who knows if I will still be working there next year or if they will even have this offer a year later. That's why I'm somewhat trying to decide on something quickly.

Is the Kairos DMin self-paced? Despite the low number of credits, DMin programs are usually three years.

Yes, it's self paced. The program coordinator stated that most people usually finish in that 3 year range but you CAN finish much earlier. "We have people with 40 years of ministry experience who come in and finish everything in a bit over a year".

[Jonathan Whatley]

This question is for the people who are familiar with this degree: Is the DMin a degree that could possibly fit the criteria I cited earlier? Namely, could I still teach a course or two at a local school (I doubt a secular institution would be ok with this)?

You can teach a course or two at a local school with one master's degree (and you have two)!

Another tactic to keep in mind is that some doctoral programs, where the usual applicant has one master's degree, might allow you more than usual transfer or advanced standing credit to reflect graduate credit in your additional master's degree.

Kairos also has a PhD program essentially in individualized studies, if you like Kairos's ethos, model, and pricing but prefer the PhD title. A potential limitation would be the absence of an official subject title for the degree program in general (e.g., even if you chose your subject as Counselor Education and Supervision, it might not meet the requirements for a state supervisor license or a faculty position because it was not a generally offered titled degree program in Counselor Education and Supervision). The program culminates in "a full-length disseminable dissertation or, with approval, a related artifact that accomplishes the same learning objectives."

University of the Cumberlands and Adams State University have online PhDs in Counselor Education and Supervision at competitive tuition last I checked that the GetEducated list hasn't gotten around to including.

[IHateEducation]

Hope you all are well. Just checking in after a few months after posting this thread... I decided to go through with Kairos but have run into issues with "Guild". Since Kairos has a unique way of structuring their classes and their tuition system, I don't think getting Guild to pay for my education is going to happen. Between that and having a very difficult time getting a hold of the staff, I just don't see it working out.

This led me to look back at other options such as OSU's DHCA degree... after applying and speaking with the program director, they only counted 18 hours towards my degree (despite having two MA's). This left me at a grand total of 62 hours to complete at about $400 an hour, bringing the total to roughly $20,000 to finish the degree + and extra 12-18 months on top of what I originally planned (I hoped that they would count 30 hours from my degrees making this program more palatable). So this option has fallen through as well to be honest.

I'm not sure what direction to go in at this point but I just wanted to share this update. Thank you all for the help and insight.

[wow]

I know you were looking to do this faster, but since your job will pay up to $5000 a year, could you just stretch out the OSU degree to take at least four years?

[IHateEducation]

I know you were looking to do this faster, but since your job will pay up to $5000 a year, could you just stretch out the OSU degree to take at least four years?

Yeah, I thought about it but the other part of the issue is that the Guild stuff isn't guaranteed. Who knows if I will still be working at this hospital 1,2,3 years down the line. They have already cut a lot of employee hours in my department so things are uncertain enough as they are.

[sanantone]

Hope you all are well. Just checking in after a few months after posting this thread... I decided to go through with Kairos but have run into issues with "Guild". Since Kairos has a unique way of structuring their classes and their tuition system, I don't think getting Guild to pay for my education is going to happen. Between that and having a very difficult time getting a hold of the staff, I just don't see it working out.

This led me to look back at other options such as OSU's DHCA degree... after applying and speaking with the program director, they only counted 18 hours towards my degree (despite having two MA's). This left me at a grand total of 62 hours to complete at about $400 an hour, bringing the total to roughly $20,000 to finish the degree + and extra 12-18 months on top of what I originally planned (I hoped that they would count 30 hours from my degrees making this program more palatable). So this option has fallen through as well to be honest.

I'm not sure what direction to go in at this point but I just wanted to share this update. Thank you all for the help and insight.

Is that a typo? The DHCA is 62 credits. If they accepted 18 transfer credits, then there should be 44 credits left to complete. If you had gotten the full 30 transfer credits, the program would have been 12 to 16 months. At 44 credits, you're looking at 16 to 19 months.

Edit: I forgot. You're looking to only spend $5,500 per year, but you should still have fewer than 62 credits to complete.