Kairos University Masters in Counseling

[eLearner]

BJ makes a great point, definitely look into your state's requirements. You can usually look online on your state's licensing website. If the program you go into doesn't have programmatic accreditation, most states won't outright tell you if the program you're going into can be used even when you contact them, but some will tell you on the site which courses you need and then it's up to you to find a program that matches those courses.

With regard to Doctorates, the reality is that a counselor with a Doctorate is going to attract more clients/patients than a counselor without one especially when you compare both at the same starting point of building a client base. I also feel that a good Doctoral program will certainly bring a person's skills and knowledge above that of the average Master's level clinician. For one example, a Psychologist is generally going to have a greater breadth and depth of knowledge than the average Master's level counselor. 4-6 years of extra education and training in a Doctoral-level environment is just more likely to do that. A DPC at about 2.5 years long won't put you on the same level as a Psychologist because a Psychologist is trained to do a lot more than counseling and trains for longer, but the right DPC program (or other Doctoral-level program) can definitely be a valuable skill and knowledge builder.

At the end of the day, since the object in a helping profession is to learn as much as possible in order to help people better, one furthering his/her education will always have value.