What are the skills needed to become a psychologist and the process for different degrees?

Hi Kiana,

I graduated from college with a degree in psychology so hopefully I can help shed some light into this. First off, you need to take a step back and think about what type of psychology you are interested in pursuing. There's clinical psychology where you are administering one-on-one therapy with individual clients, there's social work where you can work (normally with the State) to help families and children and then there clinical day programs where you can work in hospitals and/or government funded agencies to help administer psychology or therapy programs.

If you want to be a clinical psychologist normally this requires you to have a PhD. Normally you would get an undergrad degree in psychology and then pursue a PhD program (back when I was researching this it was a 4-5 year grad school program). Part of that program includes writing a dissertation and conducting research. In addition, once you have your PhD, I believe you also need to get certified in the State in which you want to practice.

To become a Social Worker it's a different process. You can get a Master's degree in Marriage and Family Counseling which allows you to become a Social Worker. I'm not too familiar with the social worker path but I believe that's the degree you need. I'm sure with this as well, you will also need certifications for the state in which you will be practicing.

I would highly recommend finding people within your network (if you are on LinkedIn, you can find people through your connections) who are currently in these roles and see if you can meet up with them for coffee and generally ask them questions about what their job is like. A lot of the time, that's the best way to gain insight into a field you are interested in and since they are currently working in that field, they know all the steps you need to take to get there.

I hope that helps a little bit. :-)