global mental health/international trauma-- PhD in clinical/counseling psychology v. Public Health-- advice needed!

[vintagenira]

Hi everyone,

I've recently finished a Masters in Counseling Psychology from Columbia TC and am trying to determine what the best avenue would be for what i eventually want to do which is this: I want to do both research and clinical work in global mental health and international trauma. So working with refugees, survivors of torture, migrants, disaster victims. This is really an emerging field, there are treatment centers and research in this field in the U.S. and of course abroad(I'm based in NYC so have been connected with great organizations doing volunteer work in research) but I'm stuck on what is the best next step.

I am basically deciding whether it's best to do a PhD in Clinical or Counseling Psychology OR a PhD in a non-practitioner psychology (where my research could focus on these interests) OR a PhD in Public Health (ie, Columbia Mailman school's Sociomedical Sciences with a Psychology concentration). What it really comes down to is whether I want my primary role in the future to be a practitioner or a researcher.

My aspirations are to eventually be in academia, do research, if possible do research/work abroad but also do clinical work. With global populations, I know that going into Public Health would be useful for having access and being able to work more globally but I also know that the focus is different, of course, than Clinical Psychology, which I am ok with if I can still [eventually] have my focus be on psychosocial treatment and mental health with these populations. The other thing is that I wouldn't want to go back for another Masters (MPH), I would want to go into a doctoral program, so I'm not even sure what my chances would be getting into a doctoral program in Public Health w/out the Masters.

Going into clinical/counseling psychology would allow me to get trained extensively as a clinician, but it's unclear how well I would be able to apply myself to global populations afterward. On the local scale (refugees living in the U.S., ie) I could of course do this. In fact, at most treatment centers, it is PhD Psychologists who are doing clinical and research work. But it also seems that as they are older, the field of "global mental health" was not as developed back then so now there are other options. I've also got differing advice on the importance of what I do during my PhD research v. after.

I guess if there is anyone out there who has done this type of work or research or doctoral studies, I could definitely use some insight!!! I've been talking to many professors and people in the field, and its making things more clear, yet more confusing at the same time! And maybe there is even yet another avenue that I haven't yet considered?!

[FCR311]

I am in pretty much the exact same boat! Harvard, Penn, and Johns Hopkins all have programs combining the two you might want to look into...but I'm also an undergraduate, so I'd also appreciate some advice from current grad students.

[juilletmercredi]

Hello there! I'm in Mailman's Sociomedical Sciences program with a psychology concentration

If you want to do both clinical and research, I see little reason to get a PhD either in this program or in public health. If you want to study public health, you can do a PhD in clinical psychology and get a one-year MPH after that designed for folks who already have doctoral degrees and want to study public health. Or you can study clinical or counseling psychology at a place that also has a school of public health, take classes in public health, and do research with a professor in the school of public health. Or you can do a postdoc in public health.

I believe that clinical psychologists also have more flexibility in this economy; when looking for academic jobs, a lot of them want someone with clinical or counseling training. The reason for that is that while research psychologists can only teach in research-focused programs/classes, clinical psychologists who do research can teach in clinical psych programs (both on the MA/MS and PhD level) and can teach research-focused programs. There are a lot of "clinical science" programs that focus primarily on research - they are still APA-accredited and allow you to practice, but focus on preparing academic researchers who intend upon research positions. You could also find a clinical health psychology program, which focuses on psychosocial determinants of health.

FYI, I got into this PhD program without ANY master's. At most schools of public health you could probably get into a doctoral program because you have an MA in a social science field, but you'd probably have to take some make-up classes an MPH graduate wouldn't (intro to epidemiology, intro to biostatistics, environmental health sciences, and intro to health policy and management come to mind).

I'll send you a PM as well.

[Volare]

@ vintagenira, what did you end up doing? I am trying to answer a similar question about what grad path to take for global mental health and would love to hear if you have discovered any wisdom :-) 

[rdk27]

@Volare I am also having the same dilemma! If anyone on this thread has any advice, I would love to hear from you