What is the difference between LPCs and LCSWs?

To become an LPC or a licensed professional counselor, you need a license. The license is the most prominent difference between LPC’s and other counselors who provide advice, such as clergy, spiritual advisors, and financial consultants. LPC’s are held to a higher standard, and they offer the patient confidentiality and professional opinions.

LPC’s give individual-based counseling and offer a more collaborative approach to therapy. They are more flexible than other types of counselors concerning the methods they employ to counsel the patient. LCSW, on the other hand, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, which is a subgroup of social work with a specialization in mental health therapy. Licensed Clinical Social Workers utilize a strength-based approach to client counseling.

Being an LCSW necessitates working with the client to examine the client’s situation by considering domestic and social factors, such as home or career. LCSW refers to professionals that are licensed by a state board to provide mental therapy based on social work. LCSW can help the client make decisions concerning their mental health and diagnose mental health disorders.

LPCs (Licensed Professional Counselor) and LCSWs (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) are both professions in the mental health field. LPCs are those who, at a minimum, have a Master’s degree in Counseling and have enough supervised experience to be able to have the license to operate and work with their own patients.

In terms of the methodology they use, theirs is more flexible because they have this collaborative approach wherein they find what is suitable and effective for their patients to achieve a more positive result.

The Licensed Clinical Social Worker, on the other hand, requires a Master’s degree in Social work and should be licensed by the state board to be able to conduct mental therapy. One thing that differentiates them from the others is their strength-based approach. In this method, they find the strengths of their patients, derive their weaknesses, and find the best way to overcome or solve the problems they are facing.

For someone to become a Licensed Professional Counselor, they must procure a license that permits them to provide mental health counseling. This license is what separates the professional from others who may give guidance or give some advice to someone. LPC’s require a master’s degree. LPC’s provide a more collaborative approach to counseling. There is also flexibility in the methods used to treat someone, as long as it is appropriate, legal, and ethical. LCSW’s, on the other hand, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.

This professional must incorporate the external or internal factors in therapy with their client. Those who aspire to become an LCSW must persist through a significant amount of training. This training includes earning a Master of Social Work degree from the Council on Social Work and Education.

They must also pass a national clinical social work test that is approved by the ASWB. In summation, the LCSW is a licensed professional who receive their title from the state board to provide mental health therapy based on social work.