LPC therapists--thoughts? experiences?

I am undergoing a major life upheaval, moving to a new state and a career reboot. This means I have to say goodbye to my current therapist which is horribly painful but that is another thread I guess.

In my new home, I am searching online to see how hard it is to find a therapist in Texas that suits me (I'm an atheist so no Christian counselors for me--that wipes out half my options right there)

My next biggest dilemma is that lots of therapists are listed as "LPC's" which from what I understand is much less training than a PHD.

I'd love to hear all experiences you may have had with LPC's, good neutral or ugly please tell

It works differently where I am, but I tend to see little in the way of a correlation between level of training and competence as a therapist. The one therapist I saw (once) who was PHD was bloody scary and too cock sure of herself.
My T is educated to masters level and has a standard counselling qualification for this country (not sure how it compares to US) but he has 40 years experience too, and constantly updates his learning (as is a requirement of the professional body over here). For me the experience and commitment to ongoing personal development have been the essential criteria.

Thank you Echos!!!

I've had both great and horrible PHD's so I know what you mean. My current T just "warned" me last session about LPC's -- that some are just fine and some are grossly under qualified . I've always had PHD's, a couple of MD's but LPCs are new to me

So even amongst LPCs there are varying levels of qualification? Do the listings or websites give details of what qualifications individual therapists have? If not I would think that would be an important question for a phone interview.
It's an exhausting task trying to find a new T, I imagine it feels quite daunting with so many life changes happening at once. Try not to put too much pressure on yourself and remember that this decision is easily reversible if the T doesn't work out. You can fire them and try another whenever you want.

I had an MFT once. Saw her for 4 years. She was awesome. I achieved so many goals with her from going to college, living on my own, and holding down a part-time job. My last 2 ex-Ts were Ph.D. 1st ex-T just sucked. Didn't achieve anything with her. 2nd ex-T I achieved a lot, but she abandoned me. My T now is a Psy.D. She pretty awesome too.

MY LPC therapist has been excellent. When I did my T search, I was looking primarily for experienced T's who listed my "issue" as part of their skill set. He turned out to be trained in a variety of approaches and that has been helpful to me.

What about LCSWs? Licensed Clinical Social Workers. My current T is one of those, and she's great, though she also has like 30 years of experience. They have master's degrees, but I believe they have to do lots of supervised hours as therapists, kind of like licensed psychologists (PhDs, which my marriage counselor is).

LPC, LMFT, LCSW all have to do two years of supervised practice before they get the license (is my understanding).

For a PhD, those two years are generally done before the degree (PhD) is granted. For the others, the two years are generally done after the (master's) degree is granted. The supervision received by master's practitioners is overseen by the state licensing board, rather than the school granting the degree.

A PsyD is also an option, they have the same training as a PhD except they aren't trained as much in research.

All are equally good/bad/indifferent as far as I'm concerned, for personal therapy. I weigh years of experience and where they got their degree more heavily than what type of degree it is. (No online programs!) There will be good and bad LPC therapists just as much as good and bad PhDs.

Also know that just because someone got a degree from a Christian university doesn't mean they necessarily practice that religion themselves. Some of the best schools in Texas are religiously affiliated. I wouldn't rule them out just because of that, especially if you're in a small area and have limited options.

ETA: This understanding is based on the U.S. context.

If it was me, I would make appointments with several and see how I felt about them in person. I would tell them I was atheist on the phone and tell them absolutely no religion/religious stories/talk at all for me and could they manage that (I did the same thing but on a different topic). If not, or worse, if they wanted to talk about why I was setting that boundary, I would move on.

As far as degrees, the worst therapist I ever saw more than once was a phd. The two that have not been as absolutely awful as they could have been and who I found not completely despicable were lcsws. I teach at a religiously affiliated university and I am at best agnostic. My students range from atheist to christian to muslim to orthodox judaism and in between.

I have seen an LPC, an LCSW, and an LMFT. They all had masters' degrees. Two of them are quite good - the third (the LPC) is probably good for people who aren't me.

I think a basic level of training matters, but also how you get on.

My current T is an LCPC (which i am guessing is the same thing?). I have been helped much more by her in 1 year than the 5 I spent with a PHD T previously. Most of it is personality I believe, and not neccesarily the training, because I knew my PHD T was smart and she never was unkind, and she was helpful in some ways...but really it is the personality of my current T that was able to let me open up much more.

My first therapist was an LPC and he was quite good. I think the main thing to look for is a certain degree of experience in actual therapy with clients. LPC's have a master's degree and training probably on par with LSW.

My LCPC was very helpful. I agree with the others here that approach, experience, and personality are important things to look for.

I've seen a few LPCs and MSWs. For simple coping skills and functioning as a sounding board, they were adequate. However, when I've gone into severe states of deterioration they were very poor at connecting the dots and recognizing trauma reactions. PhDs were slightly more helpful navigating rough waters. No noticeable difference in care when things were steady for me.

I'm hesitant to make any generalizations though, because it could have just been the people I saw.

I sort of agree with that. My LPC was fine at the time. I was fairly stable and not terribly complicated I don't think -- mostly depression, PTSD issues but within his training to work with. I think had he seen me in my 40's when I was much less stable, dealing with serious bipolar episodes and needed meds, hospitalizations, etc., he probably would have referred me out as I would probably have been beyond his usual skill set. My current therapist is a PhD and had a strong background dealing with serious mental illness, clients who are on meds, a hospital setting background in his experience, and we was fully equipped to deal with the challenges I brought to the table.

I had an LPC as a teenager and I loved her. Frankly I prefer a therapist that uses the strengths perspective and is more open-minded than if they are a LICSW, LPC, etc. They have less training, yes, but they do have to do continuing educations events to keep their licence.

I have an LPC and she is great. I've had a PhD and she was terrible. If I ever switched I would go to another LPC.

LPC generally covers a masters in psychology. In many schools, this equates to less clinical training, and a greater focus on research (the focus of most straight-up psychology degrees vs counseling psych). LPC's may also have education backgrounds (studied a track that had them focusing on school psych)... this doesn't make them automatically good or bad, just differs in their initial education and licensing requirements.

I'd probably echo what most others have said around personality/fit/experience counting more towards competence then a specific accreditation. I've had awesome t's at a masters level, and some ****** ones. I have an awesome t at a doctoral level, but i've had some crappy ones in the past.

Perhaps another thing to consider would be how burnt-out they seem when you met with them. I've had encounters with people who seemed great on paper, but were so bogged down with past tiring events that they couldn't see me for the individual sitting in front of them... but I guess that goes along with "personality".

My LPC had an MS in counseling (which I assume meant field training). The MSW/LCSW I also assumed had had field training. The LMFT has an MA in psychology and come to think of it is not quite as "practical" as the other two - though she does also usually have an acceptable answer to theoretical questions like why do therapists say this etc.

I know some personally not stable LPCs - but I have worked on cases where a party was a psych phd/practicing therapist and they were batshit crazy when dealing with their own families just like everyone else.

This has been my experience as well.

My one and only therapist was a psychiatrist so I don't have direct experience here, but indirectly I agree. This is more or less what my medical patients who see counselors have identified. That for straightforward anxiety, depression, life changes, relationship stress/coping, they do just fine. If my patient needs something more specific, trauma history, bipolar, targeted interventions, then they haven't been as helpful

I've noticed a difference in the range of abilities among those with a master's degree--from mindblowingly inept to insightful and creative. The two PhD's I saw (both analysts), had solid abilities and were able to think beyond worksheets and platitudes. So, just in my own experience, you can get good ones from each category, but the field may be broader and more open to screwiness in the LPC pool. I would not rule the LPCs out at all, though, because you might find a really good one. Also, the PhDs can cost a lot more, and it's already getting prohibitively expensive for those with a master's degree.

my T is a LPCS (s is supervisor) . he is amazing. he is working on his dissertation for a PsyD though. my former abusive T was a PsyD. i dont really think credentials matter, .... from what i have experienced!!

I found experience and titles didn't matter as much as feeling some sort of connection with someone. If I were looking for a therapist again that would be the most important factor for me.