Mental healthcare offers a variety of career opportunities, and most require advanced degrees.

There are different levels of licensure within the field of social work, according to Megan Morrissey, the master's degree program director at the University of Minnesota's School of Social Work. While social workers at each level encounter mental healthcare issues in aspects of their work, Licensed Independent Clinical Social Workers (LICSWs) do the most direct work in mental healthcare.

"It's a profession that draws from lots of different disciplines but it also has its own particular niche," explains Morrissey. "Social workers are always looking at the person in a social context; it's the individual within the family, the community."

A bachelor's degree in social work may lead to entry-level mental health positions, such as a hospital psychiatric aide. In order to diagnose or assess patients, social workers must have at least a master's degree, two years of clinical practice supervised by a licensed clinical social worker and licensure.

"Many social workers practice either privately or with a group attached to a health care clinic," Morrissey says. "They assess, diagnose, give treatment and do just about the whole range of mental health services with the exception of prescribing."

Morrissey recommends that undergraduates have a good liberal background that includes statistics and physiology.

Psychologists need doctoral degrees

Like social workers, psychologists cannot prescribe medication, but they must have doctoral degrees to practice in Minnesota, according to Holly Hatch-Surisook, associate director of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Minnesota Department of Psychology.

While the bachelor's degree need not be in psychology, the doctoral degree must be either a Ph.D. or a Psy.D. Ph.D. psychologists are "scientist practitioners" who do research and apply it in clinical practice, Hatch-Surisook says. Psy.D. psychologists are practice-oriented. Psychologists must complete a full-year internship and a one-year, full-time supervised clinical experience before licensure.

Psychologists work in hospitals, outpatient clinics, community-based mental health clinics, county mental health systems and the courts. School psychologists need a master's degree and specialist certificate before they can work in schools, Hatch-Surisook says.

Psychiatrists in demand

Psychiatrists are medical doctors who can prescribe medication. They must complete a bachelor's degree, four years of medical school and a four-year residency. Some then choose to pursue one- or two-year fellowships, according to Betty Brenner, residency coordinator for the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine.

About half of psychiatrists work in hospitals and half in clinics, Brenner says. "Psychiatry is one of those fields that is in demand, especially in the rural areas." she adds.

For more information on mental healthcare degrees from the University of Minnesota, visit www1.umn.edu/twincities/02_academics.php.

Nancy Crotti is a freelance writer who lives in St. Paul.