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How many years do I have to be in collage to become a therpaist, like not a school counseler but a real therapist that you can come make apointments too and stuff, because im good at figureing out peoples problems and giving advice and im already planning out to go to my community center junior year to take courses over counsling and stuff but I need to know how many years of collage I need after highschool ((btw im in 8th grade))
depends on what type of therapist you want to be. there are a number of different kinds.
* Clinical Psychologist
* Substance Abuse Therapist
* Rehabilitation Therapist
* Licensed Professional Counselor
* Licensed School Psychologist
* Licensed Social Worker
Each have their own unique requirements. But you're pretty safe to assume that you'll need at the very least a masters in psychology. So that's an Associates Degree, Bachelors, masters, and finally a doctoral degree. The total of which could take up to ten years to complete (depending on your credit hours.)
You'll definitely need a doctoral degree to become a psychiatrist, and you'll have to attend medical school, which can be exceedingly expensive. Therapists and psychiatrists are among the highest educated professions, so it's only natural that you'll have to complete several years of schooling.
First, you have to be able to spell "college" and "counselor" before you can even consider a professional path. After that, a Ph.D in most any form of therapy will require 3-4 years of undergrad work and 3 additional years of doctorate work.