I recently graduated with my bachelors in psychology and have been planning on getting my masters and then eventually becoming an LPC for a while now. My passion is in individual clinical counseling/therapy. I eventually want to have a private practice after a few years of working at a group practice.

I recently found out that the university in my town (which has the best graduate psychology program in the state and one of the best in the nation) doesn’t have a masters program that can lead to licensure without the PHD program as well. I do not want to get a PHD and only want to get my masters and then start working as a therapist immediately after. The school does offer a full MFT masters program that can lead to LMFT licensure in my state, but I don’t like the idea of working with family’s and couples as the primary focus with my therapy work. I want to work mainly with individuals regardless of whether their therapy sessions address family/marriage issues or not. I also want to be able to diagnose mental health illness, personality disorders, etc. I know LMFT’s are able to do something similar but are LCSW’s?

The thing is that I don’t want to move to another town to attend a college that does have a CMHC masters program as I am currently living with my girlfriend here, she has a good job here, her kids are going to school here in town, I have a job here, etc. I also like this town the most out of all other towns within the state.

I have a few options at the moment in order to continue living in the town I’m currently in:

1. go with the mft program with the end goal of becoming an LMFT.

2. there are a couple of accredited state universities in my state that do a mostly online masters program in CMHC that is CAPREP accredited. This isn’t like a Grand Canyon University type of college either. It’s an actual state university here in my state but they offer the program in person and online as well. The classes are online, but the website mentions that we would meet on campus twice per quarter. This is doable since it would be a 2 hour drive there, but I wouldn’t need to go very often.

3. there are also a couple of accredited state universities in my state that offer MSW degrees in my town for both in person and online classes.

Whichever of these options that I decide to go with, my end goal will be private practice as I like the freedom that would come with it. My end goal will not be to work for someone else. I will work for someone in the beginning to gain experience in my field for a few years, but not in the long term.

Since I want to mainly work in PP and mostly work with individual clients, and occasionally couples/families (but not have that be the majority of my work), would it be more wise to just go with an online CMHC program that is CAPREP accredited by a state university or should I go with an MFT or MSW program instead? Any input is appreciated. Thank you in advance!