5 Reasons to Get a PhD in a Non-Clinical Counseling & Psychology Program

If you’re a mental health counselor or clinician, you might be wondering what the next step in your education or career could be. Perhaps you’ve researched doctoral programs in Counseling & Psychology but have discovered that many are clinical in nature. 

Suppose you’ve been practicing for several years, and you aren’t primarily looking for additional clinical training. In that case, a non-clinical program—like our PhD in Counseling & Psychology: Transformative Leadership, Education, and Applied Research at Lesley University—could be the best way to reach your personal and professional goals. 

Here are the top reasons our students, graduates, and faculty recommend getting your PhD and how you could benefit from Lesley’s program.

1. You want to advance into a leadership role in local, regional, national, or international settings.

By expanding your skills and expertise, you’ll be ready to work in leadership roles in the mental health field that require, or are more accessible with, doctoral-level training. A PhD can open opportunities in teaching and research at higher education institutions, consulting or training, and directing mental health programs in hospitals, schools, and other settings. The possibility of participating in an international counseling network as part of your PhD program can also deepen your understanding of mental health and counseling in global contexts. This will help make you a well-rounded leader who can understand different worldviews and perspectives.

2. You want to drive change in organizations and communities. 

As an advanced practitioner, you understand the urgent issues that schools, organizations, and communities face. A PhD gives you the credibility, status, and knowledge you need to make substantive contributions that support social and emotional wellness, and to promote social justice in the counseling profession. As a leader, you’ll be in a better position to infuse creativity and decision-making into your role. You’ll be able to challenge mainstream models in mental health counseling, design programs to address critical needs, pursue innovative ways of offering care, and implement your ideas for transformation.

3. You want advanced training in research methodologies and critical inquiry. 

As a doctoral student, you’ll receive advanced education in various research methodologies, writing, and publishing. These skills can help you become a teacher or scholar in higher learning institutions, solve problems through applied research, or contribute new knowledge to the profession. Starting with your doctoral research, you can transform the mental health counseling field as you explore areas of inquiry that are professionally and personally meaningful to you. You’ll add to the body of existing scholarship and challenge conventional thinking to push the field forward. 

Dissertations from Lesley PhD Graduates

With our curriculum that emphasizes diversity, equity, and inclusion, most students center their dissertation on a social justice issue.

4. You want to experience personal transformation and growth.

Doctoral study encourages deep engagement with your ideas and existing knowledge. It also introduces you to new possibilities and challenges you to explore different worldviews. Through the doctoral process, you’ll build an analytical framework and enhance your critical thinking skills. You’ll examine your own identity, positionality, and reflexivity as you explore concepts of self as an instrument of change, and self as a researcher and a leader, all while growing as an individual. 

5. You want to become a more effective facilitator of change at the micro-level.

Although non-clinical PhD programs tend to focus on research, teaching, and driving change, you’ll also emerge with enhanced skills in interpersonal communication that will support your clinical practice. Your advanced understanding of macro-level structural and systemic forces that produce and reproduce social inequity, and individual and cultural trauma, will fundamentally shift how you approach your clinical work on the ground. 

Clinical and Non-Clinical Doctoral Programs in Counseling & Psychology: What’s the Difference? 

While every program is different depending on the school, here are some general characteristics of clinical versus non-clinical doctoral programs.

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Learn more about a few of our graduates who have transformed research, education, and the community with their degrees.