There are many different kinds of counselors in Missoula.  Counselors may have different specialties based on their training and experience.  For example, some counselors specialize in marriage and family problems.  Other counselors may specialize in substance abuse treatment.  Most counselors work with a variety of different problems that people in Missoula experience.  However, they do not all have the same level of training.

Some counselors in Missoula have a Masters degree (M.A. or M.S.) while others have a Doctoral degree (Ph.D. or Psy. D.).  Generally, counselors with more training charge somewhat higher fees.  However, most health insurance plans pay more for people with Doctoral degrees.

I specialize in counseling for adults that I work with in one-on-one counseling sessions.  That means all of my counseling training was directed toward working with adults.  I earned the Doctoral degree which means I completed four years of graduate school, a one-year internship and one year of post-doctoral training all focused on working one-on-one with adults.

You may find some counselors with less training advertise working with adults, children, adolescents, couples and other groups.  Some of these counselors have Doctoral degrees while others have Masters degrees.  A Masters degree includes two years of graduate school and a year-and-half of supervised training.  There are excellent counselors with Masters degrees in Missoula.  However, spreading two years of training across many different types of counseling for many different problems suggests many have less expertise in any one area.