JRmsw

It is traditional in many (Jewish) communities to have the father (and, once in a while, a mother) perform the bris if he is trained as a mohel (he may be a physician, he may not be).

A hearty and sincere "thank you" to everyone who took the time to respond to my inquiry. I greatly appreciate all the terrific advice and encouragement. To expand upon my motivation: my graduate training in social work will have included, in addition to coursework, one year doing mostly long-term psychodynamic therapy, with some short-term and crisis intervention thrown into the mix, and one year of inpatient psych doing groups on the unit, discharge planning, family work, etc. I also have previous experience (during college and immediately thereafter - I'm 25 now) in psychiatric rehab and psychiatric research. During this time period, I have come to appreciate social work skills and values tremendously, and I do believe they would be of value regardless of setting. I am not interested in doing long term therapy. From a psychotherapy perspective, my interests are more in short term work, specifically solution oriented and cognitive behavioral modalities. I have become increasingly interested in, and appreciative of, the importance of pharmacological treatments and I think I would like to be able to incorporate that learning into education and ultimately be able to make use of it in a clinical setting. Inpatient work and medication management does interest me. This is all, as you can imagine, at an inchoate stage. Regarding salary. Honestly it had not occurred to me that there would be a salary differential and in any case, shifting into an area that I did not find enjoyable and interesting for the sake of making more money would not occur to me either. I am not familiar with the differences between an NP and a CNS. I did a quick search but I am still not entirely clear. Hopefully someone would not mind educating me regarding this. Krissy, honestly I do not know enough about the ins and outs of this whole process do be able to give you any sound advice. I am sure if this is really where your interest lies there is a way for you to shift into the speciality, and I wish you every luck doing that! Thanks again, everybody, for the great advice. JR

I am currently pursuing a Master of Social Work, concentrating in clinical practice in mental health. I love the field, but have recently been thinking about a three year NP Program with a concentration in mental health, following my graduation from the MSW program. I find psychiatry intellectually stimulating and clinical work challenging (in a good way!) and enjoyable. I feel as though getting nursing training would be an excellent compliment to my social work skills, and allow me to take a more comprehensive approach to patient care. I could be completely off-base here, so I am very interested in hearing what real professionals in the field have to say about this notion. Thanks!