Short version: I really think your daughter should first decide what specialty she wants and whether she actually wants to do counseling. If she can’t do that before Fall 2015, then I think she should go to work first. Graduate school costs time and money, and she should expend that energy and resources if she’s not pretty sure about what she wants. You don’t want to spend $$$ for her to get a master’s only to realize that she really didn’t need it because she wants to do X and not Y.
If she decides that she does want to do therapy, there are really only two kinds of master’s programs that will allow that: the MSW (my recommendation) or, in some states, the master’s in mental health counseling (a decent alternative). Contrary to the name, a master’s in clinical psychology will NOT allow her to provide therapy. Check the website of any master’s program to see if they lead to licensure.
If she really wants a PhD in psychology she doesn’t need a master’s at all; she needs to get research experience.
Long version:
The vast majority of master’s programs in psychology will not enable her to do any counseling. The few that exist are generally to help students prepare for doctoral study in psychology (which I would not recommend - more on that later). There are, broadly speaking, just two kinds of master’s programs that would allow her to do general mental health counseling:
- A master's in social work (MSW), after which she could seek licensure as a clinical social worker (LCSW). This is not a prestige-focused field, so most MSW schools will do - but do check the website to make sure that the program has a clinical track that has the coursework necessary for licensure. Not all MSW programs do; some focus primarily on community social work. This is the best option for someone who wants to do therapy but stop at a master's; not only can you do service provision but there are lots of other roles social workers can fill (like school SW and hospital SW).
- A master's in mental health counseling, which in most states allows for licensure as a practical counselor (LPC). BE CAREFUL with these; check the school's website carefully. If the schools program leads to licensure in its state, it will say so on the program website. You might also check the state government website and find out what types of licensure are allowable in the state and which programs offer the ability to get that licensure. Not all mental health or psychology programs will lead to licensure - in fact, most will not.
If your daughter is at all interested in counseling in schools, she could get a master’s in school psychology (it must be a specialist-level program, approved by the National Association of School Psychologists [NASP], but many specialist-level programs are actually 2-year master’s programs - check out the NASP website for more info) or a master’s in school counseling, which would allow her to work as a guidance counselor. School psychologists work with more actual psychological problems and abnormal psychology; guidance counselors mostly complete administrative tasks now.
Another option is a marriage and family therapy (MFT) program, which mostly certifies her to do couples counseling and family therapy. As with any master’s program, check carefully on the website to ensure that the coursework there leads to licensure in the state.
If your daughter thinks she wants to be a doctoral-level psychologist - aka, getting a PhD in clinical or counseling psychology - I advise you to stop now, because a master’s degree won’t necessarily help her get into these programs, and it doesn’t shorten the time to degree. That’s the reason why most programs don’t offer the master’s; it is in most cases functionally useless. Only a few kinds of master’s programs allow licensure, and the entry-level degree for research is the PhD. Most psychology departments are more interested in preparing researchers than therapists.
That’s not to say that she can’t get a master’s first, but if she’s going to do it, I suggest that she does it because she’s not sure whether she wants a PhD and she wants to use her master’s to counsel in the mean time. In that case, I would again recommend first the MSW and second a master’s in mental health counseling that she knows leads to licensure.
For a doctoral program, what she will really need is research experience. The best way to do that (without shelling out thousands more for a master’s program) is to work as a lab manager or research coordinator. There are lots of institutions that hire those kinds of positions in the social sciences - universities, of course, but also academic medical centers, think tanks, NGOs, and nonprofits. If she’s interested in education, educational testing corporations also hire these kinds of jobs. The best kind is probably at a university as a lab manager under a professor - but think broadly; departments of psychology are obvious, but departments of education, schools of public health, schools of social work, and all kinds of related medical departments (psychiatry, ob/gyn, neurology, etc.) hire these folks too. Next best is probably the think tanks, and then the nonprofits and NGOs.