APA v. Non-APA Accredited Post-Doc Fellowships v. Job?

I'll be curious to see responses too. I glanced through the requirements and the post-doc requirements do seem a bit convoluted though for what its worth, my take was that doesn't sound like it needs to be an APA accredited post-doc to be board eligible - which makes sense given the abundance of informal post-docs that seem to be out there.

I'm at a non-APA accredited post-doctoral fellowship at a major academic hospital in Chicago. From reading the ABPP requirements, you can apply earlier if you do an APA-accredited post-doc than if you don't. At least that's how I'm interpreting it. If you do non-APA or get a job, you have to accrue more years of experience. Is that how you're reading it also?

I secured my post-doc through prior relationships, though I did look at other options. I started looking in Nov/Dec, when listings seem to start coming out en masse. I didn't use APPIC at all, but relied on word of mouth, listserv postings and emails relayed to me by my internship DCT. I was pretty set on staying in Chicago, so I didn't do more than read through the ones from out of state that came across my desk. That way I had a good idea of what salaries were, etc.

I intend to apply for ABPP in clinical health psych eventually. I guess my take is if I can't, the post-doc I have is too good for what I want to do long term that not being able to get ABPP because it's non-APA accredited is worth it. I think post-doc is a lot like internship in terms of finding the right fit. It's nice to not have to deal with the APPIC/match process. I felt like you had a lot more flexibility and it was much more like applying for a job versus internship which is just a big mess

Cosmo75 said:

From reading the ABPP requirements, you can apply earlier if you do an APA-accredited post-doc than if you don't. At least that's how I'm interpreting it. If you do non-APA or get a job, you have to accrue more years of experience. Is that how you're reading it also?

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Hi Cosmo-- Can you be more specific about where you're seeing this? I took a look at the ABPP requirements, but I'm not finding it for some reason. I'm seriously considering some non-APA postdocs but would definitely want to know whether or not what you describe is accurate. Thanks.

psy86 said:

Hi Cosmo-- Can you be more specific about where you're seeing this? I took a look at the ABPP requirements, but I'm not finding it for some reason. I'm seriously considering some non-APA postdocs but would definitely want to know whether or not what you describe is accurate. Thanks.

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I'm looking at page 2 of the PDF for clinical health under specialty specific eligibility requirements. I'm not 100% clear, but I think that it says that you don't have to have an APA approved post-doc, but that it is helpful in speeding up the process....

"The applicant must have five years of acceptable qualifying experience, and four years of this must be post-doctoral. It must include a pre-doctoral internship program and the equivalent of at least one year of full-time supervised health psychology experience at the post-doctoral level, (although six months may be credited for a documented pre-doctoral specialty internship in health psychology), and the equivalent of at least one year of additional experience as a clinical health psychologist. This year of experience must include clinical health psychology assessment and intervention."

I interpret that to say you need 5 years of experience with 1 year being your internship year, then 4 years of whatever experience after you get your degree. 1 year of that must be full time supervised in health psychology, though if you do a health psych pre-doctoral internship you only need 6 months. After you meet that criteria, you need at least 1 year of additional experience. Though that only adds up to 3 years, not 5.

Then it goes on to say this:
"Applicants may also apply for certification after the successful completion of a post-doctoral internship in clinical health psychology that has been accredited by the American Psychological Association."

This is where I'm thinking you can bypass the 5 years of experience requirement if you get the APA accredited post-doc.

"The Board recognizes that an applicant may not have been engaged full-time in the clinical health practice of health psychology. Activities such as teaching, research, and administration may qualify if they are in the area of clinical health psychology, and provided the applicant devotes a significant amount of time to professional practice in this area."

So other activities also count toward experience.

"Experience in independent private practice will be accepted only if preceded by three years of experience under professional supervision."

So once you're licensed and you start your own private practice, that can only count if you had 3 years prior with supervision by a health psychologist.

Clear as mud right? Like everything else in our field.

Thanks, Cosmo. Wow. That's a complicated set of rules! Jeepers.

I'm actually a neuropsych person... as far as I'm aware, there's not a differentiation in the neuropsych boarding requirements (ABPP-CN) in terms of whether or not there's an advantage to attending an APA-approved postdoc. Anyone know otherwise, for neuropsych?

glad this was started! I'm starting to worry about finding post docs already!

BellaPsyD said:

glad this was started! I'm starting to worry about finding post docs already!

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Yes, I'm in the same boat. I'm very interested in knowing what information folks have received in helping them drive their decision towards their Post-Docs. I'm also particulary interested in Ped NP and Clinical Health Psych.

^ahhh exactly the same as me! I'm across the country though!

if yo aren't going the formal route, when are you going to begin looking for post docs?