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Hi all,
I am copy and pasting a recent post I made to the grad cafe below
I would appreciate any feedback...! Thanks in advance : )
I have a question/discussion topic that I have wanted to post here for a long time but have held off on posting it because I know that we are in the middle of application season and that everyone's time is probably completely dedicated to applications and everyones posts here are seeming to revolve around that...
(I can't imagine how stressful it must be...)
However I've decided to post it anyways.
I was talking to a friend of my boyfriend who is just finishing her PhD in Clinical Psychology.
The discussion I had with her quite frankly summed up to this.... in her words "clinical psychology is dying".
What she meant by this was that- in her experience, and in the experiences relayed to her by colleagues, current clinicians and people in the field in general- the role of clinical psychologists is increasingly being filled by 1) psychiatrists doing increasing diagnosis and psychotherapy and 2) counsellors typically with masters level training who aren't necessarily psychologists (e.g. social workers, even occupational therapists, etc) doing psychotherapy. We were specifically discussing clinical psychologists who aren't in private practice. She indicated that she and a lot of her colleagues would end up having to go into private practice, which is obviously quite a bit different than working in a hospital setting, for example. I have been hearing about this shift toward private practice though out my undergraduate degree but, again, she said that the role of the clinical psychologist was dying outside of private practice, whereas I thought that it would still be at least possible to pursue a career as a clinical psychologist in a psychiatric hospital (I'm personally not as interested in working in private practice and want to help people within the context of a public, psychiatric hospital).
I recently started an RAship at a psychiatric hospital in Toronto (CAMH) and have noticed the same trend within the programs that I have been able to be involved in.
Another interesting point that she brought up was the ability to pursue the career path she would eventually be forced upon with only a masters degree (of course this varies by regional regulations... the situation in Ontario is quite interesting... licensing only differs in educational requirements but different levels of licensure (i.e. psychological associate or registered psychologist) do not differ in what they are allowed to do and their scope of practice... but I will not go into a discussion of this)
A couple of important things to note before I move onto my questions...
Again, I am referring to the role of clinical psychologists outside of private practice.
I live in Toronto, Canada. The friend of my boyfriend is from Toronto, Canada and is finishing her PhD in Toronto, Canada. I know that this anecdotal trend may vary by region. For example, in Alberta (my home province), you can be registered as a psychologist at the masters level. A clinical psychologist who I am working with in my RAship who also happens to have lived in Alberta for a while said that more psychologists were employed in their traditional roles in Alberta than in Ontario, were we both are now.
Less anecdotal data show that there is relatively a good outlook in clinical psychology (e.g. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Life-Physical-and-Social-Science/Psychologists.htm, http://www.workingin...al&s=2&source=6)
However the APA seems to acknowledge the stiff competition presented my masters level counsellors to PhDs in Clinical Psychology (or even other areas) (http://www.apa.org/g...over-sunny.aspx)
So... clinical psychology graduate students, applicants, future applicants, and anyone else who cares to reply...
My questions are as follows...
Thank you so much for any responses!!!!!
(Sorry in advance for any typos or phrasing errors!)
Edited by carlyhylton, Today, 11:49 PM.
I am copy and pasting a recent post I made to the grad cafe below
I would appreciate any feedback...! Thanks in advance : )
I have a question/discussion topic that I have wanted to post here for a long time but have held off on posting it because I know that we are in the middle of application season and that everyone's time is probably completely dedicated to applications and everyones posts here are seeming to revolve around that...
(I can't imagine how stressful it must be...)
However I've decided to post it anyways.
I was talking to a friend of my boyfriend who is just finishing her PhD in Clinical Psychology.
The discussion I had with her quite frankly summed up to this.... in her words "clinical psychology is dying".
What she meant by this was that- in her experience, and in the experiences relayed to her by colleagues, current clinicians and people in the field in general- the role of clinical psychologists is increasingly being filled by 1) psychiatrists doing increasing diagnosis and psychotherapy and 2) counsellors typically with masters level training who aren't necessarily psychologists (e.g. social workers, even occupational therapists, etc) doing psychotherapy. We were specifically discussing clinical psychologists who aren't in private practice. She indicated that she and a lot of her colleagues would end up having to go into private practice, which is obviously quite a bit different than working in a hospital setting, for example. I have been hearing about this shift toward private practice though out my undergraduate degree but, again, she said that the role of the clinical psychologist was dying outside of private practice, whereas I thought that it would still be at least possible to pursue a career as a clinical psychologist in a psychiatric hospital (I'm personally not as interested in working in private practice and want to help people within the context of a public, psychiatric hospital).
I recently started an RAship at a psychiatric hospital in Toronto (CAMH) and have noticed the same trend within the programs that I have been able to be involved in.
Another interesting point that she brought up was the ability to pursue the career path she would eventually be forced upon with only a masters degree (of course this varies by regional regulations... the situation in Ontario is quite interesting... licensing only differs in educational requirements but different levels of licensure (i.e. psychological associate or registered psychologist) do not differ in what they are allowed to do and their scope of practice... but I will not go into a discussion of this)
A couple of important things to note before I move onto my questions...
Again, I am referring to the role of clinical psychologists outside of private practice.
I live in Toronto, Canada. The friend of my boyfriend is from Toronto, Canada and is finishing her PhD in Toronto, Canada. I know that this anecdotal trend may vary by region. For example, in Alberta (my home province), you can be registered as a psychologist at the masters level. A clinical psychologist who I am working with in my RAship who also happens to have lived in Alberta for a while said that more psychologists were employed in their traditional roles in Alberta than in Ontario, were we both are now.
Less anecdotal data show that there is relatively a good outlook in clinical psychology (e.g. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Life-Physical-and-Social-Science/Psychologists.htm, http://www.workingin...al&s=2&source=6)
However the APA seems to acknowledge the stiff competition presented my masters level counsellors to PhDs in Clinical Psychology (or even other areas) (http://www.apa.org/g...over-sunny.aspx)
So... clinical psychology graduate students, applicants, future applicants, and anyone else who cares to reply...
My questions are as follows...
- What is your experience with the job outlook in your region? All answers would be helpful but Canadian answers would be great (and Ontario answers would be better and Toronto answers would be wonderful!)
- How do you go about gathering job outlook information that will shape your decisions before you are on the job market or perhaps even apply? Is information from the government sufficient or too generalized?
- If we assume the outlook is poor, and you know you want to serve what I am calling the 'traditional (non private practice) clinical psychologists role', what would you do? Look for a region where you can fulfil this role with clinical psychology training? Get training in another field to fill this role (e.g. psychiatry, social work, etc)?...
Thank you so much for any responses!!!!!
(Sorry in advance for any typos or phrasing errors!)
Edited by carlyhylton, Today, 11:49 PM.