Applied for my e.passport to obtain PsyPact and was denied...

[ClearMindfulHeart]

Greetings! I was denied my e.passport this past month (may 2022) since my graduate program was not APA accredited at the time of graduation. I have unfortunately missed out on a lot of opportunities because of this situation, there was a reason/rationale for attending this school and in my ways I do not regret it but my program was not fully open about this at the time. Long story short I am trying to secure my career/financial future and obtain opportunities that I appear blocked from. I was very disappointed to be denied the e.passport for my PsyPact credentialing as this is another opportunity I have lost. I had read the ASPPB mobility policies and procedures manual prior to applying and had some hopefulness that perhaps there was flexibility on this requirement. Does anyone know of someone in my situation (graduating w/o APA accreditation) obtaining E.Passport/PsyPact credentials? Any thoughts or hopefulness on this opening up in the future as we need more MH professionals and psychologists and this just further limits those seeking care, in my opinion. Thanks kindly

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[PsySeeker]

Is your program accredited now? Where were they in the process when you finished?

 

[ClearMindfulHeart]

Yes they are accredited now, since 2018, they had started the process, I do not recall specifics, as we were the first class still working on attending internship so data collection was incomplete pending on our stats (e.g. how many students completed internships, CAPIC/APPIC/APA accredited). I graduated a few years before the accreditation process was completed, but have been consistently told in various circumstances requiring APA accreditation "grandfathered" principle does not apply.

 

[WisNeuro]

Were they "accredited, on contingency" when you graduated? I believe that the accreditation is retroactive to that piece.

 

[PsyDr]

If I was hiring someone, and they had unusual credentials, I would be concerned. If they started saying things about securing their financial future, and missed opportunities and the mental health crisis....I'd just say no.

You gotta make it easy for them to say "yes".

Or just get licensed in whatever states you need.

 

[smalltownpsych]

Not having APA accreditation is an obstacle and typically requires additional review by state licensing boards to ensure that your training matched APA standards. It makes sense that a credential that assists with portability would want to require APA accreditation. If they didn’t, then most states would not accept it and their accreditation would be useless. While I was in Montana this occurred with the National Register when the state board found out that someone didn’t have appropriate education or training that matched the states rules or laws so they stopped accepting the National Register credential as a verification of training.

 

[ClearMindfulHeart]

Not having APA accreditation is an obstacle and typically requires additional review by state licensing boards to ensure that your training matched APA standards. It makes sense that a credential that assists with portability would want to require APA accreditation. If they didn’t, then most states would not accept it and their accreditation would be useless. While I was in Montana this occurred with the National Register when the state board found out that someone didn’t have appropriate education or training that matched the states rules or laws so they stopped accepting the National Register credential as a verification of training.

You bring up a good point about the value of standards particularly regarding interstate-service provision. I am not new to the process of preparing extra documentation etc. to demonstrate that my education is on par but I can see how it slows the process in a general sense. I appreciate hearing your experiences in Montana re: National Register credentialing body. Thanks.

 

[Sanman]

If I was hiring someone, and they had unusual credentials, I would be concerned. If they started saying things about securing their financial future, and missed opportunities and the mental health crisis....I'd just say no.

You gotta make it easy for them to say "yes".

Or just get licensed in whatever states you need.

This. Psypact is the easy button and maybe closed to you. You can always go get licensed in some other states individually.