PhD/PsyD Career Options

[labmomto1]

Hi, I am in my first year of clinical psychology in a Psy.D program. I am interested in either becoming a forensic psychologist, police psychologist or a civilian military psychologist. I'm posting this in hopes of getting a clearer picture of which avenue to go. What career opportunities are there in forensics? I find competency evaluations very interesting but I'm not sure if I could do that all day.

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[psych.meout]

Hi, I am in my first year of clinical psychology in a Psy.D program. I am interested in either becoming a forensic psychologist, police psychologist or a civilian military psychologist. I'm posting this in hopes of getting a clearer picture of which avenue to go. What career opportunities are there in forensics? I find competency evaluations very interesting but I'm not sure if I could do that all day.

Does your program offer any of these training opportunities?

 

[Sanman]

Regardless of which path you choose (with some exceptions in civilian military), you want to make sure that you have a very strong assessment background and a background in trauma, so I would focus on that at this juncture. Beyond that, as @psych.meout mentioned, the question will be what opportunities ware available to you at your program.

 

[StellaB]

I do forensic evaluations and in addition to experience with trauma, I would say that having a background in assessing developmental disorders is incredibly important yet frequently overlooked by people who are interested in the field. Take opportunities to learn how to administer the ADOS in particular, because it's the gold standard for autism diagnosis. Autism is common enough that you're likely to come across it in a wide variety of forensic settings or assessment types (competency, juvenile to adult court transfer, MSO, etc.) It is also helpful to get as much experience as you can with substance use disorders / dual diagnosis issues - research, assessment, treatment, etc.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Definitely pursue a strong foundation in assessment, differential diagnosis, and be comfortable digging through research and case law. All of that "should be" foundational in programs, but sometimes you need to poke around to make sure you work w. the best options. Training will likely occur across settings (class, practica, internship, fellowship), though try to get at least some exposure during grad school.

Mentorship is really important, and you'll want to get exposed to various settings bc forensic work covers a wide range of things.