Extra Hours? (CA Licensing Question)

[Psychmeout]

For those of you who are completing an APA full-time internship and plan to become licensed in CA....Is it true that you come out with extra hours in terms of licensure? On the Board of Psychology website (for Cali) it says that you need 1500 predoc and 1500 post doc for a total of 3000 hours. However, I noticed that with the full-time internships, you receive almost 2000 hours just in predoc.

Slightly confused.........any thoughts??

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[Therapist4Chnge]

From my understanding, some states allow for post-doc hours to acrue after your initial hours are met. Other states require the year of hours, and then the post-doc start after that year. YMMV @ CA. Hopefully someone has more specific information.

 

[PsyDGrrrl]

From my understanding, some states allow for post-doc hours to acrue after your initial hours are met. Other states require the year of hours, and then the post-doc start after that year. YMMV @ CA. Hopefully someone has more specific information.

No, in California you can only accrue postdoc hours after your degree is awarded, so it is unlikely that any predoc hours can count for postdoc.

 

[docma]

I can confirm that in California post-doc hours only begin after the degree is conferred. (This means the registrar issues a letter stating the degree is granted--not that you have walked in graduation.) Many schools require 2000 however, so that students are covered should they choose to seek licensure for the first time in a state that requires more than 1500. The trend nationally in internships is toward the more conservative/higher number to protect mobility. Ultimately, the student's contract with the school determines when their "pre-doc hours" required for graduation are complete and that may be in June for some. While technically summer hours might be countable in some states for "postdoc" (if the degree is granted in June). But you also need to watch the number of weeks in the internship. For example, Massachussetts only accepts internship of at least 42 weeks I believe....So be watchful of specific licensure requirements that differ from state to state. I really wish there was a stronger movement toward national standards for licensure so this was not so complicated for students