Finding a Mentor

[LostGradStudent]

Hi all,

I am a doctoral psychology student, and I wanted to ask if anyone had advice on how to find a mentor. I am a school psychology student with an interest in working in a school but also conducting therapy with kids (specifically, using CBT to treat anxiety) and teaching part-time at the university level.

After completing all my courses and practica requirements, I am now supposed to be working on my dissertation and applying to internships. However, I'm not sure exactly what kind of internship I should be seeking or what kind of internship would be best for me to reach my career goals (or even how to actually apply for an internship). My major professor, who is great, has a lot of responsibilities and has been difficult to reach. I also haven't had much success in reaching out to other faculty members. Additionally, my program also does not currently have a practicum/internship coordinator. (Unfortunately, my graduate program is currently being phased out.)

I would really like to pursue some professional advice and guidance from someone in the field, but I am not sure where to look. I am no longer living in the same state in which my university is located (as I moved across the country for family reasons after I completed my coursework/practica), and I haven't been successful in getting in touch with faculty in my program over the phone/email. I am not completing a practicum this year (only working on my dissertation), so I don't have a supervisor in this state.

I've explored the NASP mentorship program, but haven't been able to locate any mentors in my state. I've thought of reaching out to psychology faculty at a local university or psychologists in my state's school psychology association, and still plan to do so. However, I was wondering if folks had any other ideas/recommendations about how I might go about finding a mentor. I am mainly looking for someone I can talk to about my career goals, and about the kind of internship and post-doc opportunities I should be exploring. Would reaching out to APA members with similar interests be a good idea?

Thank you!

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[foreverbull]

What are you hoping specifically to get out of the mentorship? I think that would help narrow it down.

I think it is unfortunate that you’re at this stage and haven’t had mentorship in your own graduate program or via practica supervision, which is where the vast majority of folks get this kind of advice. One of the most important aspects of graduate school after training and coursework is the mentorship by your advisor.

It seems like your career interests are varied and that you’d like to patch together different pursuits. Most school psychologist jobs in my area are full time and do not involve therapy, but providing assessments and recommendations, and participating in IEPs, although this is generally at the master’s level.

Not sure how successful this would be, but I’d join a local school psych organization listserv (usually free for students) and ask if anyone Would be willing to meet with you for an hour and provide some career advice. Might be a good place to start, and some folks out there will be willing to offer advice as a one-time freebie, not so much ongoing though, which is a huge time investment to ask of a stranger unless you can pay for consultation, which is why former supervisors/professors would be preferable because they have a relationship with you.

Is there really no former supervisor who can offer advice either?

 

[psychlife19]

I am really concerned that you haven’t been able to get in touch with anyone from your program, especially with how much money we spend on graduate school! Is there a way you can contact with admin office, registar, dean of the program, etc? This is really something your school should have provided guidance on, regardless of if you live in the same town or across the country from your school.

 

[Action_Potential]

Page Not Found

www.apa.org

There are several divisions of APA that may interest you, and I know at least 3 of them offer mentoring to students. Even just popping on the listserv and asking if anyone would be willing to chat would work.

But we also probably have several psychologists here that could fill the one-time chat role, if they are interested. Just saying.


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[LostGradStudent]

[

Page Not Found

www.apa.org

There are several divisions of APA that may interest you, and I know at least 3 of them offer mentoring to students. Even just popping on the listserv and asking if anyone would be willing to chat would work.

But we also probably have several psychologists here that could fill the one-time chat role, if they are interested. Just saying.


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Thank you! I'm checking out these divisions now!!

 

[LostGradStudent]

I am really concerned that you haven’t been able to get in touch with anyone from your program, especially with how much money we spend on graduate school! Is there a way you can contact with admin office, registar, dean of the program, etc? This is really something your school should have provided guidance on, regardless of if you live in the same town or across the country from your school.

Yes, it's been tough. Other students in my program have been having the same difficulties. However, I'm going to wait one more day before reaching out again, since it's currently the last day of the winter break.

 

[LostGradStudent]

What are you hoping specifically to get out of the mentorship? I think that would help narrow it down.

I think it is unfortunate that you’re at this stage and haven’t had mentorship in your own graduate program or via practica supervision, which is where the vast majority of folks get this kind of advice. One of the most important aspects of graduate school after training and coursework is the mentorship by your advisor.

It seems like your career interests are varied and that you’d like to patch together different pursuits. Most school psychologist jobs in my area are full time and do not involve therapy, but providing assessments and recommendations, and participating in IEPs, although this is generally at the master’s level.

Not sure how successful this would be, but I’d join a local school psych organization listserv (usually free for students) and ask if anyone Would be willing to meet with you for an hour and provide some career advice. Might be a good place to start, and some folks out there will be willing to offer advice as a one-time freebie, not so much ongoing though, which is a huge time investment to ask of a stranger unless you can pay for consultation, which is why former supervisors/professors would be preferable because they have a relationship with you.

Is there really no former supervisor who can offer advice either?

Well, in regard to what I'd like out of the mentorship, I think I'd mostly like guidance on what kind of training experiences (internship/post doc) I should be getting now to reach my career goals. Although I'd like to start out by working in a school, later on, I would like to become licensed and also work in a clinical setting. I've had a one person from my program (recent grad) follow this path. I've talked with him and he's been very helpful, but I was hoping to also get some advice from someone more experienced. (I think I'm just super anxious - since I haven't been able to reach program faculty - and want guidance from as many people as humanely possible.)

And thanks! I'm going to try this and reach out to someone at the local school psych association and see if they can point me to someone who would be willing to give me some career advice. (This is so strange, but it seems like they might not have a listserv.)

As for reaching out to former supervisors, this is a great idea. I did reach out to one, and she was great. However, she is a clinical psychologist and wasn't sure how the internship process worked for school psychology students, or how they went about applying for licensure. I do plan to talk to my other two supervisors. I'm not sure how much they would be able to advise me in regards to my goal of going getting licensed/doing clinical work, as they are master's level school psychologists, but I do think they would be super helpful in the internship search!

I'm realizing as I am writing this that they are so many places I can get advice/information. I think I was just getting anxious because there was no faculty member that I could talk to about internship.

 

[ClinicalABA]

A lot of the direction you should go in (or will be eligible to go in) regarding internship is going to be dependent on the type of training program you are coming from. If it is an APA-accredited program designed to prepare you for licensure as a "psychologist" (not, specifically, a School Psychologist) with a designation as a "health services provider" (or similar terminology, depending on the state), you're probably going to want to go through the APPIC pre-doctoral internship match process. Pure school psych programs (e.g. solely NASP accredited) may not qualify you for the same type of internships. Non-APA accredited programs (and some APA accredited ones) may permit you search out a predoctoral internship outside of the formal APPIC match process. Somebody in a leadership position at your department should, at a minimum, be able to speak to any programmatic requirements for obtaining a pre-doctoral internship. (The fact that your program is shutting down and that you have not been provided training and mentorship regarding these issues leads me to believe that it is not APA accredited)

ETA- for example, the School Psychology doctoral program at my alma mater has two tracks- a NASP accredited Ed.S. degree track preparing for licensure as a School Psychologist (requiring a 1200 hour "pre-professional" internship in School Psychology); and an APA accredited Ph.D. degree track preparing for licensure as a Psychologist- Health Services Provider (requiring a 1500 hour pre-doctoral internship in School Psychology). In both cases, I am able to access the publicly available program handbook online, with information for students on how to find these internships. Does your program have such a handbook available?

Is your program housed at an actual "bricks and mortar" university? Is it within a professional school of psychology? Is it a for-profit program with a large online training component? This info will help us steer you in the proper direction.

 

[LostGradStudent]

A lot of the direction you should go in (or will be eligible to go in) regarding internship is going to be dependent on the type of training program you are coming from. If it is an APA-accredited program designed to prepare you for licensure as a "psychologist" (not, specifically, a School Psychologist) with a designation as a "health services provider" (or similar terminology, depending on the state), you're probably going to want to go through the APPIC pre-doctoral internship match process. Pure school psych programs (e.g. solely NASP accredited) may not qualify you for the same type of internships. Non-APA accredited programs (and some APA accredited ones) may permit you search out a predoctoral internship outside of the formal APPIC match process. Somebody in a leadership position at your department should, at a minimum, be able to speak to any programmatic requirements for obtaining a pre-doctoral internship. (The fact that your program is shutting down and that you have not been provided training and mentorship regarding these issues leads me to believe that it is not APA accredited)

ETA- for example, the School Psychology doctoral program at my alma mater has two tracks- a NASP accredited Ed.S. degree track preparing for licensure as a School Psychologist (requiring a 1200 hour "pre-professional" internship in School Psychology); and an APA accredited Ph.D. degree track preparing for licensure as a Psychologist- Health Services Provider (requiring a 1500 hour pre-doctoral internship in School Psychology). In both cases, I am able to access the publicly available program handbook online, with information for students on how to find these internships. Does your program have such a handbook available?

Is your program housed at an actual "bricks and mortar" university? Is it within a professional school of psychology? Is it a for-profit program with a large online training component? This info will help us steer you in the proper direction.

All good questions. My program is in fact housed at an actual "bricks and mortar" university, and it is an APA accredited program. Each year, within the cohort of students applying for internship, about half the students choose to go through the APPIC process, and half choose to find pre-doctoral internships outside of the match process. As far as I know, every student from my program who has chosen to go the APPIC route has matched. However, students have had to seek out information about the internship process on their own without the help of any faculty member or internship coordinator of any sort.

I chose not to go through the APPIC process because, after speaking with several former students, I learned that I could still become licensed without completing an APA accredited internship. None of the students I spoke with had any issues becoming licensed, even though they did not go through the APPIC process or complete APA accredited internships. My program does have a handbook that outlines eligibility requirements for students to be able go on internship and some information about the requirements for the doctoral internship itself. (There isn't much information about how to actually find or apply for an internship - it just says to work with your major professor. I did talk with other students, however, and learned that all I need to do is google internship positions and send out emails.)

However, I'm mostly trying to seek advice about the kind of specific training opportunities I should be pursuing to reach my career goals. Unfortunately, the faculty in my program (who have been difficult to reach anyway) are very research-oriented, and haven't been able to offer students information or advice when it comes to practice (working in the schools, applying for licensure, or going into private practice). This is why I would like to find a mentor who is more knowledgeable when it comes to practice.

 

[Dr. Melfi]

I chose not to go through the APPIC process because, after speaking with several former students, I learned that I could still become licensed without completing an APA accredited internship. None of the students I spoke with had any issues becoming licensed, even though they did not go through the APPIC process or complete APA accredited internships. My program does have a handbook that outlines eligibility requirements for students to be able go on internship and some information about the requirements for the doctoral internship itself. (There isn't much information about how to actually find or apply for an internship - it just says to work with your major professor. I did talk with other students, however, and learned that all I need to do is google internship positions and send out emails.)

However, I'm mostly trying to seek advice about the kind of specific training opportunities I should be pursuing to reach my career goals. Unfortunately, the faculty in my program (who have been difficult to reach anyway) are very research-oriented, and haven't been able to offer students information or advice when it comes to practice (working in the schools, applying for licensure, or going into private practice). This is why I would like to find a mentor who is more knowledgeable when it comes to practice.

I would contact the state psychological association you plan on practicing in and seeing if there is a current mentorship program or early career psychology committee. Even sending an email to the administration at the association can open up a dialogue on a more personal level and it's likely that they can connect you with possible mentors.