Forensic Psych Q's from PhD Candidate

[cbt4lyfe]

Hi all,

I am a fourth year graduate student at a research focused APA-accredited clinical psychology PhD program. During my sixth year, I will begin my internship. Thus far, my clinical training and research experiences have primary been related to substance use, drug treatment, and domestic violence. It has become clear to me that there is not a lot of information out there about the diverse array of career paths open to a clinical psychologist. As I've searched more, one area of work that I have not been able to find a ton of information on is forensic psychology. Below are a few questions that, as of yet, I have not been able to find answers to. Any information or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

1) While I am guessing this varies widely, day-to-day, what do forensic psychologists spend most of their time doing? Testing? Assessment and report writing? Court cases?

2) Is it common for people to be part-time forensic psychologists and also, say, do learning and other cognitive testing on the side?

3) It appears that to receive board certification, a postdoc in forensic psychology is required. What do these postdocs usually entail? (I realize I haven't read up on many of the postdoc sites, so will also check those out now.)

4) For those who ended up in forensic psychology related fields, did they have experiences in internship that involved forensics? What is the best way to ensure forensic related experiences during internship?

5) What is the pay structure like for forensic psychologists? I don't mean the salary ranges, I mean who is paying the salary etc.?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[cbt4lyfe]

Notably, I found this write up quite informative in terms of an overview:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/witness/201409/forensic-psychology-is-it-the-career-me

 

[eremitestar]

I've known forensic psychologists who had widely different duties depending on where they worked. I did an externship with a forensic psychologist in private practice. He did a lot of evaluations for the Social Security Administration and the local district court. He also did competency evaluations, and it was on those cases that he was most likely to be called in to testify. I also know somebody who worked in a state hospital. She also did a fair amount of testing, but had a lot more clinical responsibilities than the private practice person did (e.g. competency restoration, sex offender treatment, SUD treatment). The only person I've worked with who pursued board certification in forensic psych did compensation and pension evaluations at a VA hospital. I'm pretty sure his postdoc was also at a VA, but I'm not positive.

 

[PsyDr]

1) there is a heterogeneity of activities encompassed by forensic practice. Examples could include: a professor using carve out time to serve as an expert witness, a VA doc doing C&Ps, a psychologist doing psychotherapy in correctional settings, a private practice psychologist doing custody evaluations, a workers comp carrier having a psychologist do file review, etc. None of those are going to have similar days. In the most general, all will have spent a great deal of time staying up to date on the field, legal cases, and will likely choose their words very very carefully. Answering phone calls is also a huge part of the job. Since professional like to tlak to other professionals, delegating this crap to your staff isn't always the way to go. Also, managing staff, managing your business, managing your assets, paying bills for your office crap, etc.

2) Many do. Even some of the best known ones do.

3) Process based learning. Sentence structure, phrasing, etc all become very important. Learning tons of case law. Becoming comfortable with the setting.
4) Not for me.

5) Depends on the setting. If you're an employee somewhere, you just get paid by your employer. If you're in private practice, most of the money will come from attorneys, government organizations, and other agencies. Since you get paid for the work you do, sometimes you make a ton of money, and sometimes you have no work for 5 weeks (unplanned). Sometimes the people who pay you will delay paying you for months. My contract has a credit card bad APR, but I've had groups withhold payment for 5 months. Sometimes you're working 90/hr weeks and can't find the time to send out invoices which are reaching ridiculous levels.

 

[Istilldontknow]

Hi all,


1) While I am guessing this varies widely, day-to-day, what do forensic psychologists spend most of their time doing? Testing? Assessment and report writing? Court cases?

2) Is it common for people to be part-time forensic psychologists and also, say, do learning and other cognitive testing on the side?

3) It appears that to receive board certification, a postdoc in forensic psychology is required. What do these postdocs usually entail? (I realize I haven't read up on many of the postdoc sites, so will also check those out now.)

4) For those who ended up in forensic psychology related fields, did they have experiences in internship that involved forensics? What is the best way to ensure forensic related experiences during internship?

5) What is the pay structure like for forensic psychologists? I don't mean the salary ranges, I mean who is paying the salary etc.?

Hello! I am only a first year doctoral student,but I have my MA in forensic psych and have worked in the field for a few years.

From my experience, forensic psychologists can do a variety of different tasks but generally stick to one to two. I know some who are professors and do evals (competency/child custody) as well. Some do jury selection and/or consultation with lawyers. Some work in forensic settings and do clinical work with those populations. Some do only evals. The ones I know that work for the DA primarily do evals for court cases. I worked with one professor who also designed sex offender treatments for federal prisons. Most of my professors practiced as both lawyers and psychologists. So really, it all depends on your area of interest.

I believe that most post doc sites are prisons and forensic inpatient units.

I did an internship in an inpatient rehab with offenders. My practicum is going to be at the DA's office. Most of my friends in this field did their internships at prisons or substance abuse facilities with offenders.

Pay depends on who you work for. Generally, lawyers pay the most when you are hired by them. As a psychologist in a prison, your salary is slightly higher than other internships due to the risks involved.

Another area you might want to look at if youre into assessment is risk evals. You can do those in a variety of settings with various employers as well.

 

[T Brown]

As far as the exam for forensic psychologist its pretty tough. A professor of mine is part of the committee for the oral exams and he is super intense.
Psychologist who specialize in forensics vary is skill, but specialize in an area or two. Like myself, I sought supplemental training in family and children and will be gearing my practice towards family work in the court system and trauma. The bulk of my cohort is correction heavy, a few are into community mental health, and one specialized in community mental health with an empathizes in substance addiction. We are trained in how to testify and write for the courts.