Getting the right internship hours for licensure

[ForensicNeuro]

Hey all,
Since I will be going on internship in a couple of weeks, I was just looking at the licensing requirements in the states that I would like to practice in when I'm finished (NY, NJ, and PA). I noticed that NJ has the provision of no more than 20 client hours per week and PA has no more than 40 hours. This is confusing because I've heard various accounts from different interns of working DEFINITELY MORE than 40 hours per week and more than 20 client contact hours. Is this something that is just glossed over or omitted when applying for licensure? I thought how many hours you end up working was at the discretion of the internship or fellowship. I was also told that a certificate/certification from your APA internship was sufficient when applying for licensure. Thanx.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[docma]

Welcome to the world of multiple regulatory agencies! Internship programs are expected by APPIC not to have more than 50% of interns house in direct service (20 hour/week face-to-face with clients....hours of documentation, consultation, etc. may be additional) and this is in an effort to ensure that it is maintained as a training position and the agency directs sufficient hours to training/learning...not just maximizing cheap labor. However, your mileage may vary in terms of what specific sites will require and alledgedly many sites have a workload that requires a number of hours that exceed what can actually be "counted" each week. States often set a a maximum they will accept per week (for example California will not let you accrue more than 44 hours per week)--but you can find you put in longer hours to meet deadlines for test reports, etc. A big part of the internship learning curve is learning to get work done within the 40 hour limit. In any case, states have different formats in which they have your report your hours and you just need to have a record so you can organize and report on what you have that fits their requirements. Some states may simply accept "APA" status, without a specific log of how these were distributed, but I wouldn't count on it across all states. So just keep track as you go along and learn to manage the workload (for your own good).

 

[ForensicNeuro]

Thanks Docma! I appreciate the info. I asked multiple ppl what specifically they submitted to account for their licensure hours and I couldn't get a straight answer. I just renewed my time-2-track so I can keep track that way.

 

[LM02]

In my experience, all that the licensing board required was a form that was completed by my internship training director, attesting that I completed the required number of hours by the state. Really, it was just a form that he signed off on. I never kept track of any of my internship hours on my own.

This was the same for my postdoc hours, except that I had to submit my hours internally to the postdoc director in order to get him to sign off on the form. But the specific breakdown of my postdoc hours never even made it to the licensing board - they were just used for internal purposes.

Generally, if you are at an APA approved program, I don't think you'll encounter any problems concerning hours accrued.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

The 40hr cap is often utilized to ensure someone doesn't try to squeeze a year internship into less than a year of time. Many would argue that the quality of hours are not equal for someone who completes 2000hr in 8 months than someone who does it in 12 months. Some states don't have a required minimium time period, but I believe all states have a required making time period.

Some sites actually require a greater amount of detail in record keeping than the state. I trained at a VA, and we tracked our hours by day. As long as the TD signed off on the hours and timeframe that the hours were completed, that is all the state seemed to care about.

Post-doc hours can be a bit trickier, as states seem to have more variance in what they accept. I would strongly suggest keeping a log of your hours and experience during your post-doc year, especially if you complete an informal post-doc (private practice supervision, etc). Some states just need a letter, other states want a log of hours or at least a more detail breakdown of your training hours.