PhD/PsyD Hours from Previous Professional Positions

[Moose03]

I've been considering applying to internship a year earlier than I had originally planned. I'm specifically interested in CMH and/or University Counseling locations. I had a Master's degree (not in psychology) and was a career counselor for six years before coming back to school. I also worked for a year as a case manager for a community mental health agency. In my former roles, I did not track these hours in the same manner as I do now but I have been able to obtain records from each employer allowing me to report hours in aggregate (these hours also include between 100+ career assessment hours which I have broken down by instrument, of which I had training with in my previous graduate program).

I do not currently have any of these hours in my APPIC tracking system (nor do I have them listed anywhere on my CV or professional documents) as they were not supervised by a person with a Ph.D. or a Psy.D. They were supervised by persons with M.S. and M.S.W. degrees. Should I list these hours somewhere? Do folks think that they'd be helpful for APPIC internship applications?

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[eremitestar]

https://portal.appicas.org/appicasH...xperiences/intervention-experience/index.html

Of note: "In this section, you will be asked to report your practicum hours separately for (a) hours accrued in your doctoral program, and (b) hours accrued as part of a terminal master's experience in a mental health field. Hours accrued while earning a master's degree as part of a doctoral program should be counted as doctoral practicum hours and not terminal master's hours. When counting practicum hours, you should consider the following important information and definitions: 1. You should only record hours for which you received formal academic training and credit or which were sanctioned by your graduate program as relevant training or work experiences (e.g., VA summer traineeship, clinical research positions, time spent in the same practicum setting after the official practicum has ended). Practicum hours must be supervised. Please consult with your academic training director to determine whether experiences are considered program sanctioned or not. The academic training director must be aware of and approve of the clinical activity. Academic credit is not a requirement in all cases. Other sections of this application will allow you an opportunity to summarize your supervision experiences, anticipated practicum experiences and support activities. Other relevant experience that does not fit into the above definition can be described on your Curriculum Vitae."

 

[Moose03]

https://portal.appicas.org/appicasH...xperiences/intervention-experience/index.html

Of note: "In this section, you will be asked to report your practicum hours separately for (a) hours accrued in your doctoral program, and (b) hours accrued as part of a terminal master's experience in a mental health field. Hours accrued while earning a master's degree as part of a doctoral program should be counted as doctoral practicum hours and not terminal master's hours. When counting practicum hours, you should consider the following important information and definitions: 1. You should only record hours for which you received formal academic training and credit or which were sanctioned by your graduate program as relevant training or work experiences (e.g., VA summer traineeship, clinical research positions, time spent in the same practicum setting after the official practicum has ended). Practicum hours must be supervised. Please consult with your academic training director to determine whether experiences are considered program sanctioned or not. The academic training director must be aware of and approve of the clinical activity. Academic credit is not a requirement in all cases. Other sections of this application will allow you an opportunity to summarize your supervision experiences, anticipated practicum experiences and support activities. Other relevant experience that does not fit into the above definition can be described on your Curriculum Vitae."

Eremitestar, Thanks! This was helpful.
I know that hours are only one part of the equation, so it was helpful to see that there are spaces to provide more information.
Do folks feel as though prior experience in related fields help in the application/interviewing process? I suppose that this is a follow up question.

 

[eremitestar]

How much it helps depends on the type of experience and how closely it relates to the position you're applying for. It probably won't make a huge difference one way or the other when your application is reviewed, but it can definitely help in interviews if you sell it right. I had experience in substance abuse counseling prior to going for my PhD. When I was interviewing for internships in VAs, I was able to talk about that experience and how I could apply those skills in working with Veterans. If you're applying to UCCs, then your experience with carer counseling could certainly be an asset. Just make sure you don't come across as already knowing everything because of your previous experience. That can be off-putting. Good luck!!

 

[ellenew]

Echoing eremitestar, I had previous clinical experience between my masters and PhD and reported it in the work experience section of the APPI. I also included it on my CV and was actually asked about it in several interviews. Good luck!

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Mentioning it (if applicable) in your cover letter or on interview can be helpful. I talked about programming abilities I had from a prior career at one interview bc they were talking about planned research where that would have been an asset.

 

[Lola917]

I've been considering applying to internship a year earlier than I had originally planned. I'm specifically interested in CMH and/or University Counseling locations. I had a Master's degree (not in psychology) and was a career counselor for six years before coming back to school. I also worked for a year as a case manager for a community mental health agency. In my former roles, I did not track these hours in the same manner as I do now but I have been able to obtain records from each employer allowing me to report hours in aggregate (these hours also include between 100+ career assessment hours which I have broken down by instrument, of which I had training with in my previous graduate program).

I do not currently have any of these hours in my APPIC tracking system (nor do I have them listed anywhere on my CV or professional documents) as they were not supervised by a person with a Ph.D. or a Psy.D. They were supervised by persons with M.S. and M.S.W. degrees. Should I list these hours somewhere? Do folks think that they'd be helpful for APPIC internship applications?

Since you were not supervised by a licensed psychologist, unfortunately your hours do not count. Therefore I don't think its necessary to list the "hours" anywhere. Instead, elaborate on the experience in your internship application materials. I also had 5+ years of direct-care experience in the field prior to starting my clinical psych PhD program, however I was not supervised by a licensed psychologist and in accordance with APA rules, my program did not allow me to count these hours towards my internship application. Instead, I listed the experiences in my cv and discussed it in my internship cover letter and essays. While it didn't boost my hours section, it didn't go unnoticed, as EVERY singe interviewer I met with asked me questions about my pre grad school work experience.