Internship Question

[AlairaK]

I am interested in doing an internship abroad. I looked on the APPIC website and there really is nothing outside Canada. I guess my question is, is there life outside APPIC internship? Is there a process by which you can work somewhere that's not on their website and submit an appeal to get it accredited? Or, can you do NON accredited internships, and if so, what are the ramifications of that?


Thanks in advance!

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[PsyDr]

Depends on the school.


Some schools allow students to go outside the APPIC system and create their own internship. So, it could possibly be done. You would have to talk to your school about the educational requirements for internship and see if 2 licensed doctoral level psychologists could provide all the necessary educational stuff. Keep in mind that not all countries require a doctorate to use the title psychologist and not all countries license psychologists.

Getting APPIC accredited is improbable, mainly b/c they require at least 2 students to be there, 2 supervising psychologists, and a site visit requirement. If you can convince 2 licensed doctoral psychologist in another country to hire you and a friend and convince APPIC to fly to a foreign country and convince the supervising doctoral level psychologists to pay for all of the above, then maybe.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I am interested in doing an internship abroad. I looked on the APPIC website and there really is nothing outside Canada. I guess my question is, is there life outside APPIC internship? Is there a process by which you can work somewhere that's not on their website and submit an appeal to get it accredited? Or, can you do NON accredited internships, and if so, what are the ramifications of that?


Thanks in advance!

Here is a thread on APA v. APPIC v. CPA: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=518573 it isn't exactly what you are looking for, but it talks a bit about the downside to non-APA acreditted internship sites.

In general, seeking out anything but an APA-accredited site will close certain doors before you even start your career. Doing an APPIC accredited site will close less doors than a regional accreditation (like CA's psych association). If you go completely outside of that....good luck getting licensed. You really shouldn't go outside of the APPIC, as you'll be fighting every step of the way.

 

[psychmama]

I'm not very knowledgeable about this, but we've had students in my program who planned on practicing outside of the United States when they complete their education. Since they are international students, it's likely many of them don't plan on being clinical psychologists here in the U.S. Do people like this need to worry about APA or APPIC at all? I'd guess it all depends on the practice/licensing requirements in those foreign countries.

If anybody out there is/was an International student and knows this, please feel free to enlighten. Thanks!

 

[psychanon]

If you plan on practicing the US later on, I wouldn't do an internship abroad. I don't really know anything about it, but doing something unaccredited (which would be anything) in a system that doesn't have something comparable to internship and thus probably wouldn't understand the requirements...you're setting yourself up for a lifetime of bureaucratic headaches. I can understand wanting to work abroad, but this is not the best time to choose to do it. Maybe you should think about doing a post-doc abroad instead.