Job at the VA

[psypipe]

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[Markro311]

APA-accredited program and internship, some combination of VA/PTSD/veteran clinical experience, and a strong assessment background. If you have those you should be competitive for a VA position, regardless of Psy.D/Ph.D.

 

[O Gurl]

Well, it varies by facility. I agree that getting strong assessment, some trauma exposure, and experience in medical settings is key. Also, training in a VA for internship and postdoc makes it much easier to secure a staff psychologist position. But there are some facilities that do not hire psychologists with PsyD or counseling PhD degrees or that strongly prefer clinical PhD. I'd recommend checking out the APPIC internship directory as the preferences described there often carry over to staff psychologist positions: http://www.appic.org/directory/search_dol_internships.asp or contacting HR at VAs where you are interested in settling down long-term.

 

[KayJay85]

I would also recommend checking with HR or the psychology training directors at the VA hospitals you are interested in . The saying goes, if you know one VA, you know one VA. They are very different. But I have heard that Jesse Brown VA (Chicago); Boston VA (Boston Consortium); Birmingham VA (UAB Consortium); Providence VA (Brown Consortium); and Palo Alto VA prefer PhD.

 

[psypipe]

I would also recommend checking with HR or the psychology training directors at the VA hospitals you are interested in . The saying goes, if you know one VA, you know one VA. They are very different. But I have heard that Jesse Brown VA (Chicago); Boston VA (Boston Consortium); Birmingham VA (UAB Consortium); Providence VA (Brown Consortium); and Palo Alto VA prefer PhD.

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[AcronymAllergy]

Thank you all for your answers!

I am curious to why some VA would prefer a PHD rather than a PsyD. I have searched some jobs at the VA and in the job summary none state research.

Example:
The incumbent will serve in the Santa Rosa Community Based Outpatient Clinic a satellite clinic of the San Francisco VA Medical Center. Duties include, but are not limited to: conducting intake evaluations of new referrals, conducting psychological and neuropsychological assessments, providing individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy and psycho education groups for posttraumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders, anger management, depression, chronic mental illness and psychiatric illness co-occur with medical illnesses.

So I am curious if you guys have any idea why some VA would prefer PHD's?

Probably depends on the individual VA and its supervisory staff. Some may simply be hanging on to the notion that the Ph.D. offers some greater degree of equivalence across training programs, while others may expect you to actively participate in at least a small amount of research (perhaps, if nothing else, at the program evaluation level). I don't know if the VA you specifically quoted here is one that prefers PhDs to PsyDs, though.

 

[psypipe]

Probably depends on the individual VA and its supervisory staff. Some may simply be hanging on to the notion that the Ph.D. offers some greater degree of equivalence across training programs, while others may expect you to actively participate in at least a small amount of research (perhaps, if nothing else, at the program evaluation level). I don't know if the VA you specifically quoted here is one that prefers PhDs to PsyDs, though.

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe some VA think PhD's are better due to the stigma of professional schools. I understand the reasoning, I would like to think University based PsyD's are another story.

If I am interested in working for the government( VA, civilian military , civilian Air force , CIA) would you recommend university based PsyD or PhD. I prefer a univesity based PsyD.( rutgers, baylor , widener etc.) because I am more interested in practice ( this doesn't mean I dont like research). But if a PsyD would seriously hinder my chances to work for the government I would consider looking at balanced PhD's in more detail.

Opinions ?

Thanks!

 

[Shatani]

Hello,
I am interested in knowing if it is hard to get a job at the VA with a PsyD. I ask because in another thread someone said that they worked at a VA and they had no PsyD psychologist on staff.

If lets say one attends a university based PsyD. and obtains an APA internship, will the fact that one has a PsyD. diminish one's chances to get a job at the VA?

I was thinking maybe this has to do with clinical PsyD students not having the qualifications the VA is looking for and not due to the degree itself.

If you think this is the case, what qualifications are they looking for?
I know that one needs to have an APA accredited degree and internship but apart from that, what else?

i dont think the degree itself has that much to do with it....at least 4 of my friends who completed the same PsyD program i did currently work for the VA.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe some VA think PhD's are better due to the stigma of professional schools. I understand the reasoning, I would like to think University based PsyD's are another story.

If I am interested in working for the government( VA, civilian military , civilian Air force , CIA) would you recommend university based PsyD or PhD. I prefer a univesity based PsyD.( rutgers, baylor , widener etc.) because I am more interested in practice ( this doesn't mean I dont like research). But if a PsyD would seriously hinder my chances to work for the government I would consider looking at balanced PhD's in more detail.

Opinions ?

Thanks!

If you apply, and are accepted, to both types of programs (university-based Psy.D. and Ph.D.), I'd primarily base my decision on which school had the best funding/financial aid package, had the best externship placements available, had the happiest students, and seemed to provide the best clinical supervision.

 

[O Gurl]

I am curious to why some VA would prefer a PHD rather than a PsyD. I have searched some jobs at the VA and in the job summary none state research.

Example:
The incumbent will serve in the Santa Rosa Community Based Outpatient Clinic a satellite clinic of the San Francisco VA Medical Center. Duties include, but are not limited to: conducting intake evaluations of new referrals, conducting psychological and neuropsychological assessments, providing individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy and psycho education groups for posttraumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders, anger management, depression, chronic mental illness and psychiatric illness co-occur with medical illnesses.

So I am curious if you guys have any idea why some VA would prefer PHD's?

CBOCs may be a different story, given their primary purpose is to expand health care access to rural areas. However, the psychologists at the CBOCs near my VA are involved in our ongoing primary care program evaluation study, so perhaps you may see a PhD trend at a few of those. Most of us can agree that that all VAs are different, and your best bet it to seek info from facilities in areas where you may want to end up. You will also notice from the VAs KayJay listed that they are all university-affiliated and in metropolitan areas. That may have a lot to do with the PhD preference as their positions likely involve adjunct faculty appointments and research. If you know you want to pursue a PsyD and practice clinically, then it sounds like a solid decision on your part because at the end of the day, you have to be happy with the position--not just the employer. There are VAs that hire for fully-clinical positions, so as long as you have the bases covered (assessment, trauma, hospital setting) you should be able to find something.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Strong generalist training and strong assessment training are both really important. Degree type....it may matter at a few places. The academic affiliation/research expectations may be a better fit for PhDs, as I'd hazard to guess there are more "research friendly" people with PhDs than PsyDs. I'm a research friendly PsyD, though I know I'm in the minority.