Licensing, Accreditation etc

[yeti2213]

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The two recent posts "Occupy the imbalance" and the one about the APPIC data got me thinking about the entire process of getting to be a Licensed Psychologist. I am pretty confused....

So I got this far. State licensing boards are authorized to allow you to use that title under guidelines set by the legislature of the state. You need to apply for this and need to take the EPPP.... but I'm not clear if that is true for all states? Is it?

All the states require you to have an accredited doctoral degree. BUT it appeared the accreditation could be by any national or regional accreditation body.... nor did the few I looked at imply that these had to be clinical or counseling psych degrees. To me it seemed like you could end up getting a license even if you went to a non-APA accredited school and got a PhD in something that met the states requirements but was not a clinical degree. Is that accurate?

Pre and post doctoral supervision do seem to be required BUT I did not see anything about it having to be APA or APPIC or anything like that.

If someone else can tell this story of getting admitted to a school to getting licensed more coherently I am all ears.

If I am right then this APA internship business is really more of a carrot than a stick? It opens up doors and gets you respect but is not absolutely necessary. Let us suppose for a moment that all I wanted to do was hang a shingle, see some clients... if I were one of these people I would not necessarily need to bother with this APA/APPIC match business. In my hypo, I could just apply for a non-APA accredited school, finish my program, get supervision from where ever (can it even be a private practice?) and get my license.... and that would be sufficient for me to bill insurance if I needed to. Yeah?

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

..if I were one of these people I would not necessarily need to bother with this APA/APPIC match business. In my hypo, I could just apply for a non-APA accredited school, finish my program, get supervision from where ever (can it even be a private practice?) and get my license.... and that would be sufficient for me to bill insurance if I needed to. Yeah?

Technically you could practice under most states' laws...but should you? I'd argue No because every corner was cut and there was really very little oversight for the entirety of the training experience. It still happens, but you'll most likely be stuck with only being able to work privately. It isn't really bothering, as APA-acred program, APA-acred internship, and a post-doc is the expected path for students.

 

[yeti2213]

T4C,

I would not consider that path. Does not suit my aspirations. Rather I was trying to establish what the barrier to entry is in the market, a tremendous important question before one starts a business. If one technically can, I imagine there are a bunch doing it and to the average consume of psychological services APA accreditation/internship means very little. Unless someone educates them about it of course.

 

[Pragma]

Technically you could practice under most states' laws...but should you? I'd argue No because every corner was cut and there was really very little oversight for the entirety of the training experience. It still happens, but you'll most likely be stuck with only being able to work privately. It isn't really bothering, as APA-acred program, APA-acred internship, and a post-doc is the expected path for students.

I think it speaks to the weakness of our state and national political lobbies that these things have not been pushed for stronger governmental regulation, particularly in terms of titles. I fear that as a result we are about to be lost in the mix of non-physician service providers who are slowly encroaching on what we are more trained to provide. This also goes for testing...it is too bad that vocational therapists and speech/language pathologists now routinely give psychological and neuropsychological tests.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I think it speaks to the weakness of our state and national political lobbies that these things have not been pushed for stronger governmental regulation, particularly in terms of titles. I fear that as a result we are about to be lost in the mix of non-physician service providers who are slowly encroaching on what we are more trained to provide. This also goes for testing...it is too bad that vocational therapists and speech/language pathologists now routinely give psychological and neuropsychological tests.

Agreed. The training is just not sufficient, though that doesn't stop most from still doing it...

 

[Duck Duck Goose]

Just to reiterate, about half of internships that people match to in the APPIC match are not APA accredited internships. Or at least that seems to be the case based on the stats released by APPIC. Correct me if I'm wrong but it doesn't seem like even APA grad programs require APA internships, though they may encourage them.

 

[cara susanna]

A lot of programs require APA internships, actually. Mine does.

 

[Duck Duck Goose]

A lot of programs require APA internships, actually. Mine does.

I know a lot do but a lot don't, too. Mine doesn't, though it encourages them.

 

[busybusybusy]

I was also wondering how important APA accreditation is for post-docs and can't find this info.

I know that for program and internship it's extremely important, but what about for post-docs? The Monitor put out an article on making your own post-doc and I know that there are some highly respected sites that aren't APA accredited, I believe mostly because they don't want to deal with the match process. Still, would it be detrimental to your career if you did a non-accredited post-doc like it would be if you did a non-accredited internship?

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I was also wondering how important APA accreditation is for post-docs and can't find this info.

I know that for program and internship it's extremely important, but what about for post-docs? The Monitor put out an article on making your own post-doc and I know that there are some highly respected sites that aren't APA accredited, I believe mostly because they don't want to deal with the match process. Still, would it be detrimental to your career if you did a non-accredited post-doc like it would be if you did a non-accredited internship?

It might depend on the specialty, but as far as I know, APA-accred for post-docs isn't nearly as important (or standard) as it is for grad school and internship. It's more crucial that the site offers training consistent with what it is you want to do afterward (e.g., research for academia, division 40 guideline adherence for neuropsych, etc.).

 

[Pragma]

It might depend on the specialty, but as far as I know, APA-accred for post-docs isn't nearly as important (or standard) as it is for grad school and internship. It's more crucial that the site offers training consistent with what it is you want to do afterward (e.g., research for academia, division 40 guideline adherence for neuropsych, etc.).

Yes, from what I gather, it is not nearly as important. There aren't that many post-doc sites that are accredited yet, at least enough for it to be a standard for people to graduate.

Because state requirements vary so much, it would be tough for this to be a standard when you can go right into practice after graduating in some places. For some areas, the type of postdoc you have may matter for further credentialing (e.g., neuropsychology boarding has specific postdoc requirements, but not APA accredidation).

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Yes, from what I gather, it is not nearly as important. There aren't that many post-doc sites that are accredited yet, at least enough for it to be a standard for people to graduate.

Because state requirements vary so much, it would be tough for this to be a standard when you can go right into practice after graduating in some places. For some areas, the type of postdoc you have may matter for further credentialing (e.g., neuropsychology boarding has specific postdoc requirements, but not APA accredidation).

Very good point--given that even with formal post-docs, things are much less-standardized than at the grad school and internship levels, it's important to be sure the experience will meet the licensing requirements of wherever you'd like to practice (assuming you plan on getting licensed). And yes, you definitely also want the post-doc to meet the requirements of whatever additional credentialing (if any) it is you'd like to obtain, such as boarding.

I personally haven't heard of anything/anyone requiring APA accred when it comes to post-docs, but I don't pretend to know anything about many areas of specialized practice.