Psychologist licensure requirement in California

[asukaran]

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Hey all,

This is a question for folks who are familiar with the licensure requirement in California. Does anyone know if someone works as a 100% research postdoc (0% clinical work) in clinical-related studies and the mentor is a clinical psychologist, can he count all his research hours towards licensure and be qualified to apply?

Thank you.

 

[calimich]

I don't think 100% research would suffice for licensure. Always check with the board

Examination Information - California Board of Psychology

www.psychology.ca.gov

 

[WisNeuro]

I can't imagine this would satisfy postdoctoral clinical hours anywhere that requires them. Our research oriented classmates were always advised to look for 50/50 positions if they were interested in maintaining eligibility for licensure down the road. May have to look in to getting formal supervised experience. As stated, get a hold of the board to find out exactly what you'd need to do to fulfill requirements. You don't want to spend a year or two to find out you needed to go about it another way to qualify.

 

[cara susanna]

Yeah, I was in a 75% research 25% clinical post doc in California and we had to apply later than the clinical post docs for that reason

 

[asukaran]

Thank you for all the information. What is the minimal percentage of face-to-face direct clinical work as required for licensure in California? I cannot find that number on their website.

 

[WisNeuro]

Thank you for all the information. What is the minimal percentage of face-to-face direct clinical work as required for licensure in California? I cannot find that number on their website.

I doubt it's a percentage, as opposed to a certain number of overall hours within a certain time frame. But, it's CA, so who knows, they do thins all jacked up. Last I knew, they have a large pdf of their rules and regs somewhere in their site.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Caveat: I'm not licensed in or especially familiar with CA

I doubt it's a percentage, as opposed to a certain number of overall hours within a certain time frame. But, it's CA, so who knows, they do thins all jacked up. Last I knew, they have a large pdf of their rules and regs somewhere in their site.

I also suspect it's related to the number of hours and having the appropriate supervision setup in place (e.g., supervision agreement, number of supervision hours, presence of didactics)

 

[WisNeuro]

Caveat: I'm not licensed in or especially familiar with

I also suspect it's related to the number of hours and having the appropriate supervision setup in place (e.g., supervision agreement, number of supervision hours, presence of didactics)

Yeah, I thought CA was one of the states that needed a supervision agreement before the start of any counted hours, and that the supervisor themselves has a lot of requirements to meet to serve officially in that designation.

 

[PsychPhDone]

Caveat: I'm not licensed in or especially familiar with

I also suspect it's related to the number of hours and having the appropriate supervision setup in place (e.g., supervision agreement, number of supervision hours, presence of didactics)

Yes, you need supervision time equal to 10% of clinical hours (so would need 4h per week for fully clinical position).

I am not aware of a minimum requirement for clinical hours but I waited longer to apply for licensure, similar situation to @cara susanna .

 

[asukaran]

Hi for those who do research postdoc in CA, why don't you need to wait longer to apply for licensure rather than counting all your research hours towards licensure? In clinical research there can also involve a lot of assessments and patient contact hours. Thus I don't understand the line between clinical research and pure clinical work...

 

[WisNeuro]

Hi for those who do research postdoc in CA, why don't you need to wait longer to apply for licensure rather than counting all your research hours towards licensure? In clinical research there can also involve a lot of assessments and patient contact hours. Thus I don't understand the line between clinical research and pure clinical work...

In most situations, these are vastly different things. I did a lot of clinical research and would equate very little of it to the level of conducting pure clinical work.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Hi for those who do research postdoc in CA, why don't you need to wait longer to apply for licensure rather than counting all your research hours towards licensure? In clinical research there can also involve a lot of assessments and patient contact hours. Thus I don't understand the line between clinical research and pure clinical work...

Unless the research relates to you actually providing clinical services to the individual (e.g., psychotherapy), you aren't providing clinical services, even if the studies are clinically-relevant. If you're administering assessments, you still aren't likely doing the same things you would normally do in a clinical evaluation, such as a clinical interview, records review, and integration of all data from a clinical perspective, that you then provide to the patient. You also aren't administering the measures in a clinical context, which can influence what measures you give and how you give them. The supervision you receive, I would imagine, is also going to be much different in a research role vs. a clinical role. Finally, your relationship with the patient is much different, and you don't have the same responsibilities and obligations to them in a clinical vs. research context.

 

[PsychPhDone]

Hi for those who do research postdoc in CA, why don't you need to wait longer to apply for licensure rather than counting all your research hours towards licensure? In clinical research there can also involve a lot of assessments and patient contact hours. Thus I don't understand the line between clinical research and pure clinical work...

I didn't think enough of my meetings would meet the threshold for supervision at a full time rate of hours accrual.

 

[asukaran]

Let's say you have a license from another state, is it easier to transfer to CA license?

 

[WisNeuro]

Let's say you have a license from another state, is it easier to transfer to CA license?

Depends on if they have a fastrack/waiver option. But, this usually involved having a license for a certain length of time. And, most states only have this reciprocity with other states with similar license requirements.

 

[summerbabe]

Let's say you have a license from another state, is it easier to transfer to CA license?

Get familiar with this link, which has options for whether you’ve been licensed more or less than 2 years in another state.
Out-of-State Application for Licensure as a Psychologist - California Board of Psychology

It looks like where you accrued postdoc hours is relevant, including if they were in California.

So say a state like Utah (which does not require any postdoc hours) licenses you for more than 2 years, it looks like you’ll still need to meet California’s postdoctoral supervised hours by an approved California supervisor and have the required forms such as formal supervision agreement filled out so I don’t think your current research only postdoc will cut it.

Some states more or less rubber stamp licenses but California is definitely is not one of those.