To postdoc, or not to postdoc, that is the question...

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Hello! This might fit into the "help me decide" thread but I was not sure. Apologies if I should have posted it there.

I am currently a health psychology intern at a VA, approaching postdoc application season. I initially had the plan of completing a postdoc, but now I am not so sure. I am really wanting to move back to the city I want to settle in, get a job, and move on with life; however, I am afraid if I do not do a postdoc I will be limiting myself in mobility.

My career trajectory is health psychology, primarily hospital-based (VA or academic medical center) mainly in pain, sleep, evaluations. I plan to get board certified at some point in the future, once eligible. I am unsure about ultimately where I will land location-wise, as my husband is in the military. I would ultimately like to end up in Kentucky which does not have postdoctoral hours licensure requirements - but moving back to KY is not something set in stone or guaranteed.

IF I were to get a job that provided supervision in my first year - would that count as "postdoctoral supervision hours" for licensure in other states that do require it? Or for those states, is it only acceptable to do a formal postdoc to get those hours?

Thanks so much in advance!

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Hello! This might fit into the "help me decide" thread but I was not sure. Apologies if I should have posted it there.

I am currently a health psychology intern at a VA, approaching postdoc application season. I initially had the plan of completing a postdoc, but now I am not so sure. I am really wanting to move back to the city I want to settle in, get a job, and move on with life; however, I am afraid if I do not do a postdoc I will be limiting myself in mobility.

My career trajectory is health psychology, primarily hospital-based (VA or academic medical center) mainly in pain, sleep, evaluations. I plan to get board certified at some point in the future, once eligible. I am unsure about ultimately where I will land location-wise, as my husband is in the military. I would ultimately like to end up in Kentucky which does not have postdoctoral hours licensure requirements - but moving back to KY is not something set in stone or guaranteed.

IF I were to get a job that provided supervision in my first year - would that count as "postdoctoral supervision hours" for licensure in other states that do require it? Or for those states, is it only acceptable to do a formal postdoc to get those hours?

Thanks so much in advance!
I believe that most states require post-doctoral supervised hours, rather that a formal "post-doctoral internship." I am not aware offhand which, if any, states require a formal post-doc. I'm certain others will chime in here, and you should also check the state regs of any state you could even imagine yourself living in, as well as any states that border those, just to be sure. I did not do a formal post-doc internship, and know many other licensed psychologists who did not either. I got the supervised hours at a real job. It has not held me back from anything, including licensure in multiple states. There are some areas of practice where formal post-docs are more of the norm (e.g., neuropsych), but I'm not aware of that being the case in health psychology. Again- check the regs in all those states. Shouldn't take you more than an hour, and you really want to be sure.
 
Hello! This might fit into the "help me decide" thread but I was not sure. Apologies if I should have posted it there.

I am currently a health psychology intern at a VA, approaching postdoc application season. I initially had the plan of completing a postdoc, but now I am not so sure. I am really wanting to move back to the city I want to settle in, get a job, and move on with life; however, I am afraid if I do not do a postdoc I will be limiting myself in mobility.

My career trajectory is health psychology, primarily hospital-based (VA or academic medical center) mainly in pain, sleep, evaluations. I plan to get board certified at some point in the future, once eligible. I am unsure about ultimately where I will land location-wise, as my husband is in the military. I would ultimately like to end up in Kentucky which does not have postdoctoral hours licensure requirements - but moving back to KY is not something set in stone or guaranteed.

IF I were to get a job that provided supervision in my first year - would that count as "postdoctoral supervision hours" for licensure in other states that do require it? Or for those states, is it only acceptable to do a formal postdoc to get those hours?

Thanks so much in advance!

As long as you work is supervised by a psychologist for a year (at least 1 hour/week), you're fine.
 
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First question, what are the requirements for board eligibility in Health psych? Most of the ABPP boards require a postdoc in that specialty, or you need to prove that your experience post internship meets the requirements. Bottom line, for most of the specialty boards, postdoc makes it much easier to get. Varies slightly between boards, so you may want to check that out.

Also, licensure, as ABA pointed out. Varies by state somewhat. In my state, if you didn't have a postdoc, it's much harder to pass the credentialing process.
 
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First question, what are the requirements for board eligibility in Health psych? Most of the ABPP boards require a postdoc in that specialty, or you need to prove that your experience post internship meets the requirements. Bottom line, for most of the specialty boards, postdoc makes it much easier to get. Varies slightly between boards, so you may want to check that out.

Also, licensure, as ABA pointed out. Varies by state somewhat. In my state, if you didn't have a postdoc, it's much harder to pass the credentialing process.
ABPP states:
  • The applicant can apply for certification after one postdoctoral year upon successful completion of at least one year of an APA/CPA accredited Clinical Health Psychology postdoctoral fellowship OR
  • The applicant can apply for certification after two postdoctoral years upon successful completion of either:
  1. An APA/CPA accredited postdoctoral fellowship in an area other than clinical health psychology if at least 50% of the training was in clinical health psychology, and one additional postdoctoral year of clinical health psychology experience OR
  2. A non-accredited but APPIC listed clinical health psychology fellowship and one additional postdoctoral year of clinical health psychology experience OR
  3. The applicant can apply for certification after three postdoctoral years including a one-year postdoctoral supervised experience in professional psychology, and two additional years of post doctoral experience in clinical health psychology.

So it sounds like taking a job with supervision in first year would cover me for licensure purposes, but would make it a longer process for me to become board certified (three years versus two years). Would that be an accurate statement?
 
Well, one year instead of 3 if the postdoc was APA accredited in clinical health psych. I'd also want to see the ABPP specialty requirements for didactics. If they have some, it would be tough to meet those just by working under supervision, you'd likely have to seek those out at your own expense, rather than getting them included in a specialty postdoc.
 
Having the post-doc will make board certification easier. The three years issue can work if you get a full-time health psych gig. Often jobs can be hybrid general and health psych, overlap with geriatrics, etc. It may be difficult to get the three years to count depending on the first job you take. That said, it depends on how committed you are to that path vs family life and being more flexible. If you want academic med center or VA gigs that are competitive, it is helpful to ge the post doc and may board cert. Community gigs in health psych are more forgiving in my experience.
 
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I'm a health psychologist and I'm familiar with the board certification process. A health psych postdoc does make board certification easier. Postdocs are also a common pathway to faculty appointments at many VAs and AMCs, so it can make a lot of sense to take a postdoc in the city or institution where you'd eventually like to work.

So it sounds like taking a job with supervision in first year would cover me for licensure purposes, but would make it a longer process for me to become board certified (three years versus two years). Would that be an accurate statement?

Yes. If you start a job as a staff psychologist or junior faculty and can document regular supervision/mentoring in the specialty over the first year of your job, that should suffice. But there are some precautions. First, close mentoring by a more experienced specialist is not resource you'll find everywhere (eg, if you took a job as the first/only health psychologist at that facility). Also, you'd need to make a good case that most of your work is in the specialty. Doing mostly generalist work and having a smaller part of your time in a specialty clinic likely would not count, unless you are working in a primary care consultant model and that's your main focus. And yes, you still need to work for at least 3 years before applying.
 
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@WisNeuro @Sanman @ClinicalABA @erg923 @MamaPhD thank you for your input I appreciate it!
I think I know that doing the postdoc is likely better for me in the long run and a safer choice...just having a hard time coming to terms with it when I really want to return to the city I want to live in and where all of my community is. Unfortunately there are no postdocs in Kentucky that would work for me. I've been dragging my feet through this whole process in hopes of finding a loophole where I could take a job AND be with my support system AND be in the city I love...but sounds like I have one more year before I can make that happen. Not quite time to have my cake and eat it too. Time to practice some radical acceptance lol
Thanks again for the help!
 
It can be rough, but just remember that sometimes taking the harder path, or delaying gratification in the short term can lead to a MUCH easier path in the long-term. It's a lot easier to put the work in now to give yourself as much flexibility as you can for later.
 
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@WisNeuro @Sanman @ClinicalABA @erg923 @MamaPhD thank you for your input I appreciate it!
I think I know that doing the postdoc is likely better for me in the long run and a safer choice...just having a hard time coming to terms with it when I really want to return to the city I want to live in and where all of my community is. Unfortunately there are no postdocs in Kentucky that would work for me. I've been dragging my feet through this whole process in hopes of finding a loophole where I could take a job AND be with my support system AND be in the city I love...but sounds like I have one more year before I can make that happen. Not quite time to have my cake and eat it too. Time to practice some radical acceptance lol
Thanks again for the help!

I was in the same position as you and opted to take a job local to me in geriatrics (nursing home work) rather than taking a formal post-doc and my career ended up pivoting in that direction from a neuropsych/healthpsych one. So, I will also throw that out as a possiblity. However, my ability to get health psych jobs is limited in the future due to this choice. I am fine with it, but make the choice carefully. Working in LTC/ALF long-term is not for everyone. Good luck!
 
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