Working Per Diem as MHS during PhD program

[psyche_investigator]

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I'm currently a third-year PhD student in scientist-practitioner program in Clinical Psychology. I'm currently doing teaching to get my stipend (not enough to live on where I'm at) and also doing an assessment practicum a couple days a week. Since the lab I'm in doesn't have a lot of external funding to do research, I often have to find gigs that help me survive over the summer.

While looking at a bunch of job opportunities, I've been interviewed by a local teaching hospital for a part-time/per diem Mental Health Specialist position on one of their psychiatric inpatient units. It seems like a great opportunity and the pay isn't that bad, so I've been considering it. However, the expectation for taking this job is that I would need to work shifts during the school year as well, and while I'm not entirely opposed to it, I'm wondering if it's worth doing. As I mentioned, I'll already be engaged in clinical practicum and teaching next year, so my schedule would be tight.

I've mainly been wondering whether a job like this would even be helpful for my career in the long-term, including being competitive for internship. Most of my practicum placements thus far have been in college counseling centers and private practices, which although great quality training experiences, may not have the cache that a teaching hospital-based experience would have. I'm wondering whether internship and post-docs would seriously take this kind of inpatient work, which I assume would not count for clinical hours since I probably won't be supervised by a licensed psychologist. Any thoughts are much appreciated and I can also clarify any points that might help illuminate my situation better.

 

[ClinicalABA]

If it's not supervised clinical work, it may not mean a lot for intership apps and the like. Is there a way to make it into a supervised practicum? You also should check whether or not your training program allows for non-practica clinical work (mine did not).

 

[summerbabe]

Agreed with the above advice. It would probably be seen more akin to other related experiences like the kinds that people often have prior to grad school since there isn't oversight into providing doctoral level psychological services. If you plan on applying to hospital/VA internships, it could be helpful to show possible fit with hospital-based internship when the rest of your experiences are UCC and PP.

The big thing that I would think about is whether this would detract away from your ability to finish your program requirements on time to apply for internship and get done with school. If you're teaching, doing a prac, studying for comps, working on dissertation, etc, would you be able to add on another major responsibility without sacrificing quality or significantly increasing burnout during a full semester as opposed to summer only? On the flip side, that facility might be significantly less motivated to hire you if they know you'd only be around for a couple months in the summer. Good luck!