Wright institute

[bmedclinic]

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But, it always strikes me as odd when folks that have put muchos años into a PhD/PsyD program, APA-accred internship, and APA/APPCN postdoc suddenly go stupid just to live/work a few hundred yards (figuratively speaking) away from they grew up... and at wages far below what they are worth.

Completely agree.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Unfortunately many people want what they want when they want it, even if the options are poor and often have a negative impact on the field.

 

[smalltownpsych]

I just wanted to point out, as someone who grew up and went to a program in Socal and left for internship for rural environs, is that there is a different mindset growing up in a major metropolitan area. In more rural communities, everyone knows that they will have to go somewhere else for many things including careers and even something as simple as finding a decent restaurant. People in major metropolitan cities don't have that mindset and it was actually a bit of a shock to me when I realized that I would have to move for internship. Once I adjusted, I didn't apply anywhere in California because I realized there were better opportunities elsewhere. I wish I had known about the importance of moving before the doctoral program, as I wouldn't have accrued such a large debt.

 

[PsyDr]

Imo: 20-30 years ago things were easier. Better jobs, more jobs, less restrictions in terms of how internship and post doc were structured, more pay, less third party payor problems, fewer psychologists, fewer mental health professionals in general, etc.

I believe this led to a generation of now older psychologists who tell prospective students to "just" find a job, move somewhere, go to a program in their preferred area, etc. younger people see a person with a nice job, get told it is easy, and buy it. When reality hits, they are understandably upset and rigid. Taken with the fact that psychology has a ridiculous fostering of dependency (e.g., telling everyone who they trained with many many many years into their career), moving ends up being a shock.

 

[cara susanna]

I grew up in a smaller city in the Midwest, and attended a grad program in an even smaller city. I moved to a fairly large, geographically desirable city for internship and am moving to a much larger, geographically desirable city for post-doc. Honestly, living in these awesome cities definitely has its downside when you're making an intern/post-doc salary. Cities are great, but man are they expensive.