Monitor on Psychology - December 2011 - (Page 67)

become APA-accredited, doctoral programs must demonstrate that their curricula prepare students for entry into practice. “Continuing with the old policy presented a barrier that kept fully trained entry-level psychologists from actually entering practice, even when they were pursuing advanced training opportunities,” says Belar. “Moreover, many so-called postdocs were not really organized, sequential training experiences but simply a collection of supervised hours.” Postdoctoral training is still important for psychologists seeking mobility, specialty certification or just continuing professional development, emphasizes Judy E. Hall, PhD, executive officer of the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. “The difference,” she says, “is whether one gains that postdoctoral experience with or without a license.” The policy change has worked out well for many early career psychologists, including Owen J. Bargreen, PsyD. Thanks to Washington State’s revised law, he was able to launch his Everett, Wash., practice soon after graduating from the California School of Professional Psychology in 2007. “Because California has a postdoc requirement, I had many colleagues who were doing postdocs while I was getting my practice started,” says Bargreen, who plans to spend his career in his home state. “I thought that having one yearlong practicum and two full-time predoctoral internships was enough clinical training to get me started.” But now some are questioning the wisdom of APA’s policy shift. The change was well-intentioned, but solving one problem — at least for students in some states — has brought new difficulties, says APA Recording Secretary Barry Anton, PhD. Say you decide to take advantage of Washington state’s law and skip the postdoc, says Anton. “If you intend to practice in Washington State from the day you get your degree to the day you retire, you’re not going to have any problems,” he says. “But if you have any intention of going to another jurisdiction, you could have a problem.” Just moving across the border to Oregon could be difficult, Anton points out, since Oregon still requires a postdoc. “To get licensed there, you’d have to do a postdoctoral year — if you could find a way to do that,” he says. Because of these mobility concerns, says Anton, many training directors are urging students to do postdocs even in states that don’t require them. Similarly, the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) suggests that students who opt out of postdocs get — and document — supervised experience even after they’re licensed. But even then, warns APAGS Chairelect Ali Mattu, you have to realize that some states won’t count hours accrued after licensure as fulfilling the postdoc requirement, even if you’re supervised. “If there’s any chance you might move after graduation, the only safe option is to do a supervised postdoc,” says Mattu. “If DeceMber 2011 • Monitor on psychology moving may be in your future, get your hours and study for the Examination for Professional Practice of Psychology, but hold off on getting licensed until you have satisfied the postdoc requirements.” Even moving between two states that don’t require postdocs can be difficult, says Stephen T. DeMers, EdD, executive officer of the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Should you bank your credentials? When a West Coast psychologist wanted to move to new York to be closer to his family, the state’s licensing board required a letter from his internship supervisor. Unfortunately, the supervisor had died long before. As a result, the psychologist wasn’t eligible for licensure. When Ali Mattu, chair-elect of the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students, heard the psychologist’s tale, he immediately added credentials banking to his to-do list. “that story really scared me,” says Mattu, who is doing an externship at the Columbia University Center for Anxiety and related Disorders. “I don’t want that to happen to me.” Credentials banking — submitting documentation about your internship, doctoral degree, postdoc and other credentials to a central repository for verification and storage — can offer peace of mind as well as convenience. the credentials banking movement grew out of the frustration of senior psychologists trying to get licensed in new jurisdictions, says Judy e. Hall, PhD, executive officer of the national register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. “A supervisor may be dead,” says Hall. “An internship may no longer exist. or you may have had a job for which there’s no documentation.” now the push is to get graduate students and early career psychologists to bank their credentials as they earn them. “What we’re saying to young people is to get that supervisor to sign a form while they’re right there in front of you, not 10 or 20 years later,” says Stephen t. DeMers, edD, executive officer of the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB). to learn more about the national register, visit www.nationalregister.org. to learn more about ASPPB’s Credentials Bank, visit www. asppb.net. —R.A. ClAy 67 http://www.nationalregister.org http://www.asppb.net http://www.asppb.net

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Monitor on Psychology - December 2011

Monitor on Psychology - December 2011
Letters
President’s Column
Contents
From the CEO
Willpower Pioneer Wins $100,000 Grawemeyer Prize
Single-Sex Schooling Called Into Question by Prominent Researchers
Maternal Depression Stunts Childhood Growth, Research Suggests
For Boys, Sharing May Seem Like a Waste of Time
Good News for Postdoc Applicants
In Brief
Treatment Guideline Development Now Under Way
Government Relations Update
Psychologist Named Va Mental Health Chief
The Limits of Eyewitness Testimony
Judicial Notebook
Random Sample
Time Capsule
Deconstructing Suicide
Questionnaire
A Focus on Interdisciplinarity
A Time of ‘Enormous Change’
The Science Behind Team Science
Good Science Requires Good Conflict
A New Paradigm of Care
Speaking of Education
Science Directions
New Labels, New Attitudes?
Psychologist Profile
Early Career Psychology
Unintended Consequences
Better Options for Troubled Teens
Saving Lives, One Organ at a Time
New Journal Editors
APA News
Division Spotlight
Guidelines for the Conduct of President-Elect Nominations and Elections
American Psychological Foundation
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - December 2011