Job ideas for gap year?

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JStiz

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Trying to brainstorm a list of some gap-year job options for a friend hoping to pursue a PhD in psychology or a PsyD. He just completed undergrad with a BS in neuroscience. Does anyone have any recommendations for gap-year paying jobs (besides research) that would also be beneficial to a future career in psychology?

I'm not very familiar with the psychology career path, so any ideas/advice for someone taking a gap year would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

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Research jobs would be ideal, because then you get paid for the work that is most likely to get you into a funded PhD program.

A clinical job (e.g. as a psychometrist) with some research components (or which would allow you to volunteer for research experience) would probably be the next best thing, but those kinds of jobs are few and far between. A bachelor's degree is generally just not sufficient to get the positions where you would do the kinds of clinical work that would be attractive to graduate programs. Sure, these jobs exist, but it's difficult to find them, let alone get them, and I say this as someone who currently has one of these jobs and will be leaving to attend grad school in the fall. I just fell ass-backwards into it.
 
Research jobs would be ideal, because then you get paid for the work that is most likely to get you into a funded PhD program.

A clinical job (e.g. as a psychometrist) with some research components (or which would allow you to volunteer for research experience) would probably be the next best thing, but those kinds of jobs are few and far between. A bachelor's degree is generally just not sufficient to get the positions where you would do the kinds of clinical work that would be attractive to graduate programs. Sure, these jobs exist, but it's difficult to find them, let alone get them, and I say this as someone who currently has one of these jobs and will be leaving to attend grad school in the fall. I just fell ass-backwards into it.


Thank you very much!
 
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If you're also looking for clinical experience, try to get a job/volunteer position with a suicide hotline. I did that and all the programs I interviewed at considered it good clinical experience. I also worked as a psych tech which is invaluable experience with SMI.
 
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Tell him to explore research. It will benefit him more than clinical experience because, quite frankly, an undergraduate doesn't generally have the requisite training to provide any sort of mental health intervention service effectively. For instance, the advice quoted below suggests that a BA level person is doing SI/HI assessments on their own and merely consulting afterwards. That is a troubling amount of responsibility given to someone without formal training in clinical symptom assessment. While having 'clinical stories' may be useful, it does not ensure that you are doing effective service or making reasonable calls which supervision would be able to pick apart (thus, APA pushing for observation as part of required training). This is why suicide hotlines are not call-forwarded to a volunteer's home and why they typically require fairly extensive amounts of on site training before allowing people to answer calls. Research will give (a) an increased capacity to complete the dissertation by being knowledgeable about research design and (b) an improved understanding of how to digest scientific literature, which should inform future clinical practice. If they opt to engage in any sort of 'clinical practice', they should be selective and don't make the assumption that 'more responsibility = better'. This is true of any training, but building bad habits early doesn't ensure better habits later.

I say this as an R1 faculty member and as a former clinical supervisor for several QMHPs.

I got to work for a moblie crisis team while I applied for grad school full time. It requires a degree in the behavioral sciences. It was the best clinical experience I think anyone can get with just a bachelor's as you're qualified to be a Qualified Mental Health Professional (QMHP). We do Mental Health assessments, write clinical natives, assess mental health symptoms, gather treatment and substance use history and use basic skills like empathy, validation and supportive listening. We meet clients in their homes, ERs, shelters, and schools. Our organization always consults with a licensed counselor social worker or our medical director who is a psychiatrist after every face to face assessment. Plus there's also assessing for Suicide and homicide risk.

Helped me a lot in my interviews with giving interesting clinically relevant stories and experiences! Going to a Counseling Psych PhD program this fall now!
My organization was also really flexible as were available 24/7 and my supervisors were willing to work with my schedule during interview season.

Good luck!
 
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Tell him to explore research. It will benefit him more than clinical experience because, quite frankly, an undergraduate doesn't generally have the requisite training to provide any sort of mental health intervention service effectively. For instance, the advice quoted below suggests that a BA level person is doing SI/HI assessments on their own and merely consulting afterwards. That is a troubling amount of responsibility given to someone without formal training in clinical symptom assessment. While having 'clinical stories' may be useful, it does not ensure that you are doing effective service or making reasonable calls which supervision would be able to pick apart (thus, APA pushing for observation as part of required training). This is why suicide hotlines are not call-forwarded to a volunteer's home and why they typically require fairly extensive amounts of on site training before allowing people to answer calls. Research will give (a) an increased capacity to complete the dissertation by being knowledgeable about research design and (b) an improved understanding of how to digest scientific literature, which should inform future clinical practice. If they opt to engage in any sort of 'clinical practice', they should be selective and don't make the assumption that 'more responsibility = better'. This is true of any training, but building bad habits early doesn't ensure better habits later.

I say this as an R1 faculty member and as a former clinical supervisor for several QMHPs.
Yeah, this seems like a definite scope of practice/competence issue, provided the poster is portraying their experiences accurately.
 
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