Pennsylvania licensure

[roostertan]

Hi all.

I am currently applying for licensure in PA and am feeling very unsure of where to go next; I am really hoping for some actionable advice (and some moral support from the other psychologists out there who have had to deal with the nuances of licensure application!).

I am currently a post-doc in the state of PA, and I graduated from an APA-accredited PhD program and completed an APA-accredited internship. Pennsylvania allows applicants to use pre-doctoral hours, which I am doing as my post-doc is more research intensive (although I do see clients) but they have a very strict requirement of 2 weekly hours of individual supervision from a primary supervisor, who can delegate 1 hour to another supervisor.

None of my practicum experiences in my program (nor post-doc) had 2 hours of individual supervision, except my first year at a counseling center; I am not sure how the board would look upon my first year of practicum as proof of readiness for licensure (the year was fine, it was just so long ago). During graduate school, I accrued more than enough clinical hours (services provided) to meet the requirement using my pre-doc hours. The prac experience I wanted to use for my hours was a group counseling clinic and so a lot of the supervision was small group sup and one hour of individual supervision; I have a lot of other experiences, but I worked at this clinic for years (and I meet the hours requirement for providing clinical services at this site alone), and so it would be easier just to stick with one site and wouldn't make sense to use another site; regardless, the other sites also didn't have 2 hours of weekly individual supervision. Unlike other states, I cannot find any evidence that group supervision is counted in PA.

There is a caveat that the supervisor can delegate 1 hour of supervision to another supervisor, but the other supervisor had to keep quarterly reports of my progress according to PA; I was supervised by more advanced graduate students in the group counseling clinic, and they did not do this. I did have another hour of individual supervision at another practicum site during this time, so I do meet the criterion requirement for 2 hours a week of individual supervision, but I wasn't sure if my primary supervisor could delegate an hour of my supervision to a provider at another practicum site; to me, this is reasonable, as my primary supervisor was the DCT, but I just don't know how this is interpreted by the board. The extra layer to this all is that, if you started your PhD in 2015, these requirements are essentially waived, and you just need a letter from your DCT acknowledging you completed a certain number of practicum hours! I started a year earlier, and so I am unable to do this (although I didn't start my pracs until 2015).

I am wondering if anyone has any advice here. My read (and anxiety) is that all my pre-doc hours are essentially useless toward licensure because I did not have 2 hours of weekly individual supervision from the same licensed psychologist, but if I started a year later, this wouldn't matter. If I really am ruled out from licensure because of this requirement, I can accept that, but I would like to make sure I am interpreting this correctly before I move forward. Do I contact the board and explain my situation? I have worked so hard in this field and feel really invalidated that this unique state requirement essentially renders my training invalid. At this point, I am wondering if I just need to contact a mental health clinic and ask if I can see clients with 2 hours of individual supervision simply to meet this requirement.

Thanks all.

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[bluecolourskies]

Did you supervisor ever observe you do groups/therapy/assessment? I am not sure about your state but I think in some, supervision counts if they are "directly observing your work." You just can't double dip (count the same hour as supervision AND client therapy hours)

 

[Mercury in Taurus]

Hi all.

I am currently applying for licensure in PA and am feeling very unsure of where to go next; I am really hoping for some actionable advice (and some moral support from the other psychologists out there who have had to deal with the nuances of licensure application!).

I am currently a post-doc in the state of PA, and I graduated from an APA-accredited PhD program and completed an APA-accredited internship. Pennsylvania allows applicants to use pre-doctoral hours, which I am doing as my post-doc is more research intensive (although I do see clients) but they have a very strict requirement of 2 weekly hours of individual supervision from a primary supervisor, who can delegate 1 hour to another supervisor.

None of my practicum experiences in my program (nor post-doc) had 2 hours of individual supervision, except my first year at a counseling center; I am not sure how the board would look upon my first year of practicum as proof of readiness for licensure (the year was fine, it was just so long ago). During graduate school, I accrued more than enough clinical hours (services provided) to meet the requirement using my pre-doc hours. The prac experience I wanted to use for my hours was a group counseling clinic and so a lot of the supervision was small group sup and one hour of individual supervision; I have a lot of other experiences, but I worked at this clinic for years (and I meet the hours requirement for providing clinical services at this site alone), and so it would be easier just to stick with one site and wouldn't make sense to use another site; regardless, the other sites also didn't have 2 hours of weekly individual supervision. Unlike other states, I cannot find any evidence that group supervision is counted in PA.

There is a caveat that the supervisor can delegate 1 hour of supervision to another supervisor, but the other supervisor had to keep quarterly reports of my progress according to PA; I was supervised by more advanced graduate students in the group counseling clinic, and they did not do this. I did have another hour of individual supervision at another practicum site during this time, so I do meet the criterion requirement for 2 hours a week of individual supervision, but I wasn't sure if my primary supervisor could delegate an hour of my supervision to a provider at another practicum site; to me, this is reasonable, as my primary supervisor was the DCT, but I just don't know how this is interpreted by the board. The extra layer to this all is that, if you started your PhD in 2015, these requirements are essentially waived, and you just need a letter from your DCT acknowledging you completed a certain number of practicum hours! I started a year earlier, and so I am unable to do this (although I didn't start my pracs until 2015).

I am wondering if anyone has any advice here. My read (and anxiety) is that all my pre-doc hours are essentially useless toward licensure because I did not have 2 hours of weekly individual supervision from the same licensed psychologist, but if I started a year later, this wouldn't matter. If I really am ruled out from licensure because of this requirement, I can accept that, but I would like to make sure I am interpreting this correctly before I move forward. Do I contact the board and explain my situation? I have worked so hard in this field and feel really invalidated that this unique state requirement essentially renders my training invalid. At this point, I am wondering if I just need to contact a mental health clinic and ask if I can see clients with 2 hours of individual supervision simply to meet this requirement.

Thanks all.

You will get the most reliable instructions from the board if you email them. The PA board is very responsive via email.
For postdoc hours, as I know, your primary supervisor is responsible for keeping the quarterly report and reviewing your performance according to the same timeline. Delegated supervisor(s) only need to sign off on the quarterly report. For licensure purposes, you only need one report per quarter not two separate reports from two supervisors. To verify supervised postdoctoral hours, your postdoc supervisors will sign off on the Verification form separately. Individually filled and signed forms are needed for your license application with PA.
For internship hours, there is a super easy-to-fill one-page form that needs to be signed by the Director of Training of your school, not your internship DCT, to attest to your pre-doctoral hours. It is granted that an APA accredited program has done its diligence to make sure these hours meet licensure requirements (at least the PA board seems to take it that way).
You might want to ask the board how your practicum hours are counted, who attests them, and what documentation is needed. It might not be as complicated as it reads.

 

[doctordoctor33]

Hi all.

I am currently applying for licensure in PA and am feeling very unsure of where to go next; I am really hoping for some actionable advice (and some moral support from the other psychologists out there who have had to deal with the nuances of licensure application!).

I am currently a post-doc in the state of PA, and I graduated from an APA-accredited PhD program and completed an APA-accredited internship. Pennsylvania allows applicants to use pre-doctoral hours, which I am doing as my post-doc is more research intensive (although I do see clients) but they have a very strict requirement of 2 weekly hours of individual supervision from a primary supervisor, who can delegate 1 hour to another supervisor.

None of my practicum experiences in my program (nor post-doc) had 2 hours of individual supervision, except my first year at a counseling center; I am not sure how the board would look upon my first year of practicum as proof of readiness for licensure (the year was fine, it was just so long ago). During graduate school, I accrued more than enough clinical hours (services provided) to meet the requirement using my pre-doc hours. The prac experience I wanted to use for my hours was a group counseling clinic and so a lot of the supervision was small group sup and one hour of individual supervision; I have a lot of other experiences, but I worked at this clinic for years (and I meet the hours requirement for providing clinical services at this site alone), and so it would be easier just to stick with one site and wouldn't make sense to use another site; regardless, the other sites also didn't have 2 hours of weekly individual supervision. Unlike other states, I cannot find any evidence that group supervision is counted in PA.

There is a caveat that the supervisor can delegate 1 hour of supervision to another supervisor, but the other supervisor had to keep quarterly reports of my progress according to PA; I was supervised by more advanced graduate students in the group counseling clinic, and they did not do this. I did have another hour of individual supervision at another practicum site during this time, so I do meet the criterion requirement for 2 hours a week of individual supervision, but I wasn't sure if my primary supervisor could delegate an hour of my supervision to a provider at another practicum site; to me, this is reasonable, as my primary supervisor was the DCT, but I just don't know how this is interpreted by the board. The extra layer to this all is that, if you started your PhD in 2015, these requirements are essentially waived, and you just need a letter from your DCT acknowledging you completed a certain number of practicum hours! I started a year earlier, and so I am unable to do this (although I didn't start my pracs until 2015).

I am wondering if anyone has any advice here. My read (and anxiety) is that all my pre-doc hours are essentially useless toward licensure because I did not have 2 hours of weekly individual supervision from the same licensed psychologist, but if I started a year later, this wouldn't matter. If I really am ruled out from licensure because of this requirement, I can accept that, but I would like to make sure I am interpreting this correctly before I move forward. Do I contact the board and explain my situation? I have worked so hard in this field and feel really invalidated that this unique state requirement essentially renders my training invalid. At this point, I am wondering if I just need to contact a mental health clinic and ask if I can see clients with 2 hours of individual supervision simply to meet this requirement.

Thanks all.

I'm curious how this went for you as I'm in a similar situation. How did it work out for you?

 

[ImAFreudNot]

Not OP, but I had hoped to go the route of using pre-doctoral hours towards licensure requirements in PA. Because, like OP, none/not enough of my pre-doctoral supervision met the criteria (e.g., lots of weekly group supervision, not enough individual supervision), my DCT would not sign off on it. I had to suck it up and accrue those hours during post-doc. However, I did find the PA board of psychology to be very responsive via the PAL ticket system.

 

[doctordoctor33]

Not OP, but I had hoped to go the route of using pre-doctoral hours towards licensure requirements in PA. Because, like OP, none/not enough of my pre-doctoral supervision met the criteria (e.g., lots of weekly group supervision, not enough individual supervision), my DCT would not sign off on it. I had to suck it up and accrue those hours during post-doc. However, I did find the PA board of psychology to be very responsive via the PAL ticket system.

Thanks for the response! If you don't mind me asking, how long ago did you apply?