Conditional Registration for Psychologists

kitkat.3b4t

Hi
Does anyone know what Conditional Registration for psychologists means? It was recently implemented by the PSI. Aslo is this linked to statutory registration?

I am still very confused about all this and it would be great if someone could clarify the situation.

Grigzz

Hi

This should help:

Conditional Reg. was brought in to allow people who were looking to become registered psychologists who would not qualify under the new rules.

In order to become a reg. psychologist with PSI now you need to have completed a postgraduate professional training course accredited by the society, or equilivant if foreign qualification. At the minute that means Ed. Psych, Counselling Psych or Cliniical Psych if you trained in Ireland.

In addition to this you need to have 4 years experience in psychology, this must be supervised by a registered psychologist. The time spent on your professional training postgrad counts towards this, so most people can register either 1 or two years post qualification depending on whether you did a two or three year course.

Another option is to have a PhD in psychology, where your supervisor was a psychologist.

The old route to registration used to include an experience only way towards registration. This meant that if you had any post grad in psychology and were working as a psychologist under supervison of a registered member you were allowed become registered. This route is now closed.

The conditional register was set up as a bridging method for those who were close to becoming registered by the experience only route but who would not have the four years done by the end of May 09. In that you had about 4 years to build your experience if you applied to be on the conditional register. Applications to the conditional register are now closed. And the new rules for registration are in place since June 1.

kitkat.3b4t

Hi Grigzz

Thank you for your reply. Do the new PSI rules apply to Statutory Registration. This is where I am most confused. I thought to register with the Statutory Registration body, one only needs a Hons degree in Psychology. Surely the requirments for both organizations need to be the same. Otherwise it doesnt make sense!!!

Grigzz

In Regard to Stat. reg. I know the initial idea was for an Hon's degree to be sufficient, however the PSI had reservations over this and requested that it be changed. Since the Stat. Reg wont be coming in for psychologists until the sixth wave of registration being targeted by the new legislation, it will be at least mid 2010 until it happens. This means that they will have most likely changed to rules to tighten things up, I would imagine that the best way of doing this would be to use the new specialist register that PSI are bringing in. This basicaly means that if you are a registered psychologist with PSI you can register also witin your specialist field. ie Registered Counselling Psychologist etc. To do this you need to be a full member of the individual division, this usually involves postgrad training in the area, and also sometimes post qualification supervised experience.

Even if these changes do not take place, there will be little point registering as a psychologist with just an undergrad, as not many if any employers will hire. Also would be extremely difficult and also unethical to work privately as a psychologist with only an hons degree.

That last comment was not a put down on undergrads, but just simply the fact that to work effectivly and competently as a psychologist, professional postgrad training is a must along with relevant supervison. There is a long a difficult training process in order to become a PSI registered psychologist, but this is neccessary to maintain the standards of the profession and to assure the public of the credentials of the psychologist.

In my own opinion if stat. registration comes in, allowing those with only hons degrees to register, the public image of psychology in this country will be damaged.

kitkat.3b4t

Grigzz
Thank you for taking the time to clarify things for me. I agree that just a Hons degree isnt enough. However up untill recently a lot of people were achieving PSI registration via the experience only route (with supervision and postgrad qualifications) unless more PSI accredited postgrad courses are made available there will be less qualified psychologists available. Surely this deficit will increase waiting lists etc and make it more difficult and expensive for the general public to access a qualified psychologist.

alanjfinn

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