The job market for clinical psychologists in Ireland - now and future

clin

Hi All,

I'm an Irish trainee about to graduate from a UK DClinPsych programme. I have a few questions I was hoping qualified CPs or trainees could help me with.

I've been watching the Irish job market over the past year and it seems very stagnant. I haven't noticed any HSE jobs and only a few 3rd sector posts, generally in disability.

Where do neuropsych, older adult or general adult MH clinical psychologists get recruited from? Are trainees taking up roles without an open recruitment process (as the services helped pay for their training) or am I missing out on something?

I haven't seen any senior psychologist posts advertised for the HSE, does this mean people aren't moving into those roles (as there are none) or are they simply being promoted internally?

How do people see the future of the profession in Ireland job wise?

Thanks for your time,

Regards,
Clin

P.S I understand the DOH need to grant a statement of equivalence in order to work in Ireland.

DalaiAlma

A lot of jobs are offered through agencies, and CPL and TTM have just renewed contracts with the HSE to provide allied health professionals for temporary contracts. A lot of these agency jobs aren't necessarily advertised on their websites either, so my advice would be to link in with them, get registered and keep in touch with them. You should be able to get work to keep you going until you get in the panel.

clin

Hi Dalai, 
Ah, that's interesting. Thanks for taking the time to respond.
Cheers,
Clin

Blueskye

First of all you will need your statement of equivalence which can take quite a while. A colleague of mine who trained in the UK had to do extra days in a child disability service here to fulfil the criteria.

Post are being advertised all the time now but only to people on panels. The HSE have centralised recruitment so you no longer interview for a particular job, but attend a standardised interview and are then placed on a ranked panel. I think for staff grade psychologists, they tend to hold interviews once or twice a year. You fill out a detailed application form and then are offered an interview and then, if successful, are placed on a panel. Following that, you are contacted about posts and the higher up on the panel, the more likely you will get a post you are interested in. There was a recent recruitment for staff grades so the next one probably won't be until early next year but the HSE website will advertise it.

Faith

Who do you contact about the statement of equivalence? I'm about to start second year and I'd like to have an idea about the Irish requirements so I can try to tailor my placements as much as possible. I imagine it's the department of health, but does anyone have a more specific point of contact?

JuliusCaesar

Have you contacted the Psychological Society of Ireland or CORU?

Faith

I emailed the PSI and they just told me to contact the DoH. Hence my request for more specific direction here .

clin

Hi Faith, 

The information you are looking for is here xxxx://health.gov.ie/psychologist. 

CORU don't regulate clinical psychologists yet so the title of CP is unprotected in Ireland. That said, to work in the HSE and most 3rd sector organisation you need to get a statement of equivalence from the Department of Health.
The Irish system is different than the UK in that it is not about meeting set competencies but completing particular placements. The main difficulty for many who trained in the UK system is the LD/ID component. A Irish clinical psychology training placement in LD involves work  across the age range and must include core placements in 2 of the following 3: adult (18+), school age services and 0-6 services. Most UK courses just do one and as a result many people end up having to work for free to gain experience after qualification. 

So if you're planning on moving back to Ireland I'd suggest trying to negotiate a child LD place for one of your specialist placements in 3rd year.

Faith

Hi clin,

Thanks for your response! I'd figured as much myself in the meantime, and I'm in talks with my course to see if there's a possibility of a split LD placement during my core LD. Otherwise, I'll try to find a specialist placement that would meet the requirements