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The Psychology Students Guide
Becoming a Psychologist through Supervision


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Please note: This page mentions the previous requirements for registration.
However, the Psychologists Registration Board of Victoria is considering changing the requirements for registration to a four year undergraduate degree plus either a (2 year) professional masters degree and a further year of work under supervision, or a (3 year) professional doctoral degree. Under this proposal, it would no longer be possible to gain registration without completing at least a professional masters degree in psychology.
It is possible that the registration boards in other states are considering similar changes, or have alredy implemented such changes.
This notice will be displayed until I have had a chance to check the current requirements for registration in each state of Australia. In the meantime, please confirm for yourself with the registration board of your state what the requirements for registration are currently. (March 2002)

As noted in How to become a psychologist, in Australia you can register as a psychologist after four years of studying psychology and two years of practicing under supervision. Most people get those two years practicum by doing a post-graduate course such as masters or doctorate by coursework. This page is about arranging supervision yourself, assuming that you have completed a fourth year of study in psychology.
Most of the information about supervision is contained in the APS website, if you go to: about the APS > becoming a member > supervision. Getting registration through these means will not allow you to become a member of the APS (unless you subsequently do masters, doctorate or PhD).
Full details are provided on the APS website, but basically you have to complete 3360 hours of practical experience in psychology over a period of two years or more (around 35 hours per week full-time or equivilent part-time), and also consult regularly with a registered psychologist about your work. The work has to involve a substantial proportion of psychology-related skills or knowledge, and be approved, along with your supervisor, by the registration board of your state. You can arrange work through finding paid employment in the field, or doing volunteer work, and paying someone to supervise you. You can also pay to do an internship course or supervision program, which are set up specifically to faciliate psychology students to meet the criteria for registration. These are available at organisations such as CairnMiller (Melbourne), Australian College of Applied Psychology (NSW and Qld), NSW Institute of Psychiatry, Institute of Applied Counselling, and presumably others that I don't know of. To find out about them, look in the advertisements in the journal InPsych (the bulletin of the APS), which you might be able to find at your uni library, or else try to find a friend who subscribes to the APS, or subscribe yourself. Otherwise you could call the APS and ask them if they know of which organisations run such courses. Make sure that any course you are interested in does indeed meet the criteria for registration (they usually state this in ads or pamphlets), and whether they are set up for fourth year graduates. Some courses are intended for professionals seeking further skill-development, and wouldn't be appropriate for fourth year graduates.


For suggestions about this website, please email me at psguide@angelfire.com

https://www.angelfire.com/geek/psguide/supervision.html Created April 2001. Minor revisions March 2002.