Careers in Psychology Essay
Careers in Psychology
Instructions:
During Weeks 3 of the course, you will select three professional psychology sub-specialties submit a 2 full (total length) report addressing the issues below. Page length does not include a title page, abstract, references, direct quotes, or graphs/illustrations (should you choose to include them). Utilize the American Psychological Association website at http://www.APA.org and at least one other occupation-related website (e.g. the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook Online) related to the sub-specialties (the latter must be professional and not commercial sites) to help you understand:
Using your own words (that is, do not use any direct quotes), define and describe type of work in which professionals within a particular sub-specialty engage. For example, name a specific career someone with a degree in clinical psychology might have and provide the job description (“Someone with a doctoral degree in clinical psychology may choose to work as a clinical psychologist. A clinical psychologist is someone who [include tasks of a clinical psychologist here].)”
The educational preparation and training the sub-specialty requires.
Any professional license or certification required, and how it is obtained, before one may practice within the sub-specialty (if these are not required, this must be noted in the paper). Use the requirements of the state in which you live or the state in which you are interested in practicing to complete this section.
Describe a specific professional organization supporting a sub-specialty (e.g. National Council on Family Relations, NCFR, supports the sub-specialty of Developmental Psychology). Explain how the professional organization supports the psychologists it represents, and include the websites of each organization within the body of the paper.
A brief paragraph at the end of each paper explaining the student’s interest, or lack of interest, in the sub-specialty based on learning obtained while researching it.
You may choose which three sub-specialty areas from the list below to investigate and report on during this week and Week 5, but all of the sub-specialties must be covered.
enlightenedThis assignment must be completed per the course general writing standards in addition to the above instructions. Direct quotes are not needed, so be sure to paraphrase everything. All submissions will be run through Turnitin.com, a plagiarism checker. Direct quotes can not be considered as part of the gradable content, since a quote is someone else’s response to the question and not yours. I can only grade your own work, so please be sure to paraphrase everything. Also, don’t reuse any material that was previously submitted to another class. This violates APU’s academic honesty policy.
Solution.
Careers in Psychology
Introduction
There are many careers one can pursue in psychology. The careers are categorized into speciality areas and sub-specialities. One of the largest speciality areas in psychology is clinical psychology. The practitioners in this area are psychologists who deliver clinical services. In order to be successful, they need to have a passion for making new discoveries and for learning. They also need to be good listeners. This essay discusses some of the various sub-specialities in which trained psychologists, outlining the roles, requirements and student’s satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the career area.
Someone with a degree in clinical psychology can work in health, education, research, and training sectors. A clinical psychologist can also work as a health service psychologist. In this sub-speciality, psychology is applied in either helping patients on how to overcome depression and anxiety, or even helping them to understand better how to manage stress. One may also specialize in physical health concerns. These specialists can help patients in managing diabetes or even some other chronic diseases. Still, other psychologists may specialize in working with aged people, college students or children.
There are many varied areas in which one can work as a health service psychologist. The career has the advantage of exposing the practitioners to human behaviour and presents them with an opportunity to enjoy working with people.
Job Requirements
One very interesting sub-speciality career that one can work in is neuropsychology. In order to work as a neuropsychologist, one needs to have a PhD or a PsyD in clinical psychology. One must also have done an internship that is accredited by the APA. One also needs to have taken at least two years of post-doctoral fellowship training in neuropsychology. Another requirement is the New York state licence or a licence from any other state (APAa, 2016).
Roles of a Neuropsychologist
The specialist is responsible for the provision of services of neuropsychology to a patient population that largely consists of adult people. The patients may have conditions like chronic pain, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and stroke. Other duties include neuropsychological assessments, consultative services and counselling. Patients with cognitive and neurological concerns are also referred to the neuropsychologist for neuropsychological evaluations. The specialist may also be required to make contributions to the research and training opportunities for the medical students. He/she may also participate in cognitive rehabilitation and concussion programs (APAb, 2016).
Professional Body Supporting Neuropsychology
The American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology is specialty board of the American Board of Professional Psychologists (ABPP). It administers the examination for competence within the sub-specialty. ABCN was incorporated into the ABPP in 1981. A candidate is required to first pass the ABCN examination and become certified in the clinical neuropsycholoty sub-specialty by the board. After this, he/she is required to join the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN). AACN is the membership organization of the specialists in ABCN (ABCN, 2016).
To obtain ABCN certification, one must have at
least a doctoral degree in any program in professional psychology. The degree
must have been accredited by the APA or CPA. Otherwise, the degree must have
been listed under the Doctoral Psychology Programs Meeting Designation
Criteria. The candidate must then complete an internship accredited by the APA
or the CPA. The candidates must also obtain certification or licensure. The
individuals must be licensed as psychologists by any of the states in the
United States. Their certification should be for independent practice at the
doctoral level in the US jurisdiction, its territories or in Canada (ABCN,
2016).
References
ABCN. (2016). Procedures for Obtaining Board Certification in Clinical Neuropsychology. Becoming Certified. The American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology. Available at https://theabcn.org/becoming-certified/
APAa. (2016). Neuropsychologist Job Opening in Rochester New York. PsycCareers. American Psychological Association. Available at http://www.psyccareers.com/jobseeker/job/30411600/
APAb. (2016). Pursuing A Career in Clinical or Counselling Psychology. American Psychological Association. Available at https://theabcn.org/