How Can I Become a Child Psychologist?
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Question:
How long does it take to become a child psychologist? I love children and earned my undergraduate degree in psychology 10 years ago. What is the next step I need to take towards becoming a private practice, licensed child psychologist?
Answer:
Becoming a child psychologist is similar to becoming a clinical psychologist—in fact, many professionals get a graduate degree in psychology and then specialize in child psychology through classwork and internship training.
To be licensed as a therapist who can work with children, you have two primary options. You can pursue a masters degree in social work or psychology (the social work degree is more reimbursable with insurance companies) or you can get a doctorate in psychology.
A masters degree takes about two years to complete if you do it full time. (Some people prefer to do their degree part-time, while they are working, which will of course lengthen the time to complete the coursework)
A doctorate in psychology (Ph.D.) can take from four years to seven or more years to complete, depending on the difficulty of your dissertation. A Psy.D. is a doctorate that is focused on clinical work only (not research) and can often be completed in four to five years. In either of these training programs (Ph.D. or Psy.D.) you will be required to get internship experience. Since you are interested in child psychology, you would look for an internship with child treatment experience.
To increase your chances of getting into a program that specializes in children, it might be good if you have some entry level experience working with children.
Tags: child, doctorate, Psychologist
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