Licensure at the Receipt of the Doctorate for Psychologists in Maryland - Success!!

Back Row L to R: J. William Pitcher, Esq. and Julia P. Worcester, MPA Lobbyists; Robert A. Brown, Ph.D., Chair, Board of Examiners of Psychologists; Jeffrey E. Barnett, Psy.D.; Steven Sobelman, Ph.D.; Edward Shearin, Ph.D.; M. Kathryn Seifert, Ph.D., MPA President.  Front Row L to R: Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown; Senate President Thomas V. "Mike" Miller, Jr.; Governor Martin J. O'Malley; Speaker of the House of Delegates Michael E. Busch.

Signed by the Governor on May 19, 2009.

Licensure at the Doctorate Becomes Law in Maryland on October 1, 2009

IMPORTANT

Even though the law passed, Training, Course and Supervisory Regulations must be published before the law can be implemented.    Stay tuned for Updates Concerning Implementation of the Regulations promulgated by the Maryland Board of Examiners of Psychologists - and how they affect your eligibility to sit for licensure in Maryland.

The legislation SB 951/HB 654 http://mlis.state.md.us/2009rs/bills/sb/sb0951e.pdf  (click on link to see the whole bill) essentially says that, if you meet all the supervisory experience and hours, and graduate program criteria and requirements, prior to or at the receipt of your doctorate, you would have met eligibility for licensure.  Meaning that the post-doc supervisory year would not be necessary.  It is no longer mandated.  However, for those who have not met all the requirements by that time, post-doc supervision would still be needed and is not eliminated.  The language in the bill looks like this:

Health Occupations Article  Subtitle 3 Licensing § 18–302 (f) The applicant shall have at least 2 years of professional supervised experience in psychology that is approved by the Board IN ACCORDANCE WITH REGULATIONS ADOPTED BY THE BOARD [At least 1 year of this required experience shall have

occurred after the doctoral degree is awarded.]

As you can see, the bill itself does not specify what the regulations are that have been adopted by the Board.  Those regulations are now being revised and promulgated by the Board of Examiners in light of this new piece of legislation.  The changes will occur in Title 10, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Subtitle 36, Board of Examiners of Psychologists, Chapter 01 Procedures – .04 Professional Supervised Experience Required for Licensure.   

http://www.dsd.state.md.us/comar/subtitle_chapters/10_Chapters.htm#Subtitle36

That whole chapter is basically the “how-to” become licensed and what criteria and qualifications are necessary to do so.  So as you see, the legislation alone allows for possibility that you might have accumulated the required 3,250 hours of supervised professional experience by the time you receive your doctoral degree.  The regulations define how those hours are applied throughout the sequence of your doctoral training, the nature of the supervision, pre-internship and internship experiences, etc.

The other aspect to regulations is the exact process by which a graduate student in a doctoral program, can begin the application process and/or sit for the EPPP and state exams, if and when all the hours are accumulated, i.e., prior to receiving the soctoral degree, or upon receipt of the doctoral degree.

Much work still needs to be done – but it is well in process and MPA will keep everyone informed as each piece is in place.

Click here for

APA Policy Statement

Click on Document links below to read more:

  •MPA Statement on Licensure at the Receipt of the Doctoral Degree for Psychologists in Maryland

  •APA Memorandum Re: Workgroup Report on Education and Training Leading to Licensure

  •Report of the APA Board of Directors Work Group on the Recommendations of the Commission on  

      Education and Training Leading to Licensure in Psychology

  •Statement from the 18 Members of the MPA Board of Directors

  •Statement from the Committee on Early Career Psychologists of the American Psychological 

      Association

  •Statements of Support for this initiative from MPA Members

For more information or to forward your statement for or against this initiative for inclusion on this website

contact Dr. Jeffrey Barnett.