Psychologist Degrees in Missouri - MO

By Joanna Pelletier, allied health world contributing writer
Published: March, 10 2010

• Get a PhD or PsyD in psychology, educational psychology, or counseling psychology. The State of Missouri requires all practicing psychologists to go through a PhD or PsyD program approved by the American Psychological Association. When choosing a program for earning a psychology degree in Missouri, a student should take her interests and past experiences into consideration. Did she really enjoy helping gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans people work through the issues related to their identities, or did she feel a greater benefit when she worked with autistic children? The choice is highly individual, and usually requires deep inner reflection.

• Gain two years of supervised practice in a field of interest. The State of Missouri requires an additional two years of supervised counseling experience before a candidate obtains licensure. If she gained counseling experience as an undergraduate, she still needs to seek supervised experience, since most universities offering a psychology degree in Missouri will not count undergraduate experience toward the two years required for licensure.

• Year one. When the candidate is admitted to a post-graduate program, she must submit a supervision plan to her academic committee, and plan on completing at at least one year of this experience in an organized health training program while she is working toward her degree. The director of this program must have been a licensed psychologist for at least one year, and work in the interest of the candidate, providing her with experience in her field of interest, scheduling her for at least eight hours of in-service training in this field, and allowing her to participate in seminars, workshops, readings, conferences and grand rounds.

• Year two. Once the candidate has completed her graduate coursework, the candidate must complete 1,500 hours of supervised experience in her field of interest, which she will have to finish in one year. If she wants to stay in the program she participated in as a student, she must notify her committee.