Sec.20-188-3. Work experience standards for Connecticut psychology licensure

Work experience initiated on or after April 1, 1988, shall be satisfactory for Connecticut Psychology Licensure, pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes, Section 20-188, when all of the criteria specified below are satisfied.

(a) The work experience shall consist of at least one year at the pre-doctoral or post-doctoral level and does not include an internship completed as part of the requirements of completing a doctoral degree.

(1) The work experience shall consist of either:

(A) no less than thirty-five hours per week for no less than forty-six weeks within twelve consecutive months, or

(B) no less than 1800 hours within twenty-four consecutive months. No more than forty hours per week shall be credited toward the required experience.

(2) The completion date of such experience shall be no later than eight weeks prior to the scheduled date of administration of the licensure examination to which the applicant is seeking admission.

(b) The work experience shall be supervised in accordance with this subsection and subsection (d) of this section by one or more doctoral-level psychologist(s) licensed in the state where the experience was completed and supervised. A doctoral-level licensed psychologist shall have either directly supervised the applicant, or consulted with the applicant under contract to the employment setting. For each 40 hours of work experience, such supervision or consultation shall consist of at least three hours, of which no less than one hour shall be individual, direct, face-to-face supervision or consultation. The supervisor shall not be closely related to the supervisee nor have such other relationship to the supervisee that may reasonably be seen to compromise the objectivity of the supervisor. The supervisor shall not concurrently supervise more than a total of three individuals completing the work experience.

(c) The work experience shall be within an area for which the applicant is qualified by the applicant's doctoral education and shall be appropriate to the applicant's intended area of practice. The duties the applicant shall be performing, as documented by the supervisor, shall be within an area for which the applicant has completed a directly related sequence of graduate coursework and a supervised pre-doctoral internship, practicum, field training or laboratory training. Acceptable evidence of applicant coursework shall be required.

(d) The work experience shall be within an acceptable employment setting as defined in this subsection.

(1) An acceptable employment setting shall:

(A) employ on a full-time basis or contract or otherwise provide for the services of a doctoral-level licensed psychologist engaged in work in an area for which the applicant is qualified by the applicant's doctoral education in accordance with subsection (c) of this section;

(B) provide the applicant an opportunity for regularly occurring professional interaction and collaboration with other disciplines, an opportunity to utilize a variety of techniques and interventions, and an opportunity to work with a broad range of populations and conditions; and

(C) ensure that the licensed doctoral-level psychologist has direct and continuing administrative control of, as well as full professional responsibility and accountability for, the activities performed and services provided by the applicant and shall certify to the applicant's satisfactory completion of the work experience in accordance with subsection (e) of this section.

(2) The requirements of this subsection shall not be satisfied when the experience is completed within an applicant's independent practice setting, or when the applicant receives direct client fees or variable compensation based upon client fees generated.

(3) Documentation from the employment setting shall establish that the setting provides supervision for the applicant and meets all of the requirements of this subsection.

(e) The work experience shall be certified as satisfactorily completed by the licensed doctoral level psychologist who directly supervised the applicant.

(f) When such experience is to be completed in Connecticut, the applicant may file a supervised work experience plan with the Department on forms prescribed by the Department. Written approval of the plan of supervised work experience may be obtained from the Department prior to the applicant's beginning such experience, based upon compliance of the plan with the requirements of this section.

(1) In order to obtain such approval, the applicant shall:

(A) satisfy the Department that the applicant has completed or is enrolled in a doctoral education program in psychology approved for Connecticut psychology licensure; and

(B) submit an acceptable plan for supervised work experience to the Department.

(2) Prior to licensure and during the period of time devoted to completing the work experience in Connecticut under the terms of an approved plan, the applicant shall be permitted to use the description "psychology resident" solely in the conduct of such applicant's approved work experience plan. Outside of an applicant's employment under the terms of a plan approved pursuant to subsection (f)(1) of this section, in accordance with Connecticut General Statutes, Section 20-187(a), applicants shall refrain from using any title employing the terms "psychologist", "psychology", or "psychological" to describe their services offered to the public, or to any public or private organization for a fee or other remuneration. Activities exempt from this provision are set forth in Connecticut General Statutes Section 20-195.

(Effective April 2, 1991; Amended August 17, 2009)