Internship Crisis in Clinical Psychology: Faculty Implements Selection Procedure

Internship Crisis in Clinical Psychology: Faculty Implements Selection Procedure

There are too few internship placements for master’s students in clinical psychology. Tilburg students sometimes spend over a year searching for an internship, causing the one-year master’s program to often take two years to complete. This leads to significant uncertainty among psychology students. The faculty is now taking action.

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Internships as a Bottleneck

Psychology students are struggling to secure internship placements. Univers reported last year that internships have become a major bottleneck. Without an internship, psychology students cannot pursue a post-master’s training program in mental health care (gz-opleiding) and are therefore unable to practice as therapists.

Instead of an internship, students can opt to take three additional courses. However, this primarily qualifies them for jobs in policy and prevention, which many students are reluctant to pursue. Others want to keep the door open to becoming a therapist.

Selection Procedure Introduced

To address the issue, the Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences has introduced a selection procedure for the Psychology and Mental Health master’s program. Tilburg University is the last university in the Netherlands to implement such a procedure.

Prospective master’s students must submit their grade transcript and a list of earned study credits before they can even be considered for admission. According to the faculty, experience has shown that grades are a reliable predictor of academic success. Additionally, they are easy to assess.

A selection procedure results in fewer students being admitted to the master’s program, increasing the likelihood that those who do get in will be able to secure an internship. Internships are crucial in clinical psychology.

They are the only way for students to obtain certifications such as the vLOGO (Association for National Consultation on Mental Health Training Institutions) and the BAPD (Basic Certificate in Psychological Diagnostics). These certifications are essential for working as a psychologist and gaining access to the post-master’s training program (gz-opleiding). They serve as proof that students have completed the required supervised practical training hours.

Increased Awareness of the Internship Shortage

Certifications such as the vLOGO and BAPD are particularly important for psychologists because the title ‘psychologist’ is not legally protected. It is crucial for students to be aware of this. Last year, Mercedes Almela, one of the academic directors of psychology at the time, expressed a desire to provide students with more information on this issue.

Psychology students Marieke Jacobs and Emma Hamm, who are currently in the final year of their bachelor’s program, have noticed that more information is now being shared about the internship shortage. ‘For example, there is a Q&A session about internships and a Canvas page listing internships that former students have completed,’ they explain.

Jacobs adds, ‘I’m really happy about this. The Canvas page also outlines the requirements for internships to meet certification criteria. This makes it much easier for students to find the right placements.’ Additionally, e-learning modules have been developed to help students prepare for the internship application process.

Providing Information Earlier

However, students feel that this information should be shared earlier in their studies, rather than just before starting their master’s program.

‘This way, psychology students can begin building their CVs early and will know well in advance that strong grades are necessary for master’s admission,’ Jacobs and Hamm explain. The current cohort of students entering the master’s program had no opportunity to prepare for the selection process.

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