SAVE THE DATE: Townhalls on Master’s Degree Licensing in Psychology

We need your feedback and participation! 

*APA Division 31 Townhall Board of Professional Affairs Townhall Committee of State Leaders Townhall *Board of Professional Affairs Townhall
Date Tuesday, 10/15/24 Tuesday, 10/22/2024 Wednesday, 10/23/2024 Thursday, 10/24/2024
Time 7:00-8:00pm Eastern Time 3:00-4:30pm Eastern Time 8:00-9:30pm Eastern Time 6:00-7:30pm Eastern Time
Audience SPTA Leaders & Members APA Members &

All Interested Participants

SPTA Leaders & Members APA Members &

All Interested Participants

Registration Link *Contact Connie Paul: tpamember@juno.com Registration Link Registration Link Registration Link

*Session will be recorded

Background Information:

The American Psychological Association (APA) has been considering the role of individuals with master’s degrees in the psychology profession for over 75 years. APA has had numerous work groups, task forces, and convenings about clinical, counseling, and school psychology – collectively known as health service psychology or HSP. In the last 5-6 years, general agreement has been reached on understanding the profession as multi-tiered – i.e., there is value in a unified vision that includes individuals with doctoral and master’s degrees.

The ultimate goals are to instill quality and create consistency across the profession, training programs, and jurisdictions – in education/training requirements, licensing statutes, and professional regulations.

In 2018 the APA Council of Representatives voted to accredit master’s degree programs in health service psychology. Since then, many APA governance groups, including the Board of Educational Affairs (BEA) and the Board of Professional Affairs (BPA) have been considering what it means for psychology to become muti-tiered. BPA and BEA are in the process of developing two proposals that will be brought before the APA Council of Representatives in February 2025.

At these townhalls you will hear from Governance leaders about their thinking and efforts to modernize education/training guidelines and consider a master’s-level title and scope of practice.

The documents being developed will be available for your review prior to the townhalls.  These documents are:

  • A Competency Framework for Master’s and Doctoral Degree Education and Training in Health Service Psychology (currently available for public comment – go here to view the document and submit comments: https://commentinggov.apa.org/) coming out of joint work between the Board of Educational Affairs (BEA) and the Board of Professional Affairs (BPA).
  • A proposal laying out the scope of practice and title for master’s trained psychology professionals (a document developed by the BPA Model Licensure Act task force) currently scheduled to be available for public comment later in October.