How to Become a Clinical Psychologist: in Easy Steps

People give a lot of importance to their physical health. But what of their mental health? Unlike before, nowadays, people are becoming increasingly aware of their mental health. Doctors who help you take care of your mental health are called clinical psychologists. ?

These people are trained individuals who specialize in taking care of unwell patients who suffer from mental problems. They earn a good enough stipend, too – around $112,157. ?

If you are interested in becoming a clinical psychologist and are seeking guidance in order to do so, this article is the right one for you! Read on to understand the process properly. ⬇️

Who is a Clinical Psychologist?

A clinical psychologist is a doctor who takes care of your mental health. They get trained and certified to continue with their treatment practices, and this is a lengthy but credible process.

After getting certified as such, you can provide treatment for mental and behavioral issues to your friends, family, and all sorts of patients. You can also get into research. Or you can get into training and educating other aspiring clinical psychologists. All of this is fair game as you have been certified. ?

The main aim of clinical psychologists is to help their patients with their problems related to their mental and behavioral health. They wish to help in such a way that reduces the stress these individuals might be experiencing.

With the advent of technology, business, and advancement in almost every field out there, we have also become more prone to mental problems that eat away at people’s minds.

Clinical psychologists are there to help people stay mentally healthy and fit despite the existence of such stress-prone factors.?

How much can a Clinical Psychologist earn?

People who pursue this profession and land jobs can live their lives without any financial strain. Pursuing a career in the medical field ensures that you are paid well, and hence helps you to maintain yourself in the present and save for your future. ?

The range for the salary you will get starts from $112,157 per year. This is your base pay which you get directly from the employer. We include your additional wages to this base pay, falling in the range of $4,640 to $8,662 per year.

The average additional pay you can expect out of this range is $6,187. Tips, bonuses, commissions, etc., are what you get paid as forms of additional payment. We will now add these two up to get the total expected salary as a clinical psychologist in July 2023. On adding, we find that the total average pay is $ 118,344, which is good enough for sustenance nowadays. ?

You can expect to get paid an average of $48.17 per hour. This is the hourly wage found as of July 2023 as these are statistically proven salary trends and are up to date. ?

How to Become a Clinical Psychologist? (More Tips)

Given below are all of the steps that have been explained in detail as per your benefit. You can note them down if you want because these are what you have to do to become a Clinical Psychologist. ✅

Get your undergraduate and graduate degrees

The first step is to aim for an undergraduate degree in psychology. This might seem like a simple step, but it is very important as this undergraduate degree will build your foundation in the field.

An undergraduate degree will help you understand and master the basics of psychology, which will later help you out while doing your more advanced degrees.

While a lot of colleges don’t mind you doing any other program in order to get admission in their master’s program for psychology, it is recommended that you complete your bachelor’s in psychology only and then pursue your master’s. ?

The most important degree a psychology student has to finish is their doctoral degree. Hence, a lot of students go directly for a doctorate degree after finishing their bachelor’s. Even if this is a viable step and is less time-consuming, doing a master’s before your doctor is recommended. ?

Time for the doctorate degree

The one deciding factor that helps you become a clinical psychologist is a doctorate degree in clinical psychology. Most doctorate degrees take about five to seven years to complete.

Some colleges even have a set requirement that their student graduates after ten years of admission for sure. While pursuing a doctorate, you would be taught about everything in great detail and would have to give an exam and write a dissertation in order to pass out.

Hence, you must choose the best school and program for yourself. ?

I have compiled a section for that, too, below, which you can look through later.

Experience is important

Upon completion of your education, the next step would be to get a license. But between completing your studies and getting your license, there lies one more step.

This step is extremely important for you as a state license considers this factor immensely while approving your application to become a clinical psychologist. This step is to get as much experience as you can in between your degrees.

This can be done by applying for internships – paid or not, field training programs, and practicums. Applying to these would help you get placed to work with other certified individuals who can offer you adequate guidance. ?‍?

These trainings can go for one year at most. These mostly depend on your trainer and what duration they choose for their training program.

Get your license for the practice

A degree is very helpful, but what certifies you as a working professional in the field of clinical psychology is a state license. There might be more certifications, but this depends on the state in which you are in.

So, it is advised that you look up this information when you’re beginning this step. The common requirements that all states do ask for are completion of our doctorate degree, completion of an internship that has been approved by the state and the number of field hours/experience you have put in, and lastly, passing the licensure exam.

After getting your license, you would also have to maintain it regularly to keep on with your work. To do so, you would have to finish the continuing education courses. You would also have to keep on expanding your knowledge base. ?‍?

Top Clinical Psychologist Courses in the United States

A lot of online resources are nowadays available for use. These just add to your credits and knowledge. These help you without having to deal with the extra amount of curiosity and doubts you might have while studying. ⚕️

Abnormal Behavior & Clinical Psychology

This course is offered by the online educational platform, Udemy and is taught by Dr. Bev Knox. They have been practicing their profession as a psychology professor for about 25 years and have conducted a lot of research on topics related to this field.

The course has been divided into thirteen sections which are further divided into 50 lectures. The duration of this course then comes out to be a total of approximately 11 hours.

After completing this course, you will get access to the resources provided in this course for a lifetime. The course covers topics such as the basics of clinical psychology and abnormal behavior, behavioral therapy, stress, emotion, and various kinds of disorders. ?

Psychological First Aid

This course is available on the online educational platform Coursera and is taught by George Everly Jr. George has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a professor at the Center for public health preparedness.

The course has been divided into five sections which are further divided into more audio and video content for you to use. The duration of this course then comes out to be a total of 7 hours.

This course includes topics that will teach you about building rapport with your clients by effectively and reflectively listening to them, intervention, disposition, and self-care. ?

Introduction to Psychology

This course is available on the online educational platform Coursera and is taught by Paul Bloom. Bloom is a professor at Yale University and has published numerous journals and articles on this topic.

To be more specific, he is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science. The course has been divided into six sections which are further divided into more audio and video content for you to use.

The duration of this course then comes out to be a total of approximately 15 hours. This course includes topics that will teach you about topics such as cognition, development and language, variation, and good life. ?

Clinical Psychology

This course is offered by the online educational platform, Udemy and is taught by an educational content distributor known as George Elliot. He is an instructor at GeoBuddy Learning Solutions.

The course has been divided into 15 questions which you would have to answer in order to finish the course. These questions are sort of like practice tests for you to cover. It will take you a couple of minutes to solve these if you have studied the topics.

This course includes topics from clinical psychology. ➰

Top Clinical Psychologist Schools in the World

Since we are done with extracurricular courses, we should now take a look at proper programs and the colleges that are offering them. It would be better for you if you find a good school to get hands-on training as cardiovascular services cannot be offered via any online methods. ?

Harvard University

Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University is a very well-known private Ivy League university. Founded in 1636, the university offers a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Their teaching program includes a clinical science training model.

The good thing is that you can complete this doctorate degree in about five years. The in-state and out-of-state tuition fee for an undergraduate degree is the same and would cost you $47,730. As for the graduate program, you would have to pay around $48,008.

The students would have a schedule of six semesters in which they would learn about topics such as clinical psychotherapy, testing, research, and more. In the end, there would be a one-year internship. ?

Northwestern University

Northwestern University ranks second in the list of colleges that offer a clinical psychology program, right after Harvard. The in-state and out-of-state tuition fee for an undergraduate degree is the same and would cost you $56,232.

As for the graduate program, you would have to pay around $56,067. The 15-month program offered by Northwestern University comprises 17 learning blocks. The degree, unfortunately, does not lead to licensure.

This means you would have to pursue a doctorate after finishing this program. But it is a very beneficial program as you would be taught utilizing seminars and training programs. ?

University of Central Florida

The program offered by the University of Central Florida ranks third on this list and is a master’s course in clinical psychology. The in-state and out-of-state tuition fee for an undergraduate degree is not the same and would cost you $4,478 for in-state and $19 810 for out-of-state.

As for the graduate program, you would have to pay around $6,916 for in-state and $25,759 for out-of-state. The students who wish to apply for this college need to have a bachelor’s degree and a minimum GPA of 3.0.

This course doesn’t lead to getting a license either, and you would have to pursue a doctorate after this. ?

New York University

New York University also offers a master’s in clinical psychology and ranks fourth in this list. The in-state and out-of-state tuition fee for an undergraduate degree is the same and would cost you $50,684.

As for the graduate program, you would have to pay around $33,408. The students would have a 36-point program in which they would be taught about child development, theories of personalities, and cognitive neuroscience, to name a few of the topics covered.

They would also get to choose various elective courses according to their choice. ?

University of Houston-Clear Lake

The University of Houston-Clear Lake ranks fifth on this list and offers a master’s in clinical psychology. It operates about four colleges under it and has a student population of about 9,000 students.

The in-state and out-of-state tuition fee for an undergraduate degree is not the same and would cost you $5,740 for in-state and $19,176 for out-of-state. As for the graduate program, you would have to pay around $7,920 for in-state and $17,568 for out-of-state. ?

These are the top five schools in the world that offer you a program for studying clinical psychology and topics related to it. Take your time and choose your pick amongst the given options carefully. Your choice is important as it will determine your college life. ?

Where to find Clinical Psychologist job opportunities online?

Since the advent of online job-hunting platforms, it has been way easier for people to search for their dream job. You have to make accounts on all of these sites (most often for free) and then just sit back and apply for jobs.

A lot of jobs you may find for remote mode will involve consultancy services only. And that’s fine because listening to and talking to your patients is your number one responsibility as a clinical psychologist. ?

FlexJobs

This source is one of the good sources on the net, which helps in job hunting by just fulfilling a few requirements. The requirements are the same as the other two platforms we talked about Make an account and get access.

On such platforms, it becomes important that you make full use of the filters and do so properly because these can help you with making your search more precise and easier. ?

Psyccareers

Psyccareers is a job site that has been set up by the American Psychological Association for the sake of helping individuals build a career in the field of psychology. When it comes to its resources, user interface, and job application format, it proves to be quite similar to other job platforms such as Indeed and FlexJobs.

This site allows you to upload your CV/resume after setting up your account so that the employers on the site can look it through as well.

It is different from other sources because of its exclusive focus on psychology employment opportunities. You can find jobs, look for sessions with more experienced professionals, and even have a one-on-one personal chat with employees. ?

UCLA health careers

UCLA Health Careers is another job-hunting platform for people in the medical industry. It is more similar to Psyccareers in the sense that it is made exclusively for people in a certain field.

You can set up your account and then start looking for jobs in this sector. Some of the filters among the list of resources on this site allow you to sort jobs by category, employment type, referral code, state of domicile, and so much more.

With a clear-cut focus on healthcare – be it physical or psychological, they actively work with a lot of healthcare systems, clinics, hospital boards, etc., and help by finding people to apply for the job opportunities in them. ?

All three of these sites have similar user interfaces so using them is quite a breeze. Stay active on each to ensure that you don’t let go of any opportunity that comes your way.?

LinkedIn is also an online platform that is very active in the process of job-hunting. It has the same requirements as the above two – make an account so that you become able to access the free resources and become active.

What’s a bit different about LinkedIn as compared to the other sources I list here is that it is a better and more popular source for making connections and networking. We have discussed how networking is a necessity. ?

Conclusion

To succeed as a worker in the medical industry, being determined and putting your input in the form of time and financial resources are what will help you. A lot of people still believe in a lot of stigmas that might make your job more difficult to do.

Talking about one’s mental health is still taboo for a lot of people. But what’s good is that you are doing a very noble job – you are helping needy people. This makes it a very satisfying and fulfilling career option.

Sometimes, the stress this job brings along can become overwhelming, but as long as you stay focused on your goals, success is going to be yours for sure.?