The department of psychology offers a highly regarded Ph.D. program in Clinical Psychology. This APA accredited program combines the scientist practitioner orientation with focused training in various clinical specialty areas. Students graduate from our doctoral program well-prepared to begin professional careers as clinicians, researchers, and educators.

Overview of the Program

Suffolk University’s Ph.D. program in Clinical Psychology is based on a balance and integration of the scientist and practitioner components of clinical training.  The general orientation provides an understanding of the processes underlying adaptation and maladaptation across the life span and within a cultural frame. This approach also addresses methods for the prevention and intervention of pathology.

Implications of this orientation include the recognition that: (a) knowledge of a breadth of psychological subdisciplines such as neuropsychology, developmental psychology, cultural psychology, is required to be effective (b) professional psychologists can complement the roles of natural contexts such as families, relationships, schools, and workplaces in fostering healthy development; and (c) psychological pain and conflict can be understood as indicative of a continuum of ongoing life span transformational processes, which include what is typically labeled “normal development” as well as “the development or manifestation of psychopathology.”  The program strives to develop student competencies necessary for successfully working in a range of clinical, educational, research, organizational, and public policy settings. Throughout content and applied areas of training, the program encourages awareness of and respect for diversity of culture, language, national origin, race, gender, age, disability, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, lifestyle, and other individual differences. The program combines a strong theoretical and research background (in both quantitative and qualitative methodologies) with preparation to deliver high-quality psychological services to children, adolescents, and adults.

Components of the program include: course work, practicum experiences, teaching assistantships, research assistantships, an early research project, comprehensive examinations, a doctoral dissertation, and a pre-doctoral clinical internship. Our intent is to enable students to take a creative, empirical, and ethical approach to clinical problems, to critically evaluate the evolving body of scholarly literature in the science and practice of psychology, and to integrate the clinical, theoretical, and scientific foundations of psychology. Thus, the objectives of the Clinical Psychology Program are:

1. To provide each student with a basic knowledge of the breadth of psychology and of the area of Clinical Psychology.
2. To provide didactic instruction and supervised training in psychological research. Our intent is to enable each student to become proficient in conducting research and evaluating the research of others.
3. To provide didactic instruction and supervised training in the practice of clinical psychology, so that each student is competent to perform empirically supported psychological assessment, diagnosis and intervention and provide instruction in consultation, evaluation, and supervision of the practice of psychology.
4. To encourage students to integrate empirical findings and theoretical frameworks with clinical practice. In particular, students will be provided with a basic knowledge of optimal and non-optimal development.
5. To provide didactic instruction and supervised training in the teaching of psychology, with opportunities for students to develop the necessary competencies to become effective educators.
6. To encourage appreciation of individual and cultural diversity across content areas of science and practice.
7. To prepare each student to make ethically and legally informed decisions about clinical, research, and other professional issues.
8. To foster identification with the profession of clinical psychology, appropriate professional relationships, participation in professional communities, and active professional service.

Accreditation

The Program in Clinical Psychology is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). This accreditation became effective as of April, 2000. Further, the program has been designed to comply with all regulations of the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Psychologists so that, with completion of an additional one year, full-time post-doctoral fellowship (or its equivalent in clinical experience), students may sit for the state licensing examination in psychology. For further information concerning accreditation, please visit the APA’s web site or contact the APA Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242.

This program meets the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards/National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology Guidelines for Defining ’Doctoral Degree in Psychology’. Therefore, graduates of this designated program who decide to apply for licensing as a psychologist typically will meet the educational requirements for licensing. However, in each jurisdiction there are/may be additional requirements that must be satisfied. For exact information, please contact the state or provincial licensing board in the jurisdiction in which you plan to apply. Once licensed, graduates are eligible to apply for credentialing as a Health Service Provider in Psychology. Graduation from a designated program ensures that the program you have completed meets the educational requirements for listing in the National Register. However, there are additional requirements that must be satisfied prior to being listed in the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. For further information, consult the National Register’s web site.