Utah Psychology Education Overview
Psychology Licensure in Utah
Utah is an excellent state to get your license to practice psychology in, once you have your license you will find that a great number of possibilities in the field of human services have opened up. Once you have your license, you will have a tremendous diversity of employment options available to you, including: opening your own private practice in Salt Lake or working at a Hospital in Provo. With has a population of just over 2.8 million people, Utah is a lightly populated state for its size. However, Utah still affords plenty of opportunities for employment with various organizations as a licensed Psychologist. In Utah, a Psychologist in Utah can anticipate a mean yearly wage of $58,530 according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics1. If you earned your degree with a focus on Child Psychology or are otherwise interested in helping children heal emotional problems, then may want to consider employment with one of Utah’s 54+ School districts2. If the idea of working in a hospital with other professionals is appealing to you, then you may wish to consider inquiring into possible employment with one of Utah’s 48+ major hospitals3. Once you have attained your license to practice Psychology in Utah, you will have a great variety of potential work environments available to you. Below you will find our guide on how to navigate the process to become a licensed Psychologist in Utah.
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Required Educational Background
It is a long and challenging journey to earn your license in Psychology in the state of Utah, but it is one that has tremendous rewards at the end. You will need to first go to school and attain both your Bachelor and Master of Psychology degrees.
Going to school to attain your Bachelor of Psychology is an excellent way to learn about your potential career in Psychology and see if it is a good fit for you. Even if you discover you don’t like the idea of continuing your schooling until you become a licensed Psychologist, you will discover that your degree is still extremely useful in the human services sector. Many employers in human services prefer a Psychology degree for perspective workers.
Utah does not allow licensure for those who have yet to earn their doctorate in Psychology. You can take comfort in the fact that, even if you do not go on to get your doctorate, your Master of Psychology is an extremely marketable degree. The human services sector has many jobs that require or prefer a Master of Psychology. So, even if you choose not to pursue your doctorate to achieve licensure, your Master’s degree will be very useful in finding employment in human services.
Once your doctorate in psychology from an APA approved school you will need to start accumulating your required hours of field experience.
Field Experience
To verify your field experience component, you will need to do the following actions:
- You are required to amass 4000 hours of supervised field experience over the course of 2 years.
- You can earn one year of your experience while working on your doctorate.
- You will need to apply for licensure, get approval and take your examinations as explained below.
You will want to learn about the Utah specific rules and regulations for licensure. These laws change so it is good to make sure you have current information, you can find that information here:
Examination
Once you have completed your field experience you can apply to take the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP).
- Pass the EPPP with a score meeting the Utah minimum.
You can find some helpful information about your EPPP here: