Vermont Psychology Education Overview
Psychology Licensure in Vermont
The beautiful state of Vermont is an excellent choice to begin your career in human services as a licensed Psychologist. Having gone through the steps necessary to secure a license to practice Psychology in Vermont, you will be able to enjoy a wide variety of careers, including: opening your own private practice in Montpelier or at a hospital in Burlington. Vermont has a population of just over 626,000 people, making it the second least populous U.S. state. While the population of Vermont is small, there is still tremendous opportunity for licensed Psychologists. Psychologists living in Vermont can anticipate earning a mean yearly wage of $64,200 according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics website1. For those who wish to help children heal their emotional wounds, seeking a career at one of Vermont’s 60+ School districts may be a great place to start2. If working in a hospital setting with other professionals sounds stimulating, you may wish to consider inquiring about potential occupations available at one of Vermont’s 17+ major hospitals3. After you have become licensed to practice Psychology in the state of Vermont, you will be able to choose from many different occupational niches. Below you will find an excellent guide on becoming licensed as a Psychologist in Vermont.
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Required Educational Background
If you wish to attain licensure as a psychologist in Vermont, then you will need to have attained your Ph.D. in Psychology. This will of course require that you have already earned your Bachelor and Master of Psychology as pre-requisites for earning your Doctorate of Psychology.
As you go to school to earn your Bachelor of Psychology degree, you will be able to really explore what a potential job as a licensed psychologist might look like. This will be very enlightening and will be extremely helpful in deciding if a career as a licensed psychologist is one that resonates with you. In addition to being a key step towards earning your advanced degrees, a Bachelor of Psychology degree is an extremely useful degree for finding a career in human services careers.
Vermont does not allow you to become a licensed psychologist without first earning a Doctorate in Psychology. Remember, a Master’s in Psychology is valuable, not just as a stepping stone towards gaining your doctorate, but also in finding employment with a wide variety of human services agencies. You will find that in addition to being a necessary step to get your Ph.D., a Masters of Psychology is a very sought after degree by perspective employers in the human services industry.
To begin your path to licensure you will need your doctorate in psychology from a board approved or APA accredited school. Once you have your doctorate you will need to earn your post-doctoral field experience.
Field Experience
To begin earning your field experience on the way to licensure, you will need to do the following:
- You will need two years of supervised experience which equates to 4000 hours of experience
- You may earn one year during your doctoral studies
- One year of experience, or 2,000 hours, must happen after you have received your doctorate.
- You will need to apply for licensure, be approved and take your EPPP (see below).
You will want to familiarize yourself with Vermont’s specific laws and regulations regarding licensure. These laws change so it is good to make sure you have current information, which you can find 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 Vermont minimum
- Pass the Vermont jurisprudence exam
You can find some helpful information about your EPPP here:
1 http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes193031.htm
2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_districts_in_Vermont
3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hospitals_in_Vermont