We must “recruit psychologists” according to a recent article (“A mental health plan welcomed, but deemed incomplete”, Isabelle Porter, January 26, 2022). They still need to be trained.
Even with a master’s degree in translation and a doctoral course in philosophy and linguistics, rich in professional experience in which he founded and directed his own company for more than twenty years, nourished for years by a passion for studying in the the most eclectic fields and endowed with human qualities and an extraordinary ease of learning (don’t believe me biased!), my spouse in his mid-fifties had been forced to sit on the benches of the baccalaureate in psychology with “flos” of 18-19 years (to whom he could have taught!) to begin his training towards the practice of clinical psychology.
And this, after having had to take three preliminary college courses to be admitted (psychology, biology and statistics) – at a distance and at your own pace, fortunately. Not to mention the obligatory journey of an unpaid internship of some 6,000 hours at the end of the long years of doctoral studies before being entitled to the title, while fighting the pressures to go into research rather than clinical practice. Overwhelmed by the heaviness and the slowness of the process, discouraged, disappointed, he gave up everything. But the story of my spouse is not the subject of my letter, it only serves to illustrate my point.
I blame the universities and the government. Reclusive, not to say encumbered, in a private preserve which relegates the aspirants to an abominable obstacle course, they do nothing to accelerate and facilitate the training of new psychologists, made heavy, slow, complex and hyperprotected, whereas the needs are so glaring (it would take thousands to meet current needs!).
We have indeed created an accelerated training program for beneficiary attendants and there are professional training courses (as opposed to traditional education) in certain fields – university or otherwise. So why not create a similar program to become a clinical psychologist? A program where life experience, skills, past academic background, professional roadmap would count for more in the balance of what is necessary to move towards practice? Let’s leave the long route to young people who have to live their youth and open an accelerated route for those whose experience is already an asset.
For my part, if I needed the support of a psychologist, I would have much more confidence in relying on a person “who has lived” than on a recruit who is of the age of my children! At a time when you have to “reinvent yourself”, it is said, making a radical career change requires some sacrifice, that goes without saying, but it should still not be like the twelve labors of Hercules!
Can we ask the right questions to the authorities concerned and stop criticizing only the lack of “manpower”? Can we ask that we remove the pitfalls and open the funnel instead of going from observation to observation, without changing anything? Can we conceive of an open, visionary, innovative university setting up an adaptive program calibrated according to success, and not based on a fixed and compulsory number of teaching hours? When you can grasp a concept in 20 minutes, what’s the point of spending 20 hours of lessons on it?
It is probably too late now for my spouse, but if he had been able to become a psychologist in an accelerated program adapted to passionate experienced people like him, he would now find himself serving for the next 25 years a clientele already hungry for mental well-being. We would open tomorrow such a professional doctoral program that my spouse would have little hesitation in devoting the next few years to it. I’m sure many other talented and motivated people would also be interested.