Put off by the public network, graduates in psychology from the Université de Montréal criticize their department for blocking the doors of internships in the private sector.
“It’s not my role to make up for the shortage of labor in the public,” says Audrey Francoeur, doctoral student in psychology at the University of Montreal (UdeM). Very concerned about her professional prospects, the young woman criticizes her department for having rejected the internship (or “internship”) she had obtained in a private clinic. “I risk not having a boarding school or having a boarding school that does not interest me! »
She wants nothing to do with the public sector, says that the “offers [n’y] aren’t attractive” and that she doesn’t want to “work 9 to 5 under pressure to take on more clients. She explains that the private clinic she had found promised her good working conditions and a practice in her field of specialty.
This cry from the heart comes as the government tries in vain to increase recruitment in psychology in the public network, where it is estimated that 900 additional people will have to be hired within five years. Currently, at least 20,000 people are on the waiting list to see a psychologist in the public network.
On Tuesday evening, the Association of Graduate Students in Psychology at the University of Montreal (AÉCSPUM) sent the department an anonymous letter about internships, to which 80 other students gave their support on the platform. Facebook. The doctoral students (the vast majority of them are women) criticize the internship approval process, which lacks “coherence, transparency and objectivity”.
“The doctoral students denounce what seems to be a form of pressure from the Board of Internships to practice in the public health network”, can we read in this letter.
“Although doctoral students are sensitive to the shortage of psychologists working in the public sector and to the crying need of the population to have access to mental health services, they are not required to remedy the situation by no improvement in current conditions. »
Growing phenomenon
Asked about this, the director of the Department of Psychology at UdeM, Michelle McKerral, argues that this story was made a point by a minority of students “who are not happy with the decisions that have been made”.
“We have operated the same way for the past few years. It’s internal management, she says. It’s the first time we’ve experienced this, and we’ve had the same criteria for years. »
Gold, The duty was able to consult two e-mails received by students in which program officials made a connection between the refusal to “analyze” certain internship requests and the “orientation” that the department encourages students to do their internship in the network public.
Relaunched on this subject, the director of the department concedes that “unfortunately, there was an inaccurate answer from an employee in post for less than two months concerning the justification of the criterion of 800 hours”, one of the criteria necessary for the Approval of private internships.
According to Mme McKerral, less than 10% of internships for UdeM students are private. The department openly encourages students to choose the public network, but private internships are not prohibited.
The director recognizes, however, that more and more students want to do their internship in the private sector. “It is certain that we have more and more requests for internship in a private environment. »
She thinks that there is currently an unprecedented phenomenon of “one-upmanship” on the part of private circles to attract students to the department.
These tensions are added to other problems of attracting the next generation of psychology to the public network. As revealed The duty at the end of January, in some universities, students interested in the public are struggling to find internships, for lack of supervisors.
Two weeks ago, the Minister for Health and Social Services, Lionel Carmant, declared that he wanted to attract more doctoral students in psychology to the public network.
“Those who are on scholarships will be able to be offered positions during their internship,” he said, lamenting that a “very small percentage of these students” are “offered positions”. “It will increase the presence of psychologists in the public,” he also said.
When he talks about scholarships, the minister is referring to the $25,000 scholarships offered to graduating doctoral students doing their internship in the public sector, provided they stay there for at least two years.
On the other hand, these scholarships and the conditions attached to them seem more or less appreciated. Audrey Francoeur, for example, says she wants to send a “stronger” message in this regard by refusing to go to the public. “If all the interns boycott the public despite the scholarship, it could send a message that maybe the scholarship with two years is a trap, that working conditions in the public are not of interest to us. »