New doctoral program in psychology starts in Vancouver this year

Vancouver’s Adler School of Professional Psychology is launching a first-of-its-kind program in Western Canada next fall to help cope with an expected shortage of psychologists with advanced graduate degrees.

“The number of psychologists isn’t increasing, therefore this new program will produce psychologists to meet the rising need,� said Michael Mandrusiak, the school’s director of training and community service, in a telephone interview.

Graduates will be eligible to become registered psychologists, which is the designation required in B.C. to practise as a professional psychologist. Typical jobs would be in a private consultancy, hospitals, schools or social services.

The five-year program includes a one-year, on-the-job practicum.

The new program, approved by the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education in 2012, grants a PsyD, or doctorate in psychology. It’s distinct from a PhD in psychology offered at universities across Canada which require extensive research projects, and is the program of choice for students who want a career in academics. Only Memorial University in Newfoundland offers a PsyD in English, and its website says it is not accepting applicants for the 2013-14 academic year. French-language PsyDs are offered at the Université du Québec à Montréal and the Université de Sherbrooke.

“The Adler School’s commitment to social responsibility — and this new PsyD program — fits well with Canada’s fundamental value of social service,� said Mandrusiak. “It’s unique from a typical PhD in psychology in that it is specifically geared to train graduates as clinicians who understand how to interpret research and how transform it into effective, evidence-based clinical care.�

A 2012 report from the Mental Health Commission of Canada recommended more mental health services across the country, particularly in under-served areas outside of major cities.

Alfred Alder was an Austrian psychiatrist at the turn of the last century who at first worked with, and ultimately broke from, Sigmund Freud. He is credited with coining now common concepts such as an inferiority complex, and spawned the Adlerian branch of psychotherapy based on common sense and promoting useful social behaviour.

The Adler School of Professional Psychology is a not-for-profit, private degree-granting institution located in downtown Vancouver. It’s the second such school in North America modelled on the original Adler School in Chicago. It also grants a number of masters-level degrees in psychology.

See www.adler.edu/page/campuses/vancouver for more information.

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