West Virginia Code of State Rules › Agency 17 - Psychologists › Title 17 - LEGISLATIVE RULE WV BOARD OF EXAMINERS OF PSYCHOLOGISTS › Series 17-03 - Requirements for Licensure as a Psychologist and/or a School Psychologist › Section 17-3-5 - Adequacy of Supervised Experience

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 28, July 12, 2024
5.1. To meet the requirement of acceptable
				supervised experience, the supervised-psychologist shall be involved in the
				"practice of psychology," as defined in W. Va. Code §
									30-21-2
				and shall perform competently at a professional level in order for the
				experience to be considered satisfactory in scope and quality. The Board shall
				not accept experience limited to essentially repetitious and routine tasks at
				the pre-professional level, e.g., administering and scoring structured tests,
				computing statistics by hand or machine, or assisting an instructor in
				psychology courses. Satisfactory professional experience includes tasks which
				depend upon the application of skills, concepts and principles made available
				during the applicant's formal professional education, e.g., administering and
				interpreting unstructured psychological tests; the psychological evaluation,
				prevention, and improvement of adjustment problems of individuals and groups;
				providing clients or patients assistance in solving their professional or
				personal problems; and other activities outlined in W. Va. Code §
									30-21-2.
				For the purposes of this rule, the supervised professionally oriented teaching,
				supervising and research activities of applicants who are full time, university
				clinical faculty members may apply toward the required hours of supervised work
				experience. However, these hours for teaching, supervising, and research
				activities shall not exceed 50% of the total hours required for acceptable
				supervised experience. This acceptable experience shall be performed under the
				supervision of a licensed psychologist. The supervising psychologist shall be
				competent in the area of psychology in which the supervised-psychologist is
				engaged. The supervision shall be conducted according to the ethical standards
				described in Section 6 of this rule.
5.2. The term "year" is defined as twelve
				(12) average work months, including leaves for vacation with pay, during which
				the supervised-psychologist is engaged in employment on a full-time per week
				basis. In the case of full-time employment, the work schedule of the employing
				agency, clinic, institution or organization shall be accepted by the Board as
				meeting the requirement. In the case of part-time employment, the Board shall
				extend credit for such periods of employment on a prorated basis, in such a
				manner that the number of hours actually worked per week shall be divided by
				forty (40), and the resulting fraction shall be applied to the number of months
				of employment to determine the number of months credited to the
				supervised-psychologist; for example, a supervised-psychologist employed for
				sixteen (16) months, who worked twenty (20) hours per week would be given
				credit for eight (8) months of experience.
5.3 W. Va. Code §
									30-21-7a(4)
				specifies that masters degree applicants shall earn five (5) years of
				post-graduate Board-approved supervised experience. A minimum of two (2)
				approved supervising psychologists are required, either simultaneously or
				separately during the five years of supervision.
5.4. When the applicant holds a Ph.D. or the
				equivalent, W. Va. Code §
									30-21-7(a)(4)
				requires at least one year of Board-approved supervised experience. If all
				requirements have been met for a degree and the only reason that awarding of
				the degree has been delayed is that the university's scheduled time for
				conferring degrees is one (1) or more months later, and if the applicant has
				begun work which meets the standards described in subsection 5.1 and 5.2 of
				this rule, the Board may count the work experience from the time that all
				requirements of the degree were met. In those cases the Board shall request
				verification from the university's or college's department chairperson or
				program advisor.
5.5. Independent
				private practice does not meet the requirements for supervised experience.
				Independent means private practice wherein the psychologist does not maintain
				regular consultative relationships, or does not require supervision, in regard
				to the management of his or her case load.