Why Become Certified?
At every stage of your professional life, board certification is for you.
As a graduate student, attaining board certification is likely to be the furthest thing from your mind. There are many more immediate things: comprehensive exams, externships, dissertation, internship, post-doctoral residency, and finally, the EPPP. When is there time to even think about board certification?
As an early career psychologist, you are just taking a breath and beginning to enjoy the fruits of your labor. More studying and another exam? Why put yourself through it?
The public is not expected to be knowledgeable about specialty requirements such as accredited doctoral programs, internships, or supervised post-doctoral training. The clearest and most responsible way for a psychologist to represent themselves to the public, third parties, and the profession as a specialist is to be certified through an organized peer process as meeting the standards and demonstrating the competencies required in the specialty.
An ABGP designation shows the public that the psychologist has attained a high level of competency in group psychotherapy and group dynamics. It demonstrates that the practitioner is dedicated to the practice of group in an ethical and responsible way.
Twelve benefits of an ABGP/ABPP
- 1Board certification in Psychology indicates specialty expertise which distinguishes you from other psychologists who work with patients with health issues.
- 2Board certification in Psychology distinguishes you on the job market!
- 3Uniformed psychologists with board certification who work at the Department of Defense or Public Health Service receive a monthly specialty pay bonus.
- 4Health care providers in other disciplines consider board certification as a minimum standard to document training and expertise for patient care.
- 5Board certification facilitates license mobility in most states.
- 6Many hospitals ask about board certification when applying for privileges.
- 7Some hospitals or medical centers require a board certification for approval of privileges, and others are moving towards this policy.
- 8Some academic and academic medical settings require board certification for promotion and tenure.
- 9Health insurance companies routinely ask about board certifications when applying to be part of their networks.
- 10Consumers of health/mental health services will increasingly ask about board certification, and can identify board certified psychologists online.
- 11Access ABPP online resources for networking and referrals.
- 12Join other leaders in Psychology to define excellence in our field!
To continue with applying for certification, review The Candidate’s Path to ABGP for detailed instructions on what that process looks like.
Have questions? We would be delighted to talk to you.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to the ABGP — whether you are a graduate student or a late-career psychologist.