The proposed Psychology Board of Australia's reforms to psychologist training are unsafe and untested and should be rejected NOW.

To the Australian community, our colleagues across health, and the psychology profession: I am writing to ask for your help.

A decision is about to be made that will affect every Australian who ever needs a psychologist. It has not had the scrutiny it deserves.

When you or someone you love sees a psychologist, you trust that they are properly trained. That trust is now at risk.

Psychologists across the country are sounding the alarm over a plan to reduce educational standards and safeguards for psychology training, supervision and registration. Australians expect and deserve safe, high-quality care from psychologists trained to international standards.

The Federal Government tasked the Psychology Board of Australia with developing a single, shorter registration pathway. The Board's solution: scrap the master's degree, cut clinical training, and potentially wipe out internationally recognised specialisations such as forensic psychology, clinical neuropsychology, and educational and developmental psychology.

Under the plan:

• Students will graduate at the end of a bachelor degree as registered psychologists.
• Postgraduate training will no longer be required.
• The supervised internship after graduation will be removed.
• The National Psychology Exam could be dropped for local graduates.
• Entry to the profession could come down to a school ATAR.

1.A dangerous gamble with public safety

Australia's mental health system is already under immense pressure. Psychologists hold a critical role in that system. They diagnose ADHD, autism, PTSD, brain injury and intellectual disability. They assess and respond to suicide risk. They provide expert forensic and neuropsychological assessments. That judgement takes years of supervised training to build, and it is exactly what this proposal cuts. Less time with real clients means more errors in assessment and treatment. A flawed psychological assessment can cost a life.

The Psychology Council of NSW, which handles complaints, warns the proposed training model "will expose graduates to the potential for unsafe practice." It is a view shared across the profession.

2. Nowhere else in the world, except Brazil

• A master's degree is the absolute minimum standard to practise as a psychologist in other developed nations.
• The Board's own paper names Brazil as "the only known jurisdiction with a single degree leading to registration as a psychologist."
• In 2018 the Board itself warned that this level of training sits below international standards.

3. United opposition, ignored

• Most of the 2,500 respondents to the Board's public consultation did not support the model in any form.
• Every major psychology body, the universities and the unions oppose it. That kind of unanimous agreement is rare.

Our international colleagues are watching with serious concern about Australia's plans, warning that "No longer requiring the training that makes us highly qualified professionals will reduce the profession to generic paraprofessionals and is unlikely to meet public need for high quality care from true psychological services. This change must have high quality research to assess the unintended consequences." (Professor Mary Ann Campbell, University of New Brunswick, Canada).

Despite this, the Psychology Board is pressing ahead with its model. There has been no independent safety or quality review. This "once in a generation change" is set to be rolled out with no trial, no evidence, and no way back.

On 26 October, leaders from across psychology, universities, health services and lived experience will take this message to Parliament House. Add your name so we can show our elected representatives how many Australians stand with us.

We call upon the Psychology Board of Australia and our State and Federal Health Ministers to:

1. Protect Australians: keep psychologists trained to international standards
2. Halt the planned roll out of the model and commission independent review, modelling and research.
3. Consider proposed alternative models that streamline training without compromising standards.
4. Fund psychology training properly.

A decision is expected in November–December. Sign. Share. Speak up.

Read more

• My open letter to the profession, which has gained traction internationally: LinkedIn Post
• Dr Aaron Frost's post "Manufacturing a Mandate. The Proposal No One Wants" 
• Follow Dr Frost, who will continue posting his analysis on LinkedIn

Leanne Clarke OAM, Clinical Psychologist

#ProtectPsychology #StandardsMatter #MentalHealthMatters #PatientSafety