Journal Article

Experiences and Learnings From Professional Psychology Training Partners During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Impacts, Challenges, and Opportunities

Messer-Engel, Karen, Madon, Stewart, Goghari, Vina M., Hagstrom, Sara

2020

Overview

The declaration of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in March 2020 has impacted all of society and had unprecedented, transformational effects on professional psychology training within just a few months. This review gathers knowledge from the leaders of three of the main training partners in Canada, the Canadian Council of Professional Psychology Programs (CCPPP), the Accreditation Panel of the Canadian Psychological Association, and the Association of Canadian Psychology Regulatory Organisations (ACPRO), as well as the Editor of Canadian Psychology. We share our experiences and learnings about the profound effect COVID-19 has had on academic programs, internships, accreditation, and regulatory functions. The review discusses the training pathway from student learner to licensed psychologist; the prominent educational, advocacy, and regulatory bodies associated with psychology training in Canada; pandemic-related challenges to training; an ethical decision-making framework developed for the Canadian context that may help in mitigating these challenges; the resulting guiding and aspirational principles for decision making during the pandemic; and personal examples of the pandemic's impact on our roles and affiliated organisations. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has created many challenges for professional training, the pandemic has also been a catalyst for change within the profession, encouraging expansion of tele-education and telehealth practices. The pandemic has encouraged enhanced communication within the whole training community, consensus-based ethical decision making, and has encouraged a focus on defining our professional priorities. The professional psychology training community has faced and will continue to face multifaceted and complex problems as a result of the pandemic. In the end, however, we hope to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic as a more resilient, reflective, and cohesive professional psychology training community. Public Significance Statement The COVID-19 pandemic has been present for a relatively short period of time and has caused large disruptions to professional psychology training. In Canada, all aspects of the professional psychology training pathway, from student learner to licensed psychologist, have been impacted; in this review, we detail the most prominent challenges for academic programs, internships, and accreditory and regulatory bodies. We also discuss the opportunities that have arisen to enhance our professional psychology training, including tele-education and telehealth, enhanced communication and collaboration between all training partners, and practicing and refining our ethical decision making. In summary, we leave the readership with a few aspirational thoughts from our learnings and experiences, including the value of being community-focused and student-centred where feasible; facilitating equity, diversity, and inclusion; and being transparent and humble in our communication and knowledge in this rapidly evolving situation. La déclaration de la pandémie de coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), en mars 2020, a touché toute la société et a eu des effets transformationnels sans précédent sur la formation en psychologie professionnelle en quelques mois seulement. La présente étude recueille les connaissances des dirigeants de trois des principaux partenaires de formation au Canada, le Conseil canadien des programmes de psychologie professionnelle (CCPPP), le Groupe d'agrément de la Société canadienne de psychologie, et l'Association des organisations canadiennes de réglementation en psychologie (AOCRP), ainsi que le rédacteur en chef de Canadian Psychology. Nous partageons nos expériences et nos apprentissages concernant l'effet profond de la COVID-19 sur les programmes scolaires, les stages, l'accréditation et les fonctions réglementaires. L'étude discute du parcours de formation : étudiant à psychologue agréé; des principaux organismes éducatifs, de défense des droits et de réglementation associés à la formation en psychologie au Canada; des défis de formation liés à la pandémie; de l'élaboration d'un cadre de prise de décisions pour le contexte canadien pouvant aider à atténuer ces défis; des principes directeurs et ambitieux qui en résultent pour la prise de décisions pendant la pandémie; et des exemples personnels de l'impact de la pandémie sur nos rôles et nos organisations affiliées. Bien que la pandémie de COVID-19 ait posé de nombreux défis pour la formation professionnelle, elle a également été un catalyseur du changement au sein de la profession, favorisant l'expansion des pratiques de télééducation et de télésanté. La pandémie a favorisé une meilleure communication au sein de la communauté de formation entière, des prises de décision éthiques fondées sur un consensus et nous a encouragés à définir nos priorités professionnelles. La communauté de formation en psychologie professionnelle a été confrontée à des problèmes complexes et aux multiples facettes à la suite de la pandémie. Or, en fin de compte, nous espérons sortir de la pandémie de COVID-19 en tant que communauté de formation professionnelle en psychologie plus résiliente, plus réfléchie et plus cohésive.

• Publisher: Educational Publishing Foundation,Canadian Psychological Association
• Subject: Aspiration / Associations / Associative processes / Certification / Challenges / Clinical Psychology / Communication / Community / Community psychology / Coronavirus / Coronaviruses / Counseling Psychology / COVID-19 / Decision Making / Ethical dilemmas / Ethics / Graduate Psychology Education / Group decision making / Health Care Services / Human / Internships / Life Experiences / Medical technology / Organizations / Pandemics / Professional training / Psychology / Psychology Education / Regulation / Regulatory agencies / School Psychology / Telecommunications / Telemedicine / Training