Dr. Anne Kehoe:

It is a long road. It involves approximately ten years of college. The person does a primary degree in psychology. The average person would then do a master's degree, probably for two years. After that, one might work as an assistant psychologist in a front-line service which is now, thankfully, paid. It is a small amount but there are posts such as that. One then applies to do a doctorate in professional psychology. The doctorate would be in clinical, educational or counselling psychology. That is a three-year course where one works in six placements in different areas of the HSE. One would certainly do so for a doctorate in clinical psychology. Some applicants might have a PhD and others might have worked for ten years as a social worker. We have a wide range of people. We welcome people from diverse backgrounds or those who have significant life experience because it is a very powerful and important job. We make a difference in many people's lives. People need to be up for that on the front line. One then completes a doctorate in one of those training courses. As Deputy Ward was saying earlier, one of those is funded. The doctorate in clinical psychology is funded nationally and the other two are not.

People pay to do that professional doctorate. This means they are often paying to work for free, for three years, at the front line of the health service, delivering interventions to people who have significant, mild, moderate or severe mental health problems or difficulties. They then qualify with their doctorate in a professional area of psychology and take up a role in a range of different settings, such as schools, the health service and private practice.