At Raise the Bar Psychology, a number of our psychologists are qualified Educational and Developmental Psychologists. But what does that actually mean, what are our other psychologists if not Ed and Dev endorsed and how does this impact the services we provide?
All great questions and here are the answers!
At Raise the Bar we have a variety of differently qualified practitioners at different stages of their careers. These differences are mostly reflected in the services that they provide, their fee structures and the support and supervision they require.
Psychology Students
As Raise the Bar has grown and required more administration support, we have been able to incorporate a number of psychology students as part of our admin team. Being able to learn the ropes of how a psychology practice operates is extremely beneficial to psychology students as they proceed through their studies, and allows them to learn from our practitioners whilst supporting them behind the scenes.
Provisional Psychologists
A provisional psychologist is someone who has completed, or is close to completing, their post-graduate psychology education and is now “provisionally” registered. This means that they can practice as a psychologist whilst consistently reporting to and being supervised by a fully registered psychologist who holds supervisor status with the Psychology Board of Australia. This supervisor will typically be someone with a wealth of practical and theoretical experience and knowledge.
At Raise the Bar, services provided by a provisional psychologist are at a reduced fee to allow for the fact that they cannot be rebated under Private Health Insurance or Medicare. Once a provisional psychologist has completed their supervisory period they can then apply to become a registered psychologist.
Registered Psychologists
A registered psychologist is probably the most common form of practising psychologist that most people would be familiar with. This is someone who has completed their psychology education, completed their provisional registration through placement and supervision, and has then been approved for full registration.
Raise the Bar’s registered psychologists are what our standard fees are based on and these practitioners are able to provide the full range of assessment, counselling and intervention services whilst also participating in regular supervision and professional development.
Educational and Developmental Psychologists
An Educational and Development Psychologist is a registered psychologist who has then completed a designated amount (usually 2 years) of supervised training in the specific area of educational and developmental psychology. There are a number of areas that a psychologist can be endorsed in such as forensic psychology, organisational psychology and sport and exercise psychology, but for Raise the Bar our focus is on learning and so an Educational and Developmental Psychology endorsement fits very nicely into what we do.
During their time of supervised training, ed and dev registrars must develop and demonstrate knowledge and skills in the following areas:
- Identifying and clarifying problems
- Diagnosing disabilities and disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Assessing developmental, learning and behavioural difficulties
- Designing effective treatment programs
- Counselling
- Consulting with individuals or groups
- Designing training programs
- Evaluating programs and interventions
- Designing professional development programs.
Endorsed Educational and Developmental psychologists are able to provide the full range of services we offer, at a slightly higher rate than a registered psychologist, and often operate more independently than provisional and registered psychologists.
The variety of practitioners that make up the team at Raise the Bar is a conscious decision of our three Directors for a number of reasons. Firstly it provides our clients with a varied range of options across availability, fees, experience and services. Secondly it generates a very supportive team environment where psychologists can learn from each other and continue to develop their skills. It also provides those psychologists with a space that enables and encourages them to continue their own learning and career advancement, and finally it allows us to assist up-and-coming practitioners along their path of development.
We are exceptionally proud of the team we have been able to build at Raise the Bar Psychology, from our beginnings of one psychologist working out of a back room of her house, to a team of 16 practitioners and 3 support staff across multiple locations. We look forward to seeing what the future holds and watching our team members continue to grow and develop.
