a. What is a specialty?
A specialty is a defined area of professional psychology practice characterized by a distinctive configuration of competent services for specified problems and populations. Practice in a specialty requires advanced knowledge and skills acquired through an organized sequence of formal education, training, and experience in addition to the broad and general education and core scientific and professional foundations acquired through an APA or Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) accredited doctoral program.*,**
Specialty training may be acquired at the doctoral, doctoral internship, postdoctoral, or post-licensure level as defined by the specialty.
*Except where APA or CPA program accreditation does not exist for that area of professional psychology.
**For those training in health service psychology areas, this is in addition to the broad and general education and core scientific and professional foundations acquired through an APA or CPA accredited doctoral program or programs accredited by an accrediting body that is recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education for the accreditation of professional psychology education and training in preparation for entry to practice.
b. How is a specialty different than a subspecialty?
A specialty is a defined area of professional psychology practice characterized by a distinctive configuration of competent services for specified problems and populations. Practice in a specialty requires advanced knowledge and skills acquired through an organized sequence of education and training in addition to the broad and general education and core scientific and professional foundations acquired through an APA or CPA accredited doctoral program. Specialty training may be acquired either at the doctoral or postdoctoral level as defined by the specialty.
A subspecialty has characteristics of the specialty area in which it is embedded and requires additional education, training, and/or professional experiences based on targeted populations, problems, and/or techniques.
c. Can an existing specialty submit a petition to apply for subspecialty recognition or vice versa?
Specialties may decide that they no longer want to be recognized as a specialty and thus opt to apply for subspecialty recognition instead. Subspecialty petitions must demonstrate both how their education and training depend on foundational training in an identified parent specialty, and how they have additional educational and training requirements beyond that required for the parent specialty.
Practice in a specialty requires advanced knowledge and skills acquired through an organized sequence of formal education, training, and experience in addition to the broad and general education and core scientific and professional foundations acquired through an APA or CPA accredited doctoral program. Subspecialties seeking to apply for specialty recognition must demonstrate how their education and training is a distinctive configuration of competent services for specified problems and populations.
d. What are some basic things that a specialty should know if they were contacted by a group interested in petitioning for recognition as a subspecialty?
Potential subspecialty petitioners should be referred to the Subspecialty Guidance resource as this provides essential information for prospective subspecialty groups. Overall, recognized specialties should know that a designated representative will need to attest to the appropriateness of the subspecialty-to-specialty relationship (see Subspecialty Petition (PDF, 224KBopens in new window). There should be an articulated agreement regarding the administrative coordination and oversight between both groups.