Welcome to The Cognita View - a space dedicated to applying evidence-based perspectives to psychological care and professional growth.
The Cognita View
Professional psychology is often reduced to a question of which therapy someone practices. The Cognita View starts from a different place: what mindset does good psychological practice actually require and what it takes to bring contemporary knowledge to bear on real human problems with genuine compassion and intellectual honesty.
Written by Dr Kathryn Nicholson Perry, clinical psychologist, educator and researcher, The Cognita View explores what it means to practice psychology well. Not as a therapeutic tribe you join once and never question, but as an ongoing, evolving endeavour. If you're a psychologist who finds the gaps between theory, evidence and practice interesting rather than frustrating, it is written for you.
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Choosing the right supervisor is one of the most important decisions in your psychology career. With the new Psychology Board of Australia Code of Conduct and Professional Competencies for psychologists coming into effect on 1 December, what should you look for in a supervisor for your internship year or registrar program?
Why your supervision choice matters
Supervisors are highly influential, and not just because they often hold gate-keeping responsibilities in the context of the internship year or registrar program. They also shape our professional identities. I can still vividly recall all of my supervisors as part of my clinical psychology training even 30 years later, and I learned something from each of them. Supervision has been an obligation for psychologists for many years, but it is more than this particularly in light of the increased emphasis on reflexivity and cultural safety.
What should you look for?
Any supervisor you work with should meet the minimum requirements in terms of registration as a psychologist and Board approval as a supervisor, as well as the relevant endorsement when it comes to the registrar program. They should also be familiar with the new Code of Conduct and professional competencies, as should we all by now. It is more than this, however. Look for evidence of the values underpinning the Code and competencies in practice. Do they demonstrate inclusivity, diversity awareness and cultural safety in their dealings with you? Do they encourage discussion of challenges and dilemmas, and challenge you in a way that is appropriate to your stage of development and goals? Are they reflexive about their practice and their supervision?
Questions to ask before you commit
How would you plan to help me meet the new professional competencies when we are working together?
How do you help supervisees develop their reflective capacity?
How do you approach cultural differences between supervisor and supervisee, and how will these be addressed in our sessions?
If you'd like to know more about supervision with me, check out information about Psychology Board of Australia approved supervisor services available Australia-wide via telehealth here.
Developing a continuing professional development (CPD) learning plan is more than a compliance task - it is essential to our growth as practitioners. With the new Psychology Board of Australia Code of Conduct and Professional Competencies for psychologists coming into effect on 1 December, reflexivity and professional reflection are both core expectations. But what does that mean, and how can you design a learning plan that genuinely enhances these competencies?
What are reflexivity and reflection in psychological practice?
The inclusion of Competency 3: Exercises professional reflexivity, purposeful and deliberate practice, and self-care as part of the new professional competencies has shone a spotlight on these concepts. They are commonly used, but often erroneously or interchangeably. While they are related concepts, in that both are a process of examination, they differ in their focus; reflection is focused on situations or experiences whereas reflexivity is focused on the self. Psychologists will no doubt be able to identify times when they have engaged in both of these, and indeed even undergraduate psychology courses include reflective components now, but what is critical is our strategic and deliberate use of these activities. I like to think of both as the bridge between the evidence and the practice, and vice versa.
Why are they important in psychological practice?
The growing recognition of the importance of ethical, culturally safe and inclusive practice depends on our capacity to be both reflective and reflexive. Without examining our underlying attitudes, values, motivations and biases we will not recognise personal or professional limitations and how they impact on ourselves and others. If we don't reflect on our experiences in psychological practice, we will struggle to continually improve it. They are central to us effectively meeting competencies such as:
Competency 7: Demonstrates a health equity and human rights approach when working with people from diverse groups
Competency 8: Demonstrates a health equity and human rights approach when working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, families and communities
How do they shape your CPD learning plans?
They are both the fuel for developing your learning plan and the focus of them. Let's take Competency 8. If we unpack that competency, we can reflect upon the key components including understanding concepts such as health equity and human rights approaches, as well as understanding the historical, political, social and cultural contexts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, families and communities. We can also reflect upon our own values, beliefs, experiences and positionality in relation to these components, as well as what knowledge or understanding we have and the gap between that and what is necessary to display this competency fully. How you bridge that gap is the basis of your learning plan and may be a combination of formal or informal learning to help address knowledge or skills gaps, as well as peer consultation or supervision to help embed and apply what you learn.
What are the steps to develop your CPD learning plan?
Start with a self-assessment: reflecting on the content of the competencies and code and examining your knowledge, skills and attitudes
Identify gaps and priorities: What areas do you need to address based on your career stage and scope of practice? Where might a reflective approach benefit this?
Choose CPD activities: Look for opportunities that directly help support your reflexivity or create additional activities that provide the opportunity for it, such as discussing it in supervision or journalling.
Document your plan and your activities as part of it: Don't forget that as with other aspects of your psychological practice, record keeping is an expectation, and it is helpful to include both what you have learned and how you are planning to apply it.
Start your CPD plan today by reviewing the new competencies and identifying one area for reflexivity-focused growth.
If you'd like to know more about supervision with me, check out information about Psychology Board of Australia approved supervisor services available Australia-wide via telehealth here.
Why social media rewards oversimplification of what we know about pain, and what it costs people living with it. Read it now on Substack
The Psychology Board of Australia's consultation paper does not mention artificial intelligence once and proposes to drop the entry qualification from Masters to Honours level. Read about it now here.
The Psychology Board's new Code of Conduct changed the frame. Most of us haven't caught up with it yet. Read more about it here.