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Advisory committee hears academic and professional appeals to reconsider postdoctoral requirement for psychologists
Summary
Public speakers from Wichita State and the Kansas Psychological Association urged the advisory committee to support earlier licensure or to restructure the postdoctoral year, arguing it would strengthen internship pipelines, improve pay equity and retain graduates in Kansas; committee members raised concerns about supervision quality and called for careful documentation and phased changes.
Members of the Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Boardlicensed psychology advisory committee heard three public commenters on Aug. 12 advocating reconsideration of the postdoctoral training requirement for psychologist licensure.
Dr. Jessica Provine, assistant vice president for wellness at Wichita State University, said removing the postdoctoral year would "alleviate so much of my fears about closing our training program" and argued the change would help recruit and retain psychologists by shortening the time between graduation and paid licensure. Jason Maloshek, a past president and federal advocacy coordinator for the Kansas Psychological Association, said neighboring states that have restructured the requirement kept more psychologists in-state and urged clear guidance so graduates are not "landlocked" when they seek licensure mobility under interstate compacts. Dr. Brenton Clark, chair of Wichita State's psychology department, said he had seen no evidence that psychologists licensed without a postdoctoral year were less prepared.
Committee members responded with detailed questions. Christopher Leonard, a licensed psychologist and director of counseling and psychological services at Wichita State, asked whether practicum and internship supervision—sometimes heavily documented—could meet the same competency standards as postdoctoral supervision. Jessica Hamilton, director of psychodiagnostic evaluation at the University of Kansas Medical Center, said her experience showed postdoctoral supervision often is less rigorous in practice, but other members stressed that uniform, documented standards would be required if the rule were changed.
The advisory committee did not take a formal vote on a recommendation but agreed the topic requires continued study. Executive Director David Fye and Chair Richard Nobles said the item will resurface later this calendar year and possibly into 2026, and asked members to review survey data and supervision-related responses before the next meeting.
The committee recorded concerns about the composition of the survey responses: a majority of respondents reported more than 10 years in practice, which members said could underrepresent early-career perspectives on training and supervision. Several members recommended any regulatory change be paired with explicit documentation requirements for supervision, continuing-education targeting assessment skills, and procedures to preserve internship program capacity.
The committee set follow-up tasks: members were asked to review survey question 13 (telehealth/remote-services), question 16 (use of artificial intelligence), and the open-ended supervision responses ahead of the next meeting, when the group will further consider alternatives to the postdoctoral year.
