I officially graduated from my grad program in May 2021. I finished a postdoc at the Virginia Treatment Center for Children in June 2022, and started my first clinical faculty position at Children's National Medical Center in July 2022.
Children's National is located in Washington D.C. In many ways, this was the perfect place for me! It's close to my family, my fiancé, my fiancé's family, and many of our friends. Unfortunately, one tricky thing about the district is that it is really tiny relative to some states and it sits comfortably in the middle of Maryland and Virginia. This means instead of pursuing licensure in clinical psychology in only one state like many folks are able to do, I needed to become licensed in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. This was a complicated (and currently ongoing) process. This post is focused on what I learned and how I handled Maryland Licensure! I was licensed in VA first, so even though I did have to start my MD application from scratch, I had already taken and passed the EPPP, so I don't have the details on that step for folks who are going to take the EPPP for the first time as part of their licensure process.
Step One: The Online Application
This is the general information sheet on Maryland licensure in Clinical Psychology: https://health.maryland.gov/psych/pdfs/GenInfo_License.pdf
Maryland's licensure application needs submitted online: https://mdbnc.health.maryland.gov/psychNewApplicant/default.aspx
This is the ONLY part of the application that you will be able to complete online or via email (besides an EPPP score transfer if you've already taken it). The state of Maryland INSISTS that the rest of the materials be sent in via The United States Postal Service (snail mail). They are seriously committed to their relationship with the US Postal System (honestly, congrats, happy for them, sending them a blender). I had a ton of snags with getting my materials in (which I'll discuss below) and I asked for any alternative or more expedient way of getting the materials to them (including driving them to MD myself- I can be a little intense), and no dice. Only snail mail. Plan accordingly.
Step Two: Supplementary Materials
I found it very difficulty to know what kinds of supplementary materials were needed for this process so I've tried to break it down very clearly here!
In order to be licensed in MD you are required to have 3,225 clinical hours.
1,750 of these hours need to be completed on your official clinical internship, the rest can come from before internship (grad school pracs) or from postdoc.
2,438 of these hours must be completed on site, and under the supervision of a Licensed Clinical Psychologist.
Below are the forms you'll use to show you've completed these hours:
This is the form signed off on by the DCT of your training program for any of your grad practicum hours, as well as any other relevant supervisors.
Practice Oriented Doctoral Program Internship Supervision
This is the form that your internship training director signs off on.
Practice Oriented Doctoral Programs Postdoctoral Supervision
This is the form that your postdoc mentor signs off on.
ALL of these forms need to come directly from the supervisor signing off on them via snail mail! SO wild. I mailed in one behalf of one of my supervisors and it was rejected, and had to be mailed in again from my supervisors.
Okay, so now here's where things get kind of tricky:
There's also a General Reference Coversheet and it's not well explained what the expectation for this is. It was only through corresponding with the board via email that I learned that:
"Applicants are required to have two general references provided by two different people,(CANNOT be the same as any of the people who provided the verification of supervision forms listed above) who can write a letter of support."
Again, this had to be re-done because I'd had the same person write a general reference who completed the forms verifying my internship and postdoctoral hours, and I'd only submitted one general reference.
So, that's all our supervision forms done! Nice! Next let's talk about:
Step Three: Fingerprinting and Background Check
Fingerprinting and background check
Your fingerprints will be processed and your background check completed by the Maryland Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS). You have the option to go there and have your fingerprints done. This wasn't feasible for me since I was living a couple hours away when I reached this stage in the process, as well as working full-time but if you can do it, it's probably much more efficient to have your fingerprints done onsite.
You can call to make an appointment at CJIS for fingerprinting at: 410-764-4501
This number has LONG wait times so call when you've got 45-minutes to 1-hour to be on hold.
I can't personally confirm, but their website also says they're offering walk-in hours for fingerprinting at: 6776 Reisterstown Road, Suite 102, Baltimore, MD 21215
But, like I said this wasn't a feasible option for me. I had to get my fingerprints done elsewhere and mail them in. If you need to do this:
Call or email the office manager at the Maryland Board of Examiners of Psychologists and ask to have fingerprint cards mailed to you. (Tell Erika 'hey' for me, we became close through this process.) Phone: 410-764-4268 Email: mdh.psychologyboard@maryland.gov
Fill out your fingerprint cards completely. The cards ask for all kinds of info, some of which is intuitive (name, date of birth), some of which I had no idea what to put (State Background Check Only vs. State and FBI check). The first time I did this, I just left the things that seemed irrelevant blank, and my cards were rejected. Had to do it again. The next time I just took my best guess about the information that seemed irrelevant and it worked out fine. And remember to sign the attestation on the back of the card!
Take the card to the local police station during walk-in hours for fingerprinting.
Bring cash. At my local station is was $5 a card, cash only. Didn't have any cash on me the first time and had to go back.
Mail your fingerprint cards to CJIS NOT the Board of Psych (I didn't actually make this mistake, but it feels like a mistake I would make). CJIS will process your prints, do your background check and send the results to MD Board of Psych.
Tip: I think it's definitely worth springing for priority mail for anything you're mailing in to CJIS or the board to reduce the chances of it getting lost (the first set of prints I sent in briefly got lost). Keep the receipt with the tracking number to help you keep track of where all your materials are in their journey!
Step Four (if applicable): Send in Licensure Verification from Other States
This was actually pretty easy. The state of Virginia offered two ways to do this:
"A Virginia licensee seeking to obtain a verification of his/her license, certification, or registration at no cost may do so by directing a board, employer, insurance provider or other interested parties to License Lookup. This content resource meets the accreditation standards for primary source verification from the top seven-accreditation organizations for healthcare professionals.
If the jurisdiction, where you are applying for licensure, will not accept the official online version of the license verification as stated above, you can submit the Request For Verification Of Virginia Psychology License form along with a $25.00 check or money order made payable to the Treasurer of Virginia. The Virginia Board of Psychology electronically sends the Verification of Licensure with available public information to your selected jurisdiction. This information cannot be mailed, faxed or email to the licensee."
This is the VA Request for verification of licensure form. I'm sorry I don't have this info for other states!
Step Five: Send In Graduate School Transcript
Again, pretty easy. Log on to your grad program's student website and request official copies of your transcript be mailed out just like you did for internship apps!
Transcripts (like all the other documents we're sending in via snail mail) should be requested to be mailed to:
Department of Health
The Maryland Board of Examiners of Psychologists
Metro Executive Building
4201 Patterson Avenue
Baltimore, MD. 21215-2299
Step Six (if applicable): Transfer Your EPPP Score
Go to the ASPBB website and request a transfer of your score to the Maryland Board of Examiners of Psychologists
This step is only relevant for folks who have taken and passed the EPPP as part of licensure in another state.
Step Seven: The Maryland Jurisprudence Exam
Once all your materials are reviewed and approved you'll be cleared to take the Maryland Jurisprudence Exam.
This exam is 75 questions, you have two hours, and you need a score of 80% or higher to pass.
You do have to sign up for a specific day and time and take it at that time, but it's taken online, on your computer at home.
You should study- it's actually a fairly tricky exam because of all the legal jargon.
Once your application is approved you'll be mailed instructions on how to sign up for the exam as well as mailed the study materials.
The study materials can also be found online here.
Step Eight: Get Licensed!! :) Feel happy!
After you pass your exam, you're license will be issued in 7-14 days. You'll receive an email to let you know when it's issued.
That's it! I hope that this information was helpful and that sharing some of the headaches I had with this process can prevent some headaches for you.
As always, feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions you think I could answer!
Ashley
Comments