Candidate Services

Mentoring

After the application is submitted to the ABPP central office, the AASP Director of Mentoring will assign a mentor to assist you through each step of the process. There will be a seamless transition to a helpful AASP Fellow that can explain each step of the process, answer questions along the way, review practice samples, and provide advice on the oral exam.

Some of the rewards of specialty board certification include:

• The attainment of an independent, rigorous verification that the standards and competencies required in a specialty area of psychology have been met.
• Holding an increasingly valuable credential, in the context of increasing specialty practice, which is recognized by universities, hospitals, health service systems, agencies, and the public.
• Listing as a board certified specialist in the on-line directory and in a number of ABPP academy directories available as a guide to the public, third parties, and colleagues.
• Supporting qualification as an expert witness.
• A directory of certified specialists with easy, on-line, public access (by geographic area) to certified specialists in psychology.
• Verification as currently maintaining certification requirements of the specialty.
• Listing specialty board certification as additional recognition in the APA membership directory and the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology.
• Membership as a Fellow in the Academy of School Psychology (AASP), which provides professional fellowship, continuing education, advocacy activities, recruitment, improving quality and accessibility of services in the specialty, participation in specialty board examination and the election of specialty board members.
• Receipt of and opportunity to publish in The ABPP Specialist, the official newsletter of the ABPP.
• Invitation to attend and participate in the ABPP’s national convocation held during the APA national convention.
• Recognition by most licensing jurisdictions of ABPP board certification as an endorsement for reciprocity of licensure.
• Increasing recognition by employers such as the US Public Health Service and the US Department of Defense for salary bonus benefits.
• Qualification for significant reduction of liability practice insurance by American Professional Agency.
• An opportunity to support and participate in the advancement of the specialty practice of psychology at the local, state, and national levels through the governance of the ABPP and the AASP.
• 10 CE credits for completion of the process, automatically sent from ABPP central office.
• ABPP and ASPPB offer reciprocal discounts. Psychologists who have a CPQ will be granted a $100 discount on the usual $125 ABPP application fee. Psychologists who have ABPP will be granted a $100 discount on the usual $200 fee for CPQ.
• Most fundamentally, to meet the standard of a responsible profession when offering specialty services to the public; the professional psychologists offering such services should be certified in that specialty by the profession.