Psychology, Board of

Psychology, Board of

Chapter 5: Psychologist Licensure Requirements

Effective Date: 10/02/2025 to Current

Rule Type: Current Rules & Regulations

Reference Number: 068.0001.5.10022025

CHAPTER 5

PSYCHOLOGIST LICENSURE REQUIREMENTS

Section 1. Authority. The Board promulgates these rules according to authority granted by Wyoming Statute 33-27-117 and 33-27-124.

Section 2. General Requirements. A license as a psychologist shall be issued when the applicant has provided adequate evidence to the Board that the applicant:

1. (a) Has a reputation for honesty, trustworthiness, integrity and competence and:
2. (b) Has met the education, supervised or professional experience, and examination requirements as described below;
3. (c) Possesses a current Certificate of Professional Qualification in Psychology (CPQ) in good standing issued by ASPPB;
4. (d) Is a member of the National Register for Health Service Providers in Psychology or the American Board of Professional Psychology and licensed in good standing as a psychologist in another state, territory, or possession of the United States or a foreign jurisdiction with substantially equivalent licensing requirements to Wyoming; or
5. (e) Holds a license in good standing in another jurisdiction including any state or territory of the United States, whose requirements for licensure are equal to or exceed the requirements in Section 23 and has practiced continuously for the five (5) years immediately preceding the application for licensure.

Section 3. Educational Requirements. All applicants for licensure as a psychologist must possess a doctoral degree from a regionally accredited university.

1. (a) The educational requirement may be met by the completion of a doctoral degree program in psychology accredited by the APA Commission on Accreditation (CoA) degree program in psychology at the time the applicant participated; or
2. (b) A program that meets all of the criteria listed below;
3. (i) The doctoral degree program must include:
   1. (A) A minimum of three academic years of full-time graduate study or the equivalent including at least forty semester hours, or sixty quarter hours, of graduate courses in curriculum areas described in subsection (ii) of this section. Courses must be clearly identified by title and course content as being part of an integrated psychology program.

(B) One (1) year in residency as described in subsection (iii) of this section;

(C) An organized, sequential and coordinated supervised professional training experience as described in Section 4.

(ii) Curriculum requirements: The applicant must demonstrate three or more semester hours, or five or more quarter hours (or their equivalent) of core study in each of the following content areas:

(A) History and systems of psychology;

(B) Research design and methodology;

(C) Statistics and psychometrics;

(D) Biological bases of behavior for example: Physiological psychology, comparative psychology, neural bases of behavior, sensation and perception, and biological bases of development;

(E) Cognitive-affective bases of behavior for example: Learning, thinking, motivation, emotion, and cognitive development;

(F) Social bases of behavior for example: Social psychology, organizational theory, community psychology, and social development;

(G) Individual differences for example: Personality theory; developmental psychology, child development, adult development and aging;

(H) Professional standards and ethics;

(I) Cultural and individual diversity;

(J) Psychopathology or dysfunctional behaviors;

(K) Theories and methods of assessment and diagnosis;

(L) Effective psychological intervention and evaluation of the efficacy of interventions; and

(M) Consultation and supervision.

(iii) Academic Residency requirement:

(A) The doctoral degree program must involve at least one (1) continuous academic year of full-time physical residency at the institution that grants the degree or a minimum of 1,500 hours of student-faculty contact involving in person individual or group educational meetings.

(B) Educational meetings:

(I) Must include both faculty-student and student-student face-to-face interaction;

(II) Be conducted by the psychology faculty of the institution at least seventy-five percent of the time;

(III) Be fully documented by the institution and the applicant; and

(IV) Relate substantially to the program components specified.

Section 4. Foreign Graduates. An applicant for licensure whose application is based on graduation from an institution of higher education located outside the United States and its territories shall demonstrate that the applicant’s formal education is equivalent to a doctoral degree in psychology from a regionally accredited educational institution.

(a) The Board shall find that the institution of higher education from which an applicant graduated is equivalent to a regionally accredited education institution only if the institution of higher education is included in one of the following:

(i) International Handbook of Universities, published for the international Association of Universities by Stockton Press;

(ii) Commonwealth Universities Yearbook, published for the Association of Commonwealth Universities by John Foster House; or

(iii) Another source the Board determines provides reliable information.

(b) The academic transcript of an applicant who graduated from an institution located outside the United States and its territories shall be translated into English and evaluated by a member organization of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES). The applicant is responsible for paying all expenses incurred to obtain a translation and review of the academic transcript.

(c) When the credential review is completed, the NACES member organization shall submit the review report to the Board. The Board shall review the report and determine whether the applicant’s education meets the standard.

(d) Upon written request, the Board may waive the credential review required for an applicant who graduated from a doctoral program that is accredited by the accreditation panel of the Canadian Psychological Association.

(e) After the Board determines that the formal education of an applicant is equivalent to a doctoral degree in psychology from a regionally accredited educational institution, the applicant shall provide evidence to the Board that they have met all other requirements for licensure.

Section 5. Experience Requirement. The applicant must have completed 3,000 hours of supervised professional experience related to the practice of psychology, in no less than two (2) years. 1,500 hours of supervised professional experience is equal to one (1) year. The supervised professional experience shall include a pre-doctoral internship program which, at the time the applicant participated, was accredited by the APA Commission on Accreditation, or was a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) or documented equivalent experience. Additional supervised professional experience may be accumulated from the following:

(a) Pre-internship. Pre-internship training can include up to one year (1,500 hours) of supervised professional experience in practicum, clerkship, or other training activities required in the doctoral degree program. Pre-internship training is an organized, sequential series of supervised professional experiences of increasing complexity, serving to prepare the student for internship and partially meeting requirements for licensure. Training experiences shall follow appropriate academic preparation and shall be overseen by the graduate training program. Such training shall be an extension of the student's academic coursework and not the provision of services that are not within the scope of the education received:

(i) Before beginning a pre-internship training experience, the student, the doctoral program, and the pre-internship program must agree on and document the goals for the training experience, the student's expectations for the training experience, the nature of the pre-internship experience, and how the training experience will be evaluated.

(ii) At least sixty percent (60%) of the pre-internship experience must be direct client contact providing assessment and intervention services.

(iii) The pre-internship experience must be supervised by the person(s) responsible for the assigned casework.

(A) At least seventy-five percent (75%) of the supervision must be by a licensed psychologist.

(B) Up to twenty-five percent (25%) of the supervision may be completed by the following:

(I) A psychiatrist(s) with at least three (3) years experience beyond residency;

(II) A licensed mental health counselor(s) with at least three (3) years post-license experience;

(III) A licensed marriage and family therapist(s) with at least five (5) years post-license experience;

(IV) A licensed clinical social worker(s) with at least three (3) years post-license experience.

(b) Post-Doctoral. If two (2) years of supervised professional experience has not been completed by the end of the doctoral degree program, then up to 1,500 hours of supervised post-doctoral experience can be used to satisfy the total requirement. This experience can be satisfied by completion of:

(i) A post-doctoral training program which, at the time the applicant participated, was accredited by the APA Commission on Accreditation, or was a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC); or

(ii) Post-doctoral supervised professional experience that meets the following criteria:

(A) Question of timing of submission.

(B) The title “Psychological Resident” may be used only in conjunction with activities and services that are part of supervised training in order to fulfill the experience requirements for licensure.

(C) The term “Psychologist” may not be used by psychological residents and their names may not appear in advertising.

(D) With the approval of the supervisor, Psychological Residents may send announcements of their supervised practice, may have business cards, and may bill directly. However, the supervisory relationship must be indicated and the supervisor’s name, address and telephone number must appear on all of these documents.

(E) All applicants shall submit a completed Supervision Verification Form as provided by the Board, signed by the supervisor(s) and sent directly to the Board which attests to the nature and quality of the supervisee’s post-doctoral supervised professional experience and the satisfactory completion of that supervised professional experience by the supervisee.

(iii) Any individual who obtains the post-doctoral supervised professional experience outside the State of Wyoming must demonstrate that the post-doctoral supervised professional experience was substantially equivalent to the post-doctoral supervised professional experience required in the State of Wyoming.

Section 6. Examination Requirement. The examination accepted by the Board to determine eligibility for licensure shall be the current EPP.

(a) To be considered for examination, the applicant shall submit a completed application form and accompanying documentation. The applicant shall be notified in writing whether the application has been approved for examination.

(b) Every applicant for licensure must achieve a passing score of at least 70 percent (70%) or a scaled score of 500 on the examination. The examination must be passed within two (2) years of the initial notification from the Board granting permission to take the examination. Applicants who are unable to pass the examination within two (2) years must wait an additional two (2) years to reapply for licensure.

(c) In the case of applicants who are not licensed in another state, but who have taken the EPPP within a five (5) year period preceding receipt of the application for licensure, the Board may waive retaking of the examination if the applicant achieved a passing score as defined above.