Md. Code, Health Occ. § 18-302

Current with changes from the 2024 Legislative Session
Section 18-302 - Qualifications of applicants
(a) To qualify for a license or registration, an applicant shall be an individual who meets the requirements of this section.
(b) The applicant shall be of good moral character.
(c) The applicant shall be at least 18 years old.
(d)
(1) Except as provided in this subsection, an applicant shall reside or practice, or intend to reside or practice, in this State.
(2) The Board may issue a license or registration to an applicant who is neither a resident of this State nor practicing in this State if the applicant shows that issuing the license or registration would be in the interest of the citizens or government of this State.
(e) The applicant shall submit to a criminal history records check in accordance with § 18-302.1 of this subtitle.
(f) In addition to the other requirements of this section, to qualify to be a licensed psychologist, an applicant must have:
(1)
(i) A doctoral degree in psychology as defined in § 18-101(c)(1)(i) or (iii) of this title; and
(ii) At least 2 years of professional, supervised experience in psychology that is approved by the Board in accordance with regulations adopted by the Board; or
(2)
(i) A doctoral degree in psychology as defined in § 18-101(c)(1)(ii) of this title;
(ii) Received a postdoctoral respecialization certificate from a department of psychology that, at the time the certificate was issued, had a degree program that was accredited by the American Psychological Association or the Canadian Psychological Association and that included a minimum of 1,750 hours in a supervised internship in accordance with regulations adopted by the Board; and
(iii) Completed a minimum of 1,500 hours of postcertification advanced training hours or precertification hours of service as a registered psychology associate in accordance with regulations adopted by the Board.
(g) Except as provided in subsection (i) of this section and in addition to the other requirements of this section, to qualify to be a registered psychology associate, an applicant shall:
(1) Have a master's degree in clinical psychology, counseling psychology, or school psychology from a program accredited by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation;
(2) Have a master's degree in education with a field of specialization in psychology or counseling psychology from a program accredited by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation;
(3) Be admitted to candidacy for a doctoral degree in clinical psychology, counseling psychology, school psychology, or education with a field of specialization in psychology or counseling psychology in a program accredited by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, after having satisfactorily:
(i) Completed at least 3 years of postgraduate education in psychology; and
(ii) Passed preliminary doctoral examinations;
(4) Have completed a doctoral degree in psychology or in education with a field of specialization in psychology or counseling psychology from a program accredited by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation; or
(5) Have at least a master's level degree from a program outside the United States that has been determined by the Board to be equivalent to a degree listed in item (1), (2), or (4) of this subsection.
(h)
(1) An applicant for a psychologist license shall successfully pass:
(i) A national examination in the practice of psychology; and
(ii) The State jurisprudence examination.
(2) Except as provided in subsection (i) of this section, an applicant for a psychology associate registration shall successfully pass the State jurisprudence examination.
(i) The Board shall grant a waiver of the requirements of subsections (g) and (h)(2) of this section to an applicant for a psychology associate registration if the applicant was approved by the Board before October 1, 2014, to practice psychology as a psychology associate under the supervision of a licensed psychologist.

Md. Code, HO § 18-302

Amended by 2023 Md. Laws, Ch. 55, Sec. 1, eff. 10/1/2023.
Amended by 2014 Md. Laws, Ch. 147, Sec. 1, eff. 10/1/2014.