How to become a psychologist

What is a psychologist? 

What do you think of when you imagine a psychologist? I tend to imagine a quiet office, a comfy couch, and a notepad. While this isn’t exactly false, it’s only a small piece of a much larger picture.

I had the chance to speak with three recent graduates from Waterloo’s Clinical Psychology PhD program. I’ve learned more about the different paths they’ve taken as psychologists from research and community mental health to private practice.  

Research 

Dr. Aleece Katan (she/her) obtained both her Masters (MA’ 20) in Psychology and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD ’25) in Clinical Psychology here at Waterloo. She now works as a postdoctoral research fellow in the University of British Columbia’s Department of Psychiatry. Much of her work is within the Provincial Adult Tertiary Specialized Eating Disorders Program (PATSED) at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.

Community psychology and public mental health 

Dr. Mahsa Sagehi (she/her) also obtained her Masters (MA ’18) in Psychology and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD ’24) in Clinical Psychology from Waterloo. She works as a psychologist at Starling Community Services in Waterloo, where she focuses on community mental health! Dr. Mahsa Sagehi says that “community mental health is unique because you get to wear many hats. I get to work with clients, I do therapy, I do assessment, but I also do consultation with other teams, supporting service providers, and within the foster care system.” 

If you’re interested in contributing to many different efforts and supporting vulnerable members of the community, working as a psychologist with a mental health service provider could be a good fit. 

Private practice and individual therapy 

Finally, working as a psychologist in private practice or a similar clinical setting is another great option! This was the path chosen by Dr. Celina Bowman-Smith, a graduate of our Honours Arts Psychology co-op program (BA ‘18), who went on to complete her master’s (MA ’20) and her PhD in Clinical Psychology in 2025 at Waterloo. 

She now works as a supervised psychologist at Reflections Mental Health Group where she provides assessments, treatments, and consultations for children, adolescents, adults, and parents. Dr. Celina Bowman-Smith shared that, “There is a lot of self-contract work as a psychologist in supervised practice. It’s a bit different than working in research and public services because you’re essentially self-employed" 

Now that we’ve shared a few of the different paths and outcomes for a psychologist, let’s dive into how to actually get there! 

The five steps to becoming a psychologist 

While requirements vary by the regulatory colleges in each province or territory, here is the general pathway to becoming a psychologist: 

1. Get a four-year honours undergraduate psychology degree (Bachelor of Arts [BA] or Bachelor of Science [BSc]).
2. Apply to graduate programs for your master's and/or doctoral degree.
3. Complete the required supervised experience. 
4. Pass the necessary license exams. 
5. Register with your provincial college to officially become a licensed psychologist. 

Get a four-year honours undergraduate degree in Psychology

Your journey to becoming a psychologist begins with a four-year honours Psychology degree — either a BA or BSc. 

An honours degree provides a valuable foundation for graduate studies, often including advanced research or statistics courses, and opportunities to complete an honours thesis, which can sometimes be required for graduate studies. 

Psychology programs at Waterloo 

At the University Waterloo, you can choose from several honours Psychology programs including 

• Honours Arts Psychology (BA) 
• Honours Arts and Business Psychology (BA) 
• Honours Psychology (BSc) 

There are plenty of ways to strengthen and individualize your education at Waterloo! Each program offers co-op, allowing you to gain up to two years of paid work experience in various industries, and by completing three or more research-based work terms, you can even earn a Co-op Research Certificate. 

Students in the Honours Arts, Psychology (BA) program, who are interested in graduate research, can even pursue Waterloo’s Research-Intensive specialization, designed to strengthen your research and data analytics skills. 

You can also get a minor to focus on a topic of interest! I’m personally pursuing a neuroscience minor to get a better understanding of the brain and how it relates to the mind.

Apply to graduate school 

After completing your undergraduate degree, the next step is graduate school — usually earning a Master of Arts (MA) or Master of Science (MSc) in psychology, followed by a doctorate degree. 

However, these requirements may change over time! For example, the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO), which oversees licensure in Ontario, is currently going through the process of amending some of their requirements. So, it’s important to make sure you check the requirements for licensure from the appropriate regulatory college for the most up-to-date information. 

Get your master's in psychology 

Master’s programs typically take two to three years to complete and include advanced coursework, independent research, and a major project — often a research thesis or literature review. 

The connections you build during your undergraduate degree can be valuable when applying to graduate school. It’s worth considering how you can gain research or lab experience early on. 

For example, Dr. Celina Bowman-Smith became involved in research while completing her Bachelor of Psychology in Waterloo’s Honours Arts co-op program. This early experience helped her build strong relationships within the Psychology faculty and ultimately led her to secure supervisors for both her master’s degree and later her PhD. 

Get your doctoral degree 

In general, there are two main doctoral degrees that lead to becoming a psychologist: a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Clinical Psychology and a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD). 

A PsyD focuses on applied clinical practice and preparing you for direct work with clients, while a PhD emphasizes research, along with training in assessment and treatment. Both paths can lead to careers as licensed psychologists. 

When choosing a program, make sure it’s accredited so your training meets national standards and is recognized for licensure; in Canada, look for Canadian Psychological Association accredited programs, and in the U.S., American Psychological Association accredited programs. 

Complete any necessary supervised practice 

Before becoming licensed, you’ll need hands-on experience through supervised practice. Check out the province-specific supervised experience requirements to know what’s needed from you. 

These experiences can be built into your PhD program with required practicums and residencies. For example, Dr. Aleece Katan completed a number of practicums throughout her training. 

“I did my first practicum at St. Joseph’s Eating disorders program. It was my first time getting to apply the skills in a real-world hospital setting... and we have a really great private practice in the Waterloo area, Broadleaf Health, that takes clinical students and they provide great clinical work and training to people interested in comprehensive DBT [dialectic behaviour therapy]. So, I did that next. I was supposed to only be there for six months, but I loved it so much that I stayed there for over a year. And I did my final practicum at the Breakwater Institute for Occupational Stress and Trauma, where I had the privilege to provide assessment and treatment services to first responders and veterans.”  

 — Dr. Aleece Katan 

Complete the necessary exams for licensure and register 

The final step is to get licensed to practice as a psychologist. You must complete the required education, supervised experience, and licensing exams, then register with the regulatory college of the province you’d like to work in. 

Requirements can differ from province to province, so be sure to follow the regulations of the province where you plan to practice. 

For example, in Ontario, the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO) oversees licensing. To practice independently, you must complete your education, finish both pre- and post-doctoral supervised experience, and pass exams such as the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP), the Jurisprudence and Ethics Exam (JEE), and an oral exam. There is also the chance to become licensed as a psychological associate, which requires only a Master’s, but more post-masters supervised experience. Once these steps are complete, you can officially register to become a licensed psychologist. 

Is clinical psychology right for you? 

We've covered the main required steps to becoming a psychologist, but you may still be wondering if it is the right path for you. Let’s go over what you need to consider. 

How long does it take to become a psychologist? 

It’s not a short journey. In total, you can expect around 11 to 14 years from the start of your undergraduate degree to becoming a fully licensed psychologist. That’s four years for your bachelor’s degree, two to three for your master’s, and then five to seven years for your doctorate. Of course, there is some variation — some may complete it slightly faster or take longer depending on their program, research, or supervised placements. 

What to consider before getting into the field 

Do you want to do more research or perhaps work more directly with people? Are you interested in a certain topic or issue that you’d like to address? Maybe your “why” is that you want to get into a caring profession and becoming a psychologist to work with people in need seems like the right path to do that. All of these are great starting points and hopefully you have a bit more information to make this decision on whether you’d like to become a psychologist! 

Here’s some parting advice for those considering this journey

I asked each of our alum if they had any advice for someone considering becoming a psychologist, and here is what they shared: 

“There’s a lot of unknowns and I think it can feel really daunting. One of the best pieces of advice that I have is to start asking questions early. Talk to teaching assistants in your courses and your profs. Be mindful of what experiences you need to know if this is the career for you, whether that’s volunteering at the distress line or in the lab.” 

— Dr. Aleece Katan  

“The advice I have for someone considering any helping profession is understanding that sometimes the reason we choose this profession and the reason we have that strong desire to want to help others, can be the same reason that leads us to burnout or feeling like we can’t do enough... We hold people’s experiences and feelings for them, and we become stewards of their story. And it’s important to separate who you are as a person from who you are as a steward. That can look a bit different for everyone. If I had to give a concrete strategy it’d be: developing a mindfulness practice, getting daily movement, and doing a lot of those other things we know are good for our brains!”  

 — Dr. Mahsa Sagehi 

“Something that I learned early in my journey was to rely on the people around me! Making time for those relationships no matter what you have going on school-wise is very important... Learn from them, too! You have so many brilliant minds around you so just take in what you can! Another thing is to make time for self-care, regardless of what is modeled for you. Making time for yourself is very important.” 

— Dr. Celina Bowman-Smith