Child Psychologist Career Options
Career News August 8, 2013A degree in child psychology confers many skills including research, data analysis, team work, communication and greater understanding of human behavior. Choosing to work with children can be personally and professionally rewarding as well as challenging. You’ll have the potential to affect positive changes in the lives of many children and their families.
School Psychologist
Becoming a school psychologist is one career option you’ll have after completion of a doctorate in child psychology and state licensure. As a school psychologist, you’ll be responsible for diagnosing and treating learning and behavioral disorders that affect classroom performance. You’ll work with students and their families to create individualized educational programs that take into account a student’s needs and capabilities. School psychologists also design and implement behavioral modification programs and provide counseling in the school setting.
Social Workers
Social work is another option for those with a bachelor’s degree or master’s degree in child psychology. Social workers work in a variety of environments, including healthcare facilities, schools, mental health clinics, government agencies and in private practice. You’ll need to gain licensure in order to work as a social worker. You’ll be responsible for evaluating the safety of a child’s home environment, interviewing children and caregivers, looking into a child’s health and well-being and helping with the decision making process for removing a child from a home or placing a child into a foster care or adoption setting.
Child Care Administrators
Child care program administrators are responsible for the early learning programs of private and public education and child care centers. In this type of work, you’ll be responsible for the planning of academic and non-academic learning activities for infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children. Some of these programs are public such as the Head Start program, while others are private or non-profit. In this type of work, you’ll engage with program teachers, parents, members of the community and children.
Therapists
Many people with a degree in child psychology choose to continue their education and become licensed to practice as a child psychologist. If you select this career option, you’ll be responsible for observing, interpreting and recording how children interact with their environment. You may work in a hospital, mental health care clinic, doctor’s office, school system or in independent practice. If you have a degree in school psychology or a doctorate, you’ll enjoy great job prospects for the future.
Job openings in the child psychology field are expected to grow by 12 percent annually between 2012 and 2022, which is about as fast as the national average for all jobs (5). The opportunities to help children are endless in this rewarding career.
