Australian and New Zealand university clinical and counselling psychology staff: maintaining practice in academe

Abstract

Applied clinical and counselling university psychology programs, and thus the staff teaching in these programs, are influential in the development of the applied clinical and counselling psychological workforce of Australia and New Zealand. Just who are the staff training our future clinical and counselling psychologists in Australia and New Zealand? Do these individuals think applied practice positively adds to applied clinical and counselling psychological teaching and do they actually engage in applied clinical or counselling practice themselves? This survey research in a field setting aimed to answer these questions as well as describe the support that university clinical and counselling psychology academics believe the university sector provides for continued applied practice activities. Data were collected using a multiple mailing survey method and resulted in a 30% return rate. Clinical and counselling psychology staff tend to be evenly distributed between genders, mature in age, and Caucasian. Australian and New Zealand clinical and counselling academics are employed primarily at the Lecturer or Senior Lecturer level, believe that continued applied practice benefits their applied teaching, continue to provide applied clinical or counselling services at a moderate level, and report minimal to moderate support by their universities for continued applied practice. Recommendations and suggestions for future research are provided along with a call to support academic staff in their continuing practice efforts.