Training in Neurorehabilitation Psychology: Defining Competencies, Requisite Skill Sets, and a Proposed Developmental Pathway

You do realize that this wouldn't be necessary if you had 100% recovery protocols! SOLVE THE CORRECT PROBLEM YOU BLITHERING IDIOTS! 

Oops, I'm not playing by the polite rules of Dale Carnegie,  'How to Win Friends and Influence People'. 

Telling stroke medical 'professionals' they know nothing about stroke is a no-no even if it is true. 

Politeness will never solve anything in stroke. Yes, I'm a bomb thrower and proud of it. Someday a stroke 'leader' will try to ream me out for making them look bad by being truthful , I look forward to that day.

 

Training in Neurorehabilitation Psychology: Defining Competencies, Requisite Skill Sets, and a Proposed Developmental Pathway

• Kirk Jeffrey Stucky, PsyD
• Laurie N. Baker, PhD
• Beth K. Rush, PhD
• 
  
• Pamela M. Dean, PhD
• Sarah J. Tlustos, PhD
• Mark Barisa, PhD
• Show all authors

Published:August 29, 2023DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2023.08.016

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Abstract

Psychologists have been applying neurorehabilitation models of care for many years. These practitioners come from different training backgrounds and use a variety of titles to refer to themselves despite considerable overlap in practice patterns, professional identification, and salary. Titles like ‘neurorehabilitation psychologist’ and ‘rehabilitation neuropsychologist’ are sometimes used by practitioners in the field to indicate their specialty area, but are not formally recognized by the American Psychological Association, the American Board of Professional Psychology, or by training councils in clinical neuropsychology (CN) or rehabilitation psychology (RP). Neither the CN or RP specialties alone fully address or define the competencies, skill sets, and clinical experiences required to provide high quality, comprehensive neurorehabilitation psychology services across settings. Therefore, irrespective of practice setting, we believe that both clinical neuropsychologists and rehabilitation psychologists should ideally have mastery of specific, overlapping competencies and a philosophical approach to care that we call neurorehabilitation psychology in this paper. Trainees and early career professionals who aspire to practice in this arena are often pressured to prioritize either CN or RP pathways over the other, with anxiety about perceived and real potential for falling short in their training goals. In the absence of an explicit training path or formal guidelines, these professionals emerge only after the opportunity, privilege, or frank luck of working with specific mentors or in exceptional patient care settings that lend themselves to obtaining integrated competencies in neurorehabilitation psychology.

This paper reflects the efforts of 7 practitioners to preliminarily define the practice and philosophies of neurorehabilitation psychology, the skill sets and competencies deemed essential for best practice, and essential training pathway elements. We propose competencies designed to maximize the integrity of training and provide clear guideposts for professional development.