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Sara
Student
Spring Valley, New York
1
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I graduated from my local community college with an Associate in Arts, and will be transferring to a 4-year university to get my Bachelor's Fall 2025. I'm a psychology major and recently found myself interested in minoring in international studies. What would a career as a forensic psychologist abroad be like? Is it possible?
I want to help people in underserved communities that lack access to mental health resources. I read a bit about the role of a psychologist for the ICC and found that interesting too. I know psychology is a very broad field and can lead to a multitude of careers, but I don't think I'm someone who would be content staying in one place for too long. I have always been interested in the intersection of law and psychology, which is why the goal is to become a forensic psychologist.
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Michelle M.
Actress
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Michelle’s Answer
Hello, Sara !
I think that I can provide you with some advice that would hopefully give some insight on what you're thinking about.
We do not always have to major in all of our interests or do the interests right away or at the same time. Congratulations on your Associates Degree in Psychology - you are on the right track so far ! You need to get your Bachelors Degree in Psychology, too, as well as your Masters. Being a psychologist is a very serious career and it's not one that you can pick and choose where you work. You will be applying for available work and it's very good work, but one thing you will need to develop is the idea that your opportunities can not be known right now. It's great that you have so many other interests, too, but if they cannot be satisfied through psychology, they can be satisfied other ways. Since psychology is a very profound field, you may need to just focus on your courses and lab work and college projects and not predetermine or set your mind on how your own career will look.
That being said, regardless of other interests, you'll need to be a Psychologist no matter what specialty or schedule preference you think you want. That means going on for your Masters Degree in Psychology and New York State requires a Doctoral Degree as well. As for Forensics, remember that forensics is the population, Psychologist is the career, so you can do forensics as a licensed Psychologist. I'll explain.
Most police stations and courts as well as Law Offices do not have a budget for full time paid Psychologists to do forensics. It's mostly on call, per diem when/if they need a psychologist for a specific case or to hire a psychologist as an expert in court. In the meantime, you will be a Psychologist for where ever it is you work. The only thing you'd be doing for the forensics is doing a psych eval on the criminal and then providing the lawyer or court with a report of your findings, a profile on the criminal. You'd be doing this same thing with all of your patients whether they are criminals or not, and not necessarily for courts, police or lawyers, but as the usual process for your practice and for your own or your employer's records. Some of your in-office patients may also have a criminal history, so forensics is just the population, not the career. It's what you'd be qualified to do as a Psychologist.
There are different requirements for practicing Psychology outside of the United States and as far as traveling as a Psychologist, you need to look into that. Some countries approve of an American Doctorate Degree for Psychologists and some countries don't. Like in the UK, you'd have to prove competency in clinical psychology. You can check with the Licensing Board in the U.S. to get complete details about this. You'd also have to be fluent in whatever country's language and understand the country's culture and customs.
The ICC is a tool that you can use as a Psychologist, especially if you do research or end up writing articles for the Psychology Journals. You maybe will be taught this through one of your courses during your path as a student.
My advice is to live in the moment with your studies in Psychology. Try not to pre-set how your career will go, there's lots of opportunity out there and you won't know your opportunities for a while yet. Let things flow naturally and you will make the best choice for where you want to be as a Psychologist.
I hope this is helpful and I wish you all the best. Take it one step at a time and you'll get the positions you really love !
I think that I can provide you with some advice that would hopefully give some insight on what you're thinking about.
We do not always have to major in all of our interests or do the interests right away or at the same time. Congratulations on your Associates Degree in Psychology - you are on the right track so far ! You need to get your Bachelors Degree in Psychology, too, as well as your Masters. Being a psychologist is a very serious career and it's not one that you can pick and choose where you work. You will be applying for available work and it's very good work, but one thing you will need to develop is the idea that your opportunities can not be known right now. It's great that you have so many other interests, too, but if they cannot be satisfied through psychology, they can be satisfied other ways. Since psychology is a very profound field, you may need to just focus on your courses and lab work and college projects and not predetermine or set your mind on how your own career will look.
That being said, regardless of other interests, you'll need to be a Psychologist no matter what specialty or schedule preference you think you want. That means going on for your Masters Degree in Psychology and New York State requires a Doctoral Degree as well. As for Forensics, remember that forensics is the population, Psychologist is the career, so you can do forensics as a licensed Psychologist. I'll explain.
Most police stations and courts as well as Law Offices do not have a budget for full time paid Psychologists to do forensics. It's mostly on call, per diem when/if they need a psychologist for a specific case or to hire a psychologist as an expert in court. In the meantime, you will be a Psychologist for where ever it is you work. The only thing you'd be doing for the forensics is doing a psych eval on the criminal and then providing the lawyer or court with a report of your findings, a profile on the criminal. You'd be doing this same thing with all of your patients whether they are criminals or not, and not necessarily for courts, police or lawyers, but as the usual process for your practice and for your own or your employer's records. Some of your in-office patients may also have a criminal history, so forensics is just the population, not the career. It's what you'd be qualified to do as a Psychologist.
There are different requirements for practicing Psychology outside of the United States and as far as traveling as a Psychologist, you need to look into that. Some countries approve of an American Doctorate Degree for Psychologists and some countries don't. Like in the UK, you'd have to prove competency in clinical psychology. You can check with the Licensing Board in the U.S. to get complete details about this. You'd also have to be fluent in whatever country's language and understand the country's culture and customs.
The ICC is a tool that you can use as a Psychologist, especially if you do research or end up writing articles for the Psychology Journals. You maybe will be taught this through one of your courses during your path as a student.
My advice is to live in the moment with your studies in Psychology. Try not to pre-set how your career will go, there's lots of opportunity out there and you won't know your opportunities for a while yet. Let things flow naturally and you will make the best choice for where you want to be as a Psychologist.
I hope this is helpful and I wish you all the best. Take it one step at a time and you'll get the positions you really love !
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