Supporting Trainees with Competence Problems : A Practical Guide for Psychology Trainers

Addressing the struggles of trainees lacking key competencies, the guide outlines strategies for balancing remediation with professional standards in psychology training programs. It delves into ethical, relational, and legal challenges while equipping trainers, administrators, and stakeholders to foster growth.

Trainees with competence problems are common in professional psychology training programs. This comprehensive resource guides trainers and administrators as they navigate the challenges involved in supporting these trainees.

Trainees with problems of professional competence (TPPC) have difficulty acquiring and/or maintaining developmentally appropriate levels of functional or foundational competence, with deficits in skills, functioning, attitudes, ethical practice, and/or interpersonal behaviors. These situations can be stressful for all involved, from trainees facing difficult feedback and remediation, to trainers navigating their responsibility to both educate and gatekeep, to administrators and other stakeholders who uphold academic standards and assist trainees in their educational experience.

Problems of professional competence are complex, often involving assessment, evaluation, relational, ethical, and even legal challenges. Although excellent resources exist to guide trainees, trainers, and training programs through these challenging situations, no centralized, comprehensive source of information has been available until now. The editors and chapter authors bring together incredible depth and breadth of knowledge, experiences, and practical guidance in this volume.