Who typically makes the decision for admission to a Master's level clincal psych program?

That is my chosen career path. The reason I am asking is because the campus clinic has referred me to a psychologist in order to get a referral for a psychiatrist. I have been taking Paxil and Klonopin for years as a combination that has worked wonders for me. But, I do not have health insurance anymore. My concern is that someone in the Pychology department would be biased on my application although I am doing well with the Psychiatric treatment. For example: someone would say that because I have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, then I would not be competant to help someone else. I need some straight forward answers. No beating around the bush. Need the truth. As most know, there is lots of competition into this program.

Answer:
As a psychologist, I can tell you that other psychologists are not usually judgmental about whether one of their "own" is seeking psych treatment. In fact, we are MORE trusting of clinicians that have sought their own therapy, and are willing to be in treatment to help themselves.

If you decide to disclose this on an application to a psych program, I would do so in general terms... you don't need to go into a lot of detail, e.g. like a "confessional." More importantly, you can talk about if/how this experience has led you to wanting to be a clinician yourself, and how you expect that this experience has affected your ability to be a future clinician (e.g. more empathy for others, self-awareness, an awareness of the health care industry and "access" issues that you might have experienced, etc).
In addition, give a general idea of the severity level of your condition (e.g. has it ever led you to miss school?) and how you are managing it on a daily basis (e.g. still in treatment? any support network of friends and family? what kind of plan to you have in place when you feel down? that kind of thing).
Good luck!

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Who typically makes the decision for admission to a Master's level clincal psych program?

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