Military Psychologist

[FutureQuestion]

I was wondering if anyone could provide me with some info on military psychology in Canada?  

 

I'm curious as to what kinds of psychologists work in the military in Canada, and whether or not the military would assist in paying for graduate education to become a psychologist? I cannot seem to find much information online about this career path in Canada, although the USA forces provides a wealth of information. 

[TakeruK]

Hello! A while ago, my spouse and I did some research into very similar questions, although we didn't end up on that path. The short answer is that there are career paths listed on the Canadian Forces website that describe the amount of training you would require (military training as well as speciality training). Depending on the career, sometimes the training is done as part of your military training and sometimes you get your training outside of the military. If you are in the military while in school, they generally pay for school, but you are expected to serve in the Forces for some period of time (approximately the same amount of time they paid for your school, I believe).

But I guess it's not super clear to me when you say "work in the military" whether or not you mean "work in the military as an enlisted member or officer" or "work in the military as a civilian contractor". 

Generally, if you want the Canadian Forces to pay some or all of your educational costs, you will have to join the forces. Here are two Canadian Forces programs:
- University (Bachelor) level training (ROTP; Regular Officier Training Plan): https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/caf-jobs/education-benefits/paid-education/university.html
- Graduate level training: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/caf-jobs/education-benefits/paid-education/graduate-programs.html (Note that there are only four career paths where the military will pay for graduate level training right now).

When we searched for Canadian Forces jobs/careers in the past, and with a repeated search this year, there does not seem to be a "Psychologist" position within the Forces, which would suggest to me that the Canadian Forces does not directly hire and train their own Psychologists, but would instead hire them as contractors. In this case, it seems like you would want to get your own training and then apply for any contractor openings they might have. Here is a link to the civilian job opportunities info page for the CF: http://www.forces.gc.ca/en/jobs-civilian/civilian-job-opportunities.page

That said, we did find that the Canadian Forces does have some military jobs that are related to psychology, depending on what type of work you want to do. Here are some careers that showed up:

Social Work Officer: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/caf-jobs/career-options/fields-work/health-care/social-work-officer.html
Medical Officer (includes aspects of psychiarty): https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/caf-jobs/career-options/fields-work/health-care/medical-officer.html
Personnel Selection Officer (includes aspects of development psychology): https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/caf-jobs/career-options/fields-work/administration-support/personnel-selection-officer.html
To search for other career options in the Forces: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/caf-jobs/career-options.html

These obviously aren't positions that involve being a Psychologist in the military of course, but I included them here since I wasn't sure if you were looking for opportunities in the forces to do work similar to psychology / help people in this way, or if you want to find a way to pursue a Military Psychology career with the forces. If it's the latter, it seems like becoming a psychologist first and then working as a contractor probably fits you better.

The above is mostly about the clinical side of psychology but if you are interested in the research side, you probably know that there are many Universities that study military psychology. Also check out the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research: http://www.cimvhr.ca/

Finally, this is all non-expert advice from someone who had looked into similar things 5-7 years ago and then refreshing that info with a bit of research after reading your post. So, I hope it gets you a starting point to find the information you want! Definitely talk to a recruiting office if you want more information about what programs/careers the Canadian Forces are actively hiring/recruiting today.

[lewin]

Another avenue TakeruK didn't mention is to work with Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC). They're an arm of the defence department and employees are generally civilians. If you graduate with a PhD they hire experimental psychologists (e.g., social, personality, cognitive). I personally know several psychologists who work for them and research topics such as teamwork, retention, and intelligence prediction accuracy. They wouldn't pay your education but if you get into a reputable experimental psychology program, you wouldn't be paying out-of-pocket anyway.

Canadian Security Intelligence Service also occasionally advertises for clinical and experimental psychologists. In the last few years I've seen postings looking for social and personality psychologists with expertise in radicalization.

You'll be more competitive for any of these roles if you speak French.

 

[TakeruK]

Oh yeah, forgot about DRDC! Also, if we are thinking of non-military but still public service / Canadian government positions, the other parts of the Canadian government do hire psychologists. You can search for "psychologist" here to see what is available: https://emploisfp-psjobs.cfp-psc.gc.ca/psrs-srfp/applicant/page2440?fromMenu=true&toggleLanguage=en

I saw that right now, there are openings for Psychologists in Correctional Service Canada as well as CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service).

[eternallyephemeral]

Other people have provided some helpful links here, but the number one thing you should look into is industrial/organizational psychology - all of the concepts above (teamwork, retention, predictive models for selection, performance appraisal, etc) are taught in IO psychology. We also do a lot of work for the military/DRDC during our graduate programs.

There are five major IO grad programs in Canada: Western University, Guelph, Waterloo, Calgary, and St. Mary's. Most students apply to all/the majority of them, and you can find their alumni placements on the website. For some of these schools, people have gone to work for the military after graduating, and others have completed the program in the middle of their military work; they had two years off to finish it, and they were funded (I don't know how it split up between department and the military, but they received money to live on).

Feel free to PM if you have more questions about IO - there might be military psychology-specific programs out there, but they will be very rare in Canada and I have not heard of them at top Canadian universities.