The CopDoc track is a unique program, which joins the professional knowledge and expertise of public safety personnel with advanced research and practice in psychology. This first-of-its-kind program, designed in collaboration with and for sworn officers, will lead to the Ph.D. in psychology and meet the educational requirements for licensing as a clinical psychologist in California.
This program is only open to sworn officers in city, county, state, federal, or military law enforcements agencies who have completed a B.A. degree and wish to complete the M.A. psychology degree at Saybrook. It is also open to those officers who hold the B.A. and are seeking a masters and/or doctorate degree. It is a primary goal of the degree program to have students complete the Ph.D. and to have met the educational requirements to qualify them to sit for the Ph.D. clinical psychology exam in California.
Students take courses that blend psychology with issues of societal concern such as mental illness, domestic violence, homelessness, youth violence prevention, hate crimes and racism.
As courses are taken, class assignments, case studies, and projects will be regularly and continuously connected with current workplace issues, projects, and tasks. This direct connection between the classroom and the workplace gives officers both a theoretical and pragmatic framework.
Students will use their jobs as a professional practice experience, integrating theory and research with work-based applications. Students will incorporate their newly acquired psychological expertise in their jobs while continuing in their degree program.
This program is further supported by a professional advisory board made up of leading police psychologists who are sworn officers. Members of this board provide academic and professional consultation to faculty and students, present on occasion at the residential conferences and serve as resources for the students in general.
The CopDoc specialization includes monthly face-to-face sessions in the San Francisco Bay Area, or virtual participation for officers who live outside of the Bay Area. They will be accommodated online and through teleconferences.
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