I have a friend who asked me to post his CV here and ask what sort of salary he could get. I can't really remember what sort of position he is looking for...

The summary is:

2008: Psychology Team Leader (FT & PT) in a clinic.

Between 2006 and now, in parallel:
Family-therapy/psychotherapy: Autism, Down Syndrome, Depression-Anxiety Disorder. Psychotherapy and Counseling (ooooh the stories his told about this one )
Department of Preventive Mental Health in Department Development.

2005-2006: Psychiatric Clinic Mental Diagnosis(PT) CognitivePsychotherapy

2003-2004: Office of Preventive Mental Health (Hellenic Navy-FT) Psychotherapy

Education:
Work license from PANTEIO University of Social and Political Science
MBA from ESCEM Grande Ecole
Middlesex University B/Sc Psychology

Greek/English some Spanish. No German



Please give me your thoughts. Is it hard to work in similar positions without knowledge of German? Could you give me a range of salaries?

Thank you!

__________________
Common sense: so rare it's a god damn superpower.

Hi

Take care with this as I strongly suspect your colleague may not have the Swiss certification needed to practice here. Without the local certification it will be hard to get employment in this field.

The professsional body he belongs to for Psychology can advise on a transfer of qualifications to Switzerland.

Not having German will be very tough - does he speak French or Italian?

Regards, David

As far as I am aware the term psychologist is not a protected one in Switzerland. So I do not know what the practice certification or requirements would be.

A quote from a practicing Ed. psychologist in Lausanne says "In Switzerland the professional title “psychologist” is not protected (although the Federation of Swiss Psychologists is supporting ongoing legislation to change this anomaly)".

Therefore, if your friend can show that they have the relevant qualifications they can use the accreditation of the BPS chartership to establish their credibility and can apply for or set up a consultancy.

It would probably be wisest for your friend to contact http://www.ssp-sgp.ch/ in the first instance to get the correct information from those in the know.

I would think the language to be the biggest barrier. Usually, jobs, even for such things as taxi driving would require at least level B German. Nursing and such are much higher levels due to the communication skills required for the job and I feel this would apply to any dealings with mental health patients too.

Migro language classes http://www.klubschule.ch would be able to tell your friend what level he would need. As they issue the certificates at the end of each module that you take, so you can prove to prospective employers how good your German is.

Good luck
Gal

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Career advice? http://www.englishforum.ch/commercia...st-zurich.html

Surely it is necessary to have the local laguage as mother tongue in such a sensitive area as psychology? Unless providing a service to English speakers only?

Hi. This thread has been very helpful. Does anyone know what I would need to do practice psychotherapy in Switzerland? Is there any easy way to get licensed? I am a psychiatric social worker in the USA. In the USA I am licensed to be a psychotherapist/clinician that independently sees clients, diagnoses and performs therapy.

Thanks for any help.