Hawaii PSY Requirements & Hours Tracker

Licensure as a psychologist (PSY) in Hawaii is regulated by the Hawaii Board of Psychology under Chapter 465, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), and Chapter 16‑98, Hawaii Administrative Rules (HAR). The Board’s March 2024 “Requirements & Instructions – Psychologist License” packet is the clearest statement of current requirements for the standard “by examination” route. (cca.hawaii.gov)

Below is a structured guide focusing on the exact hour requirements and how the Board describes them.

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1. Core pathway: “By examination”

The “Requirements & Instructions – Psychologist License” document explains that applicants seeking a permanent PSY license by examination must meet requirements set by §465 HRS and §16‑98 HAR. (cca.hawaii.gov)

At a high level, you must:

1. Hold a qualifying doctoral degree in psychology with specified coursework.
2. Complete a qualifying pre‑doctoral internship (1,900 hours).
3. Complete a qualifying postdoctoral supervised experience (1,900 hours), subject to a narrow grandfathering exception.
4. Pass the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP).
5. Submit application forms and supervisor verifications documenting that your hours and duties meet the Board’s definitions.

The rest of this guide focuses on the exact hours and how they are described by the Board.

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2. Educational requirements (doctoral degree and coursework)

The Board requires a doctoral degree in psychology from either: (cca.hawaii.gov)

• An American Psychological Association–approved program in:
  • clinical psychology,
  • counseling psychology,
  • school psychology, or
  • a combination of two or more of these areas; or
• A professional psychology training program awarded by an institution of higher education or a regionally accredited institution.

The same document specifies minimum graduate coursework (credit‑hour minima) in:

• Biological bases of behavior
• Cognitive‑affective bases of behavior
• Social bases of behavior
• Individual differences
• Psychodiagnosis and assessment
• Therapy
• Ethics
• History and systems
• Research design and methodology
• Statistics and psychometrics (cca.hawaii.gov)

These coursework requirements don’t directly change your hour totals, but the program must be structured graduate‑level training leading to the doctoral degree, not a loose collection of courses.

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3. Pre‑doctoral internship hours

The Board’s application instructions define the internship requirement as follows (emphasis added):

“Have completed at least 1 year (1,900 hours) of pre‑doctoral internship approved by the APA or one year (1,900 hours) of supervised experience in health service in psychology in a pre‑doctoral internship or residency program in an organized health service training program.” (cca.hawaii.gov)

Key points about these 1,900 hours:

• Hour total: One year is explicitly defined as 1,900 hours.
• Setting: The experience must be in a pre‑doctoral internship or residency program in an organized health service training program.
• Supervision: The pre‑doctoral internship:
  • “must be part of the doctoral program and must be under the supervision of:
    1. A licensed psychologist, or
    2. A psychologist who holds an ABPP diplomate certificate, or
    3. A person who holds a doctoral degree in psychology from an accredited institution who has had two years of postdoctoral experience in the work supervised.” (cca.hawaii.gov)

What counts as “experience in health service in psychology”?

The Board directs supervisors to base their affidavits on the statutory definition of the “practice of psychology” in HRS Chapter 465. In the application packet, that definition is summarized as including, but not limited to: (cca.hawaii.gov)

• Psychological testing and evaluation of personal characteristics (intelligence, personality, abilities, interests, aptitudes, neuropsychological functioning),
• Counseling, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, hypnosis, biofeedback, behavior analysis and therapy,
• Diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders, substance use, and disorders of habit or conduct, as well as psychological aspects of physical illness/injury/disability,
• Psychoeducational evaluation, therapy, remediation, and consultation,
• Services rendered to individuals, families, groups, organizations, institutions, and the public.

In practice, your internship hours are expected to consist of this kind of direct clinical and assessment work plus all the associated professional activities, under qualified supervision, in a health‑service context.

Does Hawaii split these 1,900 hours into “direct client” vs “supervision” hours?

The Board’s publicly posted requirements do not carve out separate minimums (for example, “X hours direct client contact” and “Y hours supervision”). Instead, they require:

• a single total of 1,900 hours, and
• that those hours qualify as “experience in health service in psychology” under the statutory definition, performed in an approved pre‑doctoral internship or residency program under specified supervisors. (cca.hawaii.gov)

If your internship or residency program uses its own internal breakdown (e.g., direct vs indirect hours, supervision time), you still must be able to document a total of 1,900 hours that fit the Board’s broad “practice of psychology” categories.

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4. Postdoctoral supervised experience hours

On the same requirements page, the Board states: (cca.hawaii.gov)

“Have completed at least 1 year (1,900 hours) of postdoctoral experience in health service in psychology under the supervision of:

1. A licensed psychologist, or
2. A psychologist who holds an ABPP diplomate certificate, or
3. A person who holds a doctoral degree in psychology or educational psychology from an accredited institution, granted prior to 1970, and is listed in the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology.”

Again, for postdoc:

• Hour total: One year is defined as 1,900 hours.
• Nature of hours: They must be “experience in health service in psychology,” using the same kind of clinical, assessment, and treatment activities described for the practice of psychology.
• Supervision: Must be by one of the listed types of psychologists, and supervisors must provide an affidavit summarizing your duties performed under their direction. (cca.hawaii.gov)

Grandfathering exception

The Board notes one narrow exemption:

“The one‑year postdoctoral experience need not be met if you:

1. Enrolled in an APA‑approved program or regionally accredited school prior to January 1, 1986, and
2. Meet all the other requirements established by the Board of Psychology.” (cca.hawaii.gov)

For anyone educated after that cutoff, you should assume the full 1,900‑hour postdoctoral requirement applies.

Again: no separate direct vs supervision breakdown

As with the internship, the Board’s written requirements do not specify separate minimums for:

• face‑to‑face client contact,
• supervision hours per week, or
• particular activity categories,

beyond the overarching requirement that the 1,900 hours be postdoctoral “experience in health service in psychology” under appropriate supervision. (cca.hawaii.gov)

Many postdoctoral fellowships will internally distinguish those elements for training purposes, but for licensure, Hawaii’s Board looks at:

• Total hours (1,900)
• Setting (health‑service psychology)
• Supervisor qualifications
• Duties fitting the statutory practice‑of‑psychology definition, as described in the supervisor’s affidavit.

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5. Examination requirement (EPPP)

HRS §465‑7 requires that “the applicant for licensure has passed an examination as may be prescribed by the board.” (data.capitol.hawaii.gov)

The Board uses the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP):

• The EPPP is administered year‑round via Pearson VUE; in Hawaii, the test center is on Oahu. (cca.hawaii.gov)
• You cannot register for the EPPP until your state application is reviewed and you receive a Notice of Approval from the Board/Examination Branch. (cca.hawaii.gov)

For hour purposes, the EPPP does not add additional “experience hours”; it is an exam requirement layered on top of the internship and postdoc hours.

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6. Documenting your hours to the Board

The Board’s packet requires several forms that directly verify your training and hours: (cca.hawaii.gov)

• Pre‑Doctoral Internship Verification – Psychologist (PSY‑03)

  • You complete Section I; your supervisor completes Section II, signs before a notary, and attaches an affidavit summarizing the duties you performed during the internship.
  • The Board explicitly states that it “will not accept internship agreements; job/position descriptions; or other documents that do not attest to your supervisor’s direct experience of the internship duties you completed under their direction.”

• Postdoctoral Verification – Psychologist (PSY‑05)

  • Completed similar to the internship form.
  • The supervisor’s affidavit must provide “a brief summary of duties you performed during the postdoctoral supervision in the field of psychology” and, again, cannot be generic documentation that doesn’t reflect direct supervisory knowledge of your work.

These forms are how you demonstrate to the Board that your 1,900 internship hours and 1,900 postdoctoral hours were spent performing activities that fit its definition of the practice of psychology, under qualified supervision.

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7. Summary of Hawaii’s supervised hour requirements for PSY licensure

For the standard “by examination” pathway to a Hawaii psychologist (PSY) license, the hour requirements are:

1. Pre‑doctoral internship / supervised experience (before the doctorate is awarded)

   • Minimum hours:
     • “At least 1 year (1,900 hours) of pre‑doctoral internship approved by the APA, or one year (1,900 hours) of supervised experience in health service in psychology in a pre‑doctoral internship or residency program in an organized health service training program.” (cca.hawaii.gov)
   • Type of hours:
     • Experience in health service in psychology, i.e., the kinds of assessment, counseling/psychotherapy, diagnosis, treatment, and related professional activities listed in the statutory definition of the practice of psychology, carried out in a health‑service setting under qualified supervision. (cca.hawaii.gov)

2. Postdoctoral supervised experience (after the doctorate is awarded)

   • Minimum hours:
     • “At least 1 year (1,900 hours) of postdoctoral experience in health service in psychology” under a licensed or otherwise qualified psychologist, with a narrow exemption for those enrolled in approved programs prior to January 1, 1986. (cca.hawaii.gov)
   • Type of hours:
     • Again, experience in health service in psychology—clinical and assessment activities that fall under the statutory “practice of psychology”—conducted under the supervision of one of the specifically identified types of psychologists, documented via the Board’s postdoctoral verification form and affidavit. (cca.hawaii.gov)

3. Total supervised health‑service training hours (standard path, no exemption)

   • Internship / pre‑doctoral: 1,900 hours
   • Postdoctoral: 1,900 hours
   • Combined supervised health‑service experience: 3,800 hours

Unlike some states, Hawaii does not divide these requirements into separate numerical minima for “direct client contact,” “indirect” activities, or “supervision” hours in its current published licensure instructions. Instead, it consistently uses the phrasing “experience in health service in psychology” and relies on the statutory definition of the “practice of psychology” plus supervisor affidavits to ensure that your 1,900‑hour blocks (internship and postdoc) represent substantive, supervised psychological practice. (cca.hawaii.gov)