Portable Mentor: Expert Guide to a Successful Career in Psychology, The

Canadian Psychology, May 2004 by McGrath, Patrick J

MITCHELL J. PRINSTEIN and MARCUS D. PATTERSON The Portable Mentor: Expert Guide to a Successful Career in Psychology New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2003, 332 pages (ISBN 0-306-47457-3, US$35.00 Hardcover)

Reviewed by PATRICK J. MCGRATH

This collection of chapters for students and early career psychologists on developing and managing a career in psychology can be thought of as a collection of erudite chats over a coffee at the local Starbucks with many of the most eminent leaders in psychology. The list of contributors is a who's who of psychology and includes Alan Kazdin, Phil Zimbardo, Paul Pilkonis, Ray Fowler, Steven Hayes, Ken Pope, Robert Sternberg, Tony Spirito, and Paula Kaplan. There arc also many younger up-andcoming psychologists who contributed. It is definitely a "Vente" (an extra large in Starbucks parlance) covering, in 24 chapters and over 300 pages, much of psychology, including: Choosing to go to graduate school, ethics, cultural sensitivity, writing a review article, devising and teaching courses, training to be in private practice, obtaining an internship, obtaining a licence, and becoming a clinical supervisor. The information is clear, accurate, and comprehensive.

What I enjoyed most about the volume is that it includes both explicit and tacit knowledge. The explicit knowledge is otherwise available in documents and websites. It is, though, seldom assembled in such an available format. The tacit knowledge is even more valuable as it is usually not available except informally from wise mentors.

The coffee is most certainly an "Americano," and some of the information would not be as useful to Canadians except as an entree into the U.S. market for those planning to move south or for those of us interested in learning about our large and influential neighbour. For example, the discussion on licensing is exclusively U.S. oriented, as is the employment survey chapter. There is no understanding of other countries evident in any of the chapters.

My major complaint (and this should be taken in the context of a strong recommendation for this book) is that the book is exclusively mainstream. Although there is recognition that psychologists may work in settings other than academe or private practice in the chapters on employment, the other chapters give little attention to alternative careers such as those in nonprofit agencies. I would like to have seen more emphasis on preparing for careers in interdisciplinary contexts. Interdisciplinary research and practice is becoming much more common and there are important skills to be learned.

I recommend this book for any graduate student, early career psychologist, or psychologist involved in training or mentoring these individuals. However, readers should supplement this excellent volume by taking a wise psychologist out for a Tim Horton's and discussing with him/her your future in Canadian psychology.

Mitchell J. Prinstein is Associate Professor of Psychology at Yale University. His research examines cognitive and interpersonal models of depression, suicidality, and health risk behaviours among children and adolescents. he is the co-editor of Internships in Psychology: The APAGS Workbook for Writing Successful Applications and Finding the Right Match.

Marcus D. Patterson is a Doctoral Candidate in Clinical Psychology at Boston University. he is a past chair of the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students.

Patrick J. McGrath is Killam Professor of Psychology, Canada Research Chair and Co-ordinator of Clinical Psychology at Dalhousie University and a Psychologist at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His latest book is Pediatric Pain: Biological and Social Context (2003), which he co-edited with G. A. Finley.