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Healthcare · Helping & Teaching

Child Psychologist: what the job actually is

Assessing and treating children's learning, behaviour and mental health, which in Ontario takes a doctoral degree and supervised practice.

By , founder, U.S. Air Force veteranPublished Last reviewed How we research and correct this

Child Psychologist: quick facts

Child Psychologist salary in Ontario: Job Bank reports one figure for the whole group of psychologists, not for child psychologist alone. For that group the median pay is $51.82 an hour (reference period 2024). The group's three-year outlook in Ontario is good. The job usually needs a university degree.

Median pay in Ontario
$51.82 an hour
Pay range (low to high)
$34.62 to $70.71 an hour
Job outlook, 2025-2027
Good
People working in it in Ontario
5,950
Usually needs
Usually a university degree

Source: Job Bank wages (updated 19 November 2025) and job prospects (updated 10 December 2025), NOC 31200. Pay varies by region and experience.

The work

What this job actually is

  • Working with children and teens to understand how they think, learn, feel and behave, and helping them and their families through difficulties such as anxiety, learning differences and trauma.
  • A big part of the job is assessment: interviews, standardized tests and observation, followed by a written report that parents, schools and doctors rely on.
  • Treatment is mostly talking and structured therapy with the child, and often with parents, building skills and changing routines.
  • In Ontario, 'psychologist' is a protected title. You need a doctoral degree in psychology, supervised practice and to pass the registration exam with the regulator, now called the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario.
  • Job Bank's pay and outlook figures cover all psychologists, not child psychology only, and the group is small.

A Tuesday

What a normal day looks like

Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.

  1. 8:30 — Review the file for a new assessment: the school's concerns and the parents' questionnaire.
  2. 9:00 — Meet a child and parent. Build trust before any tests; play and conversation come first.
  3. 10:00 — Standardized testing with the child in a quiet room, noting how they approach hard questions.
  4. 12:00 — Lunch and notes.
  5. 13:00 — Therapy session with a teen: working on anxiety skills.
  6. 14:30 — Score tests and start writing the report.
  7. 15:30 — Phone the child's teacher and the family doctor with permission to coordinate.
  8. 16:30 — Supervise a student or clinical team member's notes.
  9. 17:30 — Finish documentation. Records and reports are legal documents.

Honestly

Who loves this, and who should not do it

The second list is the useful one. Nearly every careers page leaves it out, which is why nearly every careers page reads like an advert.

You may like this if
  • You are curious about why people, especially young people, think and act as they do.
  • You can sit with someone else's pain without trying to fix it too fast.
  • You are comfortable with research, statistics and writing detailed reports.
  • You can keep strict confidentiality and professional boundaries.
  • You are willing to commit to many years of university and supervised training.
You may hate this if
  • You do not want a long road: a doctoral degree and supervised practice take years.
  • Heavy topics such as abuse, trauma and self-harm would weigh on you.
  • You dislike writing and paperwork. Reports are a large part of the job.
  • You want quick results. Change in children and families is gradual.
  • Statistics and research methods put you off. They are central to the training.

The route in

How you actually get there in Ontario

  1. Finish high school with the right courses

    Biology, English, maths and any available psychology courses help. Strong marks matter because graduate programs are competitive.

  2. Earn an undergraduate degree in psychology

    Take research methods and statistics seriously and get research assistant or volunteer experience with children, such as camps, tutoring or a child development lab.

  3. Complete a doctoral degree

    Ontario requires a doctoral degree in psychology that meets the regulator's standard. Clinical, school or counselling psychology programs with a child focus are the usual routes. Admission is competitive.

  4. Complete supervised practice and the exam

    The College requires supervised practice and passing the national exam before full registration. Hours and details are set by the College and can change, so read its current guidelines.

  5. Know the nearby options

    Psychological associates, social workers, child and youth workers and psychotherapists also help children. They take different, usually shorter, routes.

Where this comes from: Job Bank: Psychologists in Ontario · College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario · Ontario Psychological Association

The money

Child Psychologist salary in Ontario

Job Bank's own figures, quoted rather than summarised, with the period they describe — so you can tell how old they are and go and check them.

$34.62
Low (hourly)
$51.82
Median (hourly)
$70.71
High (hourly)

Ontario, NOC 31200. Reference period 2024, last updated by Job Bank on 19 November 2025. Wages vary a lot by region inside Ontario and by how long you have been doing it — the low figure is roughly where you start, not what the job is worth.

Source: Job Bank — Child Psychologist wages in Ontario

Where it is heading

The outlook for the next three years

Job Bank publishes a three-year outlook for every job in every province. It is the closest thing to an honest forecast, and it moves, so read it as a weather report rather than a verdict.

Ontario, 2025-2027

Good4 out of 5 stars

  • Employment growth will lead to a moderate number of new positions.
  • Several positions will become available due to retirements.
  • There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

What that rating means: how many openings Job Bank expects in Ontario for this kind of work against how many people are likely to be looking — not whether it is a good job. A “limited” rating means more competition for each opening; it does not close the door, and it can change before you are ready to walk through it.

5,950
people work in this job in Ontario
76%
are women (48% across all jobs)
50%
are self-employed (15% across all jobs)

Source: Job Bank — Psychologists job prospects in Ontario (NOC 31200). Outlook updated by Job Bank on 10 December 2025; read by us on 5 October 2026.

Before you leave school

Things you can do now

  • Take psychology, biology, English and maths, and aim for strong marks.
  • Volunteer with children: tutoring, a camp, or a program for kids with special needs.
  • Read a few accessible books about child development and note which questions grab you.
  • Talk to your school's guidance counsellor or psychologist about how they got there.

Test it

Do this before you decide anything

Reading about a job tells you almost nothing. This is designed to be done alone, this week, for free.

Interview someone in a child-focused helping role

About 60 minutes
  1. Ask your school counsellor, a social worker, or a child and youth worker for 15 minutes.
  2. Ask what they do in a normal week and what the hardest part is.
  3. Ask what training they have and whether they know a child psychologist who would talk to you.
  4. Write down which parts of the job you wanted more of and which you wanted to avoid.

What it tells you. If you came away curious and wanted more of the assessment and listening, this field may be for you and the long training makes sense. If the emotional weight or the paperwork put you off, a nearby role like child and youth worker or teacher may fit better and takes far less time.

Better than any article

Questions for somebody who does this job

Most people say yes to a teenager who asks good questions. These are the ones that get real answers rather than encouragement.

  1. “What is the split between assessment, therapy and paperwork?”
  2. “What did your training look like, and how long did it take?”
  3. “What is the hardest part of working with children and families?”
  4. “How do you protect your own wellbeing?”
  5. “What would you tell a student who wants to do this?”
  6. “What other careers help children in similar ways?”

Could you own one of these?

The part other career sites never mention

Yes, once registered. Many psychologists run private practices, though building a client base takes time and the regulator's rules apply. Others work in schools, hospitals and children's mental health agencies.

Business 101 is free and teaches that part

Quick answers

Questions people ask about this job

How much does a child Psychologist make in Ontario?

Job Bank reports one figure for the whole group of psychologists, not for a child Psychologist alone. For that group the median pay is $51.82 an hour (reference period 2024, updated 19 November 2025). The range Job Bank publishes runs from $34.62 to $70.71 an hour. Pay varies by region, employer and experience.

What is the job outlook for a child Psychologist in Ontario?

Job Bank rates the employment outlook for this work in Ontario as good for 2025-2027 (updated 10 December 2025). Employment growth will lead to a moderate number of new positions. Several positions will become available due to retirements. There are a small number of unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation. A lower rating means more competition for each opening, not that no one is hiring.

What do you need to become a child Psychologist in Ontario?

Job Bank says this work usually needs a university degree. The usual route in Ontario, in order: Finish high school with the right courses; Earn an undergraduate degree in psychology; Complete a doctoral degree.

How many people work as a child Psychologist in Ontario, and how many are women?

Job Bank counts about 5,950 people working in this job in Ontario. 76% of them are women, compared with 48% across all jobs. That describes who does the work today, not who can.

Where people come from

Which programs lead here?

In the 2021 Census, this job is one of the 12 most common for graduates of these programs. Each page shows what else they do, and which of those jobs have openings.

Health careers in Ontario: outlook and pay What can you do with your degree?

Not sure this is the right list to be reading

Start from yourself, not from the job.

Future Finder is free, takes about ten minutes, needs no account and stores nothing. It will tell you which kinds of work you lean toward, and which of these pages are worth your time.

Try Future Finder — freeAll jobs

Parent of a teenager weighing this up? Career coaching for teens gets them talking to people who do the work, anywhere in Ontario.

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Wages and training requirements change. Every figure on this page is linked to the body that publishes it, and the review date above says when we last checked. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.