Currently, the formal number of practica hours to be taken prior to applying for a predoctoral internship is 990 hours, consisting of Practicum I (330 hours) and Practicum II (660 hours).

Practicum I (MA)

Practicum I (Psychology 6430P 6.0) is taken in-house, in the student’s second year of MA studies.

Practicum II (PhD)

Practicum II (Psychology 6440P 6.0) involves 660 hours of supervised training at an external setting and is taken in the second year of the PhD program.

NOTE: When students undertake their Practica, they may find that they spend additional hours on activities such as studying individual cases, learning testing materials, writing intake summaries, etc. It is important for students to keep record of these substantive additional hours to their training and to present these alongside the 990 hours when applying for a predoctoral internship.

The Clinical and CD Areas have reviewed the evidence for the numbers of hours students are normally expected to have taken before applying for predoctoral internships. The 990 hours is fully adequate. What is more important is the quality (i.e., depth and breadth of the student’s training) and the balance of the training. An example of the latter would be having substantive training in both assessment and intervention approaches. The practicum III option is provided for students who seek to add to the quality of their training given that they are progressing through the program in a timely manner.

Choosing a Practicum II Location

1. Each student is asked to meet with a faculty member from the Practicum Committee (current chair is Joel Goldberg) to discuss the choice of a practicum location.
   
   
2. Once a student has negotiated a placement with a supervisor in a practicum setting, she/he is asked to notify the Director of Clinical Training in writing (e-mail will do).
   
   
3. The student obtains a “Practicum Agreement Form” from the Graduate Office. This form is completed by the Practicum Supervisor and agreed to by the student. The details entered on this form need to be clear and specific so that the student, supervisor, and Director of Clinical Training know in advance what kind of training will be provided. Among the details to be negotiated or clarified with the practicum supervisor are:
   
   
   1. Number of hours of supervision per week designating individual and group (if the latter occurs),
      
      
   2. skills to be learned (e.g., particular intervention skills, assessment tools),
      
      
   3. depth of learning anticipated (e.g., if student is going to learn CBT then indicate how substantively this will be covered; if doing assessment, indicate whether the student will be learning interpretation, formulation, intervention planning informed by the assessment, etc.,
      
      
   4. the clientele,
      
      
   5. expected obligations and privileges,
      
      
   6. optional additional training/experience from other professional personnel on site, and
      
      
   7. evaluative feedback format. In general, the Practicum Agreement Form outlines some mutually agreed specificity of the expectations for the Practicum training experience for all parties.
      
      
4. The student must submit the Practicum Agreement Form to the Director of Clinical Training.
   The DCT will contact the practicum supervisor to confirm arrangements. Often, however, the setting and the practicum supervisor have provided such services before and a phone contact between the DCT and practicum supervisor is not necessary. The DCT would contact the student if, upon reviewing the Practicum Agreement Form, there is insufficient information to approve it, or if there is some question(s) regarding the choice of the practicum setting.

After reviewing the Practicum Agreement Form and possibly confirming the arrangement with the practicum supervisor, the DCT will sign the Form and give it to Sandra Locke. One copy will be given to Connie in the Graduate Office, so the student can be registered for credit in the Practicum. Sandra Locke will also be informed so that she can arrange for a Contract Letter to be sent to the practicum supervisor. This is critical in order for the supervisor to receive a stipend for providing practicum supervision. THE ONUS IS ON THE STUDENT TO ENSURE THIS CONTRACT IS SENT. The student must therefore ensure that the name and address of the practicum supervisor are included in the Practicum Agreement Form. The Contract Letter is then signed by the Department Chair and sent by Sandra Locke.

Optional Practicum III

The Director of Clinical Training may allow a student to take a third clinical applied practicum provided that the student has completed all course work and either the minor area paper or an approved PhD dissertation proposal. Please note that this is an option that is available to a student who has been progressing in a timely manner (thus the required completion of courses and either PhD paper or dissertation proposal) and that the third practicum chosen is deemed necessary to meet the student’s training requirements.