The Psychological Clinic offers one-year practicum training for students in their second to fifth year of graduate school. The practicum commitment is approximately 10-15 hours per week for one year to complete effectively. Practicum students are supervised by senior staff at the Psychological Clinic who will help them advance their skills in assessment/consultation, diagnosis, progress note writing and psychotherapy treatment. Student will be involved in seminars, group/individual supervision, and consultation groups, as well as treat a caseload of approximately 3–6 individuals on a weekly basis.
Students can choose a caseload of psychodynamic or cognitive-behavioral cases, or can take on a mix of both types of cases. A typical week for a practicum student focusing on CBT will be broken up as illustrated below. For students who do not take on CBT cases, there is an expectation to be involved in weekly intern seminars, more individual supervision, and perhaps a slightly higher caseload. These students will also participate in consultation groups and practicum group supervision.
- CBT Approach
- 1.5 hours weekly for 4 months: CBT seminar
- This seminar series teaches basic CBT theory and application with particular focus on anxiety disorders, but also including other disorders most commonly treated with CBT (including depression, insomnia, procrastination, impulse control disorders, and health worries).
- 1.5 hours weekly throughout practicum: CBT Group Supervision
- Supervision of CBT Cases in group format with multidisciplinary mix of interns at various levels of training (MSW students, predoc interns, postdocs, post-MSW fellows).
- 1.0 hours weekly throughout practicum: Practicum Group Supervision
- Teach practicum students basic clinical skills; close supervision for cases in group format with other practicum students.
- 2.0 hours weekly throughout practicum: Consultation Groups
- Close review from multiple treatment perspectives of new cases using interview and assessment data; treatment goal setting and planning; development of methods for tracking progress in individual cases; periodic (6 week) review of cases in progress, including tracking data.
- 5-6 hours weekly: Individual treatment (2.0 hrs/case)
- Aim for caseload of 3-6 individuals, expecting treatment lengths will vary and allotting 1 hr/wk/case of documentation and preparation time.
