Training Information: School/Clinical Child, Counseling, and Clinical PhD Programs

What is the role of clinical practica in the program?

Clinical practica courses and placements are a critical component of the doctoral training programs in clinical, school, and counseling psychology. Trainees receive clinical training directly relevant to the provision of assessment and therapeutic services to the public and are supervised in the delivery of clinical services in different types of professional service delivery settings. Doctoral trainees begin clinical practica training with a foundational 2nd Year Practicum. This 2nd Year Practicum sequence varies by program, with School/Clinical Child Psychology students receiving foundational assessment and therapy training in school settings, Counseling Psychology students receiving foundational assessment training in a departmental clinic and therapy training with the Counseling and Mental Health Center at UT Austin, and Clinical Psychology students receiving foundational assessment and therapy experience in the UT Psychology Department Training Clinic. After successful completion of the 2nd Year Practicum, students are expected to acquire enough hours and sufficient breadth of clinical practical experience to be competitive for the required full-time clinical internship generally in the 5thor 6thyear of the program. Students must register for at least 1 credit of a practicum course at UT during any terms they are participating in one, and thus have a faculty instructor at all times during practicum training. Typically, students complete Practica in Fall and Spring academic terms (late August to mid-May) but may participate in Practica during the summer term as well as long as they are registered and it’s agreeable to the site. Most clinical training opportunities are external to the clinical training program. External practica in which students gain supervised training and experience with diverse clinical populations in different types of professional settings (medical centers, veterans administration, school settings, community behavioral health settings, and private community practices) provide invaluable opportunities for students to extend their skills and to apply training principles emphasized by UT’s programs in a variety of professional settings.

How are students assigned to a practicum site?

UT faculty (see faculty bios) collaboratively coordinate the practicum recruitment and assignment process in order to reduce burden and streamline the process for sites, and to ensure fairness to students. In the fall, sites are approached about their interest in training for the next academic year, and any new sites are onboarded. Students are given the opportunity to get advisement from their program director regarding appropriate fits for practicum training that are suited to the student’s developmental and individual needs, and interests. Sites are invited to submit materials for students to review online via an internal UT Canvas page specifically devoted to Practicum. Shortly after the Spring semester begins, sites and students are invited to an event or virtual opportunity to network and discuss training. Following this event, students submit applications to the sites where they are interested in applying, and interviews follow. By early March, students from all participating programs submit their rank order preferences of sites, and sites submit their rank order preferences of students. The

three directors meet and collaboratively assign students based primarily on student and site preference. Since practicum training is an extension of the UT training program and overseen by the program, the faculty directors are ultimately responsible for assignments and reserve the right to use judgement in the assignment process to ensure fit between student and site. Occasionally, the programs are not able to fill all spots at a training site or place all students. In these cases, the program and site collaborate to place unassigned students and problem solve unfilled spots.

The exception to this process is the competitive Integrated Behavioral Health Scholars program, which is a cross-campus collaborative program that includes Dell Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry, UT School of Nursing, and UT Steve Hicks School of Social Work. This program has its own recruitment process, since it is a competitive fellowship program with particular requirements and with a training stipend. Students interested in IBH Scholars apply for the program in December and interview with the IBH Scholars team in January, ahead of the practicum fair. This way, students are informed of their acceptance to IBH Scholars before the practicum fair and those who were not selected can participate in the “regular” recruitment process.

What does UT need from advanced practica providers?

The Clinical, Counseling, and School/Clinical Child Psychology programs are accredited by the American Psychological Association and must follow accreditation guidelines for practicum training. Please see: https://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation/section-c-soa.pdf implementing regulation C-12D Practicum Guidelines for Doctoral Programs. The programs ask practicum sites to provide:

  • High quality supervision by qualified professionals. The professionals who directly supervise the student trainees should have achieved the doctorate in clinical, counseling, or school/clinical child psychology or an allied field and be licensed to practice in Texas. Supervision by a licensed Master’s level clinician, psychology intern or postdoctoral fellow in psychology can be utilized if there is sufficient oversight supervision by a doctoral level licensed psychologist (see APA implementing regulation C-12D). At least one direct observation (video, one-way mirror or joining session) and one supervision session with the trainee conducted directly by the doctoral level licensed supervisor must occur each term and the doctoral level supervisor must co-sign the evaluations. We appreciate if you discuss these shared supervision arrangements with us.
  • 12 hours per week (or less) of training on site for trainees. At least 4 of the 12 hours should be for supervision, training, and documentation. Students should be involved in an average of 5 hours per week of direct client contact. Supervision must include at least one session observation (directly or via recording) each term. Preferably, session observation is weekly.
  • Provide UT each fall with:
    • Training program description
    • Contact information for Training Director & all primary supervisors
    • CV & license for Training Director & all primary supervisors
  • At the beginning of each semester, complete a practicum agreement with each of your students. These agreements are specific to the training program (Clinical, Counseling, or School/Clinical Child Psychology).
  • At the end of each semester, complete an evaluation of each of your students and discuss the evaluation during a feedback meeting. Please keep in mind that your written evaluation is part of the student’s record and subject to FERPA regulations governing student access such that your student may be able to view or obtain a copy.
  • Complete site visits or other reviews as requested.

What are practicum calendar & holiday expectations?

  • UT Student Practica run for 9 months from September to May. Exact dates are dictated by the UT academic calendar for the year to correspond with student registrations for practica courses Fall and Spring terms. Typically the academic calendar is the last week of August to mid May. We allow practica to adjust by a week or two to accommodate transitions and keep a consistent calendar if they prefer (e.g. Sept 1st to May 31st is fine).
  • Summer practica for UT students is optional but if they take it they must register for summer practica at UT. Please talk with your students before they start your practica if you expect continuation in summer because the student must have the capacity (funding for credits and time) to take the summer practicum course. Please discuss with all students well in advance—by April 1—if you have the option for them to do summer practica and clarify if they plan to continue by registering for summer practica course at UT. Students who do not register for summer practica at UT must finish practica by end of May.
  • Students appreciate it if Practicum sites are able to honor UT’s academic breaks to support student time off. If you are unable to do so, please give student trainees advance notice about your expectations with respect to vacation time. Most sites expect practicum students to work at least part of UT’s extended winter break. However, please be especially sure to give your trainees advance notice if there will be impediments to them taking the Thanksgiving holiday off and 2 weeks during the winter break (Dec holidays & New Years time period).
  • If you have students who are applying for full-time internship, please realize that interviews occur around the Winter holidays and in early January and often involve multiple weeks of travel around the country for interviews. We appreciate you accommodating the interview schedules as students have little or no choice about interview dates and internship acquisition is essential as their final full-time clinical training to complete the degree program. Typically, internship applicants use the Winter Break time allowed by the site to accomplish the interviews in way that is reasonably on par with your expectations of all your practicum students but your flexibility in this matter is greatly appreciated to help them accomplish the interviews and have some holiday family time as well.