Practicum

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Practicum Training Description

The SCS Beginning Practicum consists of a core practicum, in which trainees provide career, academic and personal counseling to students at the University of Minnesota. Trainees required to complete a practicum that meets LPC requirements provide additional supervised services.

Description of the Core Practicum
This 2-semester practicum consists of 17 hours of supervised practice and preparation, which includes two half days of counseling clients and a 2-hour seminar each week. Counseling is supervised using a live model of supervision. Supervision is provided by a psychologist and predoctoral interns.

This practicum integrates supervised counseling and assessment practice with readings and case conceptualization based on theory and empirical literature. All practicum trainees are required to follow the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, Guidelines for Providers of Psychological Services to Ethnic, Linguistic, and Culturally Diverse Populations, Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Clients, and Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People.

The practicum training year typically looks as follows:

Counseling Schedule:
Mondays  12:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Wednesdays  12:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
This includes 3-4 client appointments, live observation, and group supervision

Seminar:
Fridays 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Each practicum trainee has an individual supervisor who is the person primarily responsible for evaluation. Practicum trainees meet with their individual supervisors for an hour each week. Individual supervisors utilize supervision team input in evaluation. Others on the supervision team include the practicum coordinator, the seminar coordinator(s). Practicum trainees have a different individual supervisor each semester to expose them to different expertise.

The remainder of the hours is available for case review and supervision preparation, which includes writing casenotes and documentation for students, coordinating care with other providers, preparing assessment results, and reviewing video recordings.

Practicum trainees will record all of their counseling sessions. They will also have their supervision sessions recorded for their supervisor’s supervision.

Additional Practicum Requirements for Students Fulfilling LPC Requirements
Eligibility and Application Process

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