E. Working with Clients

Group Work Requirements

The following information provides clarification of both course and experiential requirements for the group work component of the MA/MS Education: Counseling degree program. The same requirements apply to those who may also be working towards licensure as a school counselor.

1. Enroll, during one quarter of your first year in the Counselor Education Department, in COUN 509 Practicum: Group (1 credit). This is the experiential component of our group work requirement. You will participate in a small group of approximately eight members facilitated by someone who holds a Master’s or a Doctoral degree. With verification of completion of COUN 509 Practicum: Group, students will also be able to log 5 contact hours on their practicum logs during enrollment in COUN 509 Practicum: Counseling.

2. Enroll, during fall or spring quarter of your second year in the Counselor Education Department, in COUN 571 Group Counseling (3 credits). This is the lecture/discussion/demonstration component of our group work requirement.

3. After completing the counseling practicum, enroll in COUN 504: Internship (4 credits each term). During the course of this enrollment, you will work at an off-campus site. You must arrange for a site placement that will allow you to facilitate or co-facilitate at least 10 sessions (or 10 clock hours) of a group.

Practicum Prerequisites

The course prerequisites for Practicum are specified below:

All incompletes must be removed prior to enrollment in Practicum and for continuation in Practicum. Pre-requisite courses for all specializations are: COUN 530 Introduction to Psychiatric Diagnoses, COUN 541 Introduction to Counseling, COUN 551 Theories and Interventions I, COUN 567 Using Tests in Counseling, COUN 566 Appraisal Instruments, COUN 509 Practicum: Group, COUN 569 Developmental Foundations of Counseling, COUN 585 Diagnosis and Treatment Planning.

Counseling Requirement

Participate in the required 10-hour Experiential Training Clinic (ETC) (see description, Appendix F), plus an additional 10 hours of your own personal individual or group counseling, equaling 20 hours total. This requirement must be met prior to enrollment in Practicum. Bring the documentation to the mandatory practicum orientation.

Criminal Background Check

A successful criminal background check must be obtained before the start of the program.

Insurance Requirements

Documentation that you have malpractice insurance is required prior to enrolling in Internship. At some Internship sites, you may be asked to document health insurance in case of on-the-job injuries. Individuals who do not have documentation of malpractice insurance cannot provide counseling to clients.

Concurrent Enrollment in Clinical Experiences

CACREP accreditation standards require completion of Practicum prior to Internship. Therefore, concurrent enrollment in Practicum and Internship is not an option.

Practicum and Internship Requirements

Practicum is a two-term course sequence. During Practicum, you will work once a week in our on-campus clinic. The clinic operates days and evenings. Assignment to a Practicum section is made by the department faculty. Day Practicum meets from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. You can expect to be at the clinic site from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. for evening Practicum.

Internship is a three-term course sequence (fall, winter and spring). Students are required to successfully complete practicum before beginning their internship.

If students do not begin practicum as expected with their cohort, there is no guarantee that students will be able to be in practicum at the next available term; they may have to wait a year to begin practicum.

Internship Enrollment

Internship enrollment is dependent upon removal of all incompletes and satisfactory completion of Practicum as well as other required courses. If students begin volunteering or working at a potential internship site before completing practicum and other required courses they will not receive internship hours for their time at the site. They must complete the Volunteer Form (students can get the form on the Counselor Education website). Documentation of malpractice insurance and possibly health insurance are also required. School Counseling specialization interns must enroll concurrently in Action Research (COUN 589).

Internship Policy

· Students must be registered for internship credits if they are participating in internship and attend weekly group supervision at PSU.

· All students must take 12 credits of internship minimum: 4 credits fall, winter, and spring terms.

· The summer internship option is for those who want/need to start internship early or need additional hours to finish all requirements.

· Participating in summer internship requires students to register for 2 credits of internship in the summer and attend weekly group supervision at PSU.

o This will mean that students will have 14 total credits of internship. Because only 12 credits can be counted toward the student’s program of study, the other two credits are in addition to their program requirements (e.g., they will take 92 instead of 90 credits), unless their program has room to use the 2 credits as electives.

o If students finish all their internship hours early, they still need to complete 4 credits of internship spring term.

Grading of Practicum and Internship

All Practicum and Internship hours are graded on a pass/no pass basis. Unsatisfactory progress or performance will result in either a formal plan of assistance or dismissal from the program. Grades will not be given until clinical hours are documented in Tk20.

Verification of Clinical Hours

All students are given a document to complete which summarizes their hours of clinical experience (for both Practicum and Internship). This document should be kept with our logs in your Practicum and Internship files so those hours can be verified. You should also keep a copy for your own records. Students will also log their clinical hours in the Tk20 database. Students will not be given a grade until clinical hours are documented in Tk20.

Students are required to complete a 100-hour practicum experience, including 40-direct client contact hours. Students will receive more information on specific requirements during the student Practicum Orientation in the second year of the program.

Students are required to complete a 600-hour internship experience, including 240-direct client contact hours. Students will receive more information on specific requirements during the student Internship Orientation in the second year of the program.