Hours Requirements

Students are required to complete:

600 total hours at an internship site

Of those 600 hours, 240 need to be direct service hours, 10 hours facilitating a group

• Students are expected to spend approximately 20 hours per week (at least two full days and one-half day), for a minimum of three academic terms, at the internship site.  

  • Hours may need to be adjusted as the year progresses in order to meet hours requirements.

• A minimum of one hour per week is required for individual or triadic clinical supervision on site. 

• 90 minutes per week is required for group supervision at PSU. 

• Specific schedules of internship hours will be determined jointly by the student and the site supervisor.  

Direct service hours - 240 

CACREP requires that all interns complete 240 hours of direct client service. CACREP defines direct service as: 

supervised use of counseling, consultation, or related professional skills with actual clients (can be individuals, couples, families, or groups) for the purpose of fostering social, cognitive, behavioral, and/or affective change. These activities must involve interaction with others and may include: (1) assessment, (2) counseling, (3) psycho-educational activities, and (4) consultation. The following would not be considered direct service: (1) observing others providing counseling or related services, (2) record keeping, (3) administrative duties, (4) clinical and/or administrative supervision. (CACREP, 2016).

A note about consultation: Consultation happens between the intern as the counselor, and another person with direct knowledge of the client, and/or someone with specific training and expertise on the situation being discussed. Checking in with a medical professional about a client's medications, speaking with a supervisor at a job site, speaking with an expert in domestic violence, etc. would be considered consultation. Professional consultation is conducted with the awareness and approval of the site site supervisor, and depending on the nature and purpose of the consultation, includes client authorization through a release of information.

If the person the intern is consulting with is a cohort mate or peer, that person must have direct knowledge of the client, or have formalized training in the issue being consulting about. Consultation groups among cohort mates do not fit this description and cannot count towards direct hours.

When consulting with anyone, interns must check in about the appropriateness of the consultation with their site supervisor.