The Psychology undergraduate program includes "for-credit" practicum opportunities that may count as elective credit for Psychology majors. The "Regular" Practicum (PSY 4910) may be completed for 1 to 6 credits, with each credit requiring about 45 hours of volunteering with a human services agency and includes a writing requirement. The Capstone Practicum Project (PSY 4965), which is typically completed during students' Junior or Senior year, requires volunteering hours plus additional requirements to fulfill the capstone requirement for the BA major. Please discuss with your psychology faculty mentor what might be the best option for you.
For more course details, please visit the SLU Course Catalog, which can be accessed through http://myslu.slu.edu
Getting Started: The best place to start is by setting up a meeting to discuss practicum opportunities with your Psychology Faculty Mentor. They will provide further guidance on identifying a faculty member in Psychology who might be willing to supervise your practicum experience. Please note that setting up a practicum course will take some time and at times might require making arrangements a full semester in advance.
Registration and Timeline: Please note that students are not able to directly register for the course. All practicum sections (regular and capstone) require permission of the instructor and University approval. Once a faculty member has agreed to supervise your practicum experience, students will be given instructions on how to finalize their approval. This will likely involve the completion of a learning contract with the site and the supervising faculty member using Handshake. When approved, students will be administratively registered into the specified practicum course by the University. This process takes time and below is a sample timeline to give students a sense of when to start the process.
Typical timeline. Students should plan on using their time during the semester prior to the practicum semester to complete the process:
5 weeks BEFORE the end of the prior semester: Talk with your psychology faculty mentor about your interests in completing either the Regular (PSY4910) or Capstone (PSY4965) option. During this conversation, students should:
Identify which faculty member is willing to supervise their experience (we often have class-based options)
Determine how many credit hours of volunteer experience you will need to complete for the course
Begin the process of identifying a practicum site (see below for tips)
4-5 weeks BEFORE the end of the prior semester: Identify a site (see below for tips on finding a volunteer site)
Make contact with a site to determine (a) what kinds of responsibilities you might have and (b) if you can fulfill the required hours.
3-4 weeks BEFORE the end of the prior semester: Discuss your site responsibilities with the supervising faculty member and receive tentative approval.
Begin the process of getting formal approval through Handshake.
2-3 weeks BEFORE the end of the prior semester: Finalize required documents in Handshake.
Once the process is completed, the University will place you in your requested section.
Student must complete site onboarding process, which may include a background check.
We highly recommend either searching the community partner database maintained by SLU's Center for Service and Community Engagement, which can be found here.
If you need help finding a site that is appropriate for your practicum experience, then we ask that you complete a student interest form here.
Other options include talking with your Psychology faculty mentor, visiting SLU's career services center, or speaking to other Psychology students (including graduate students) about their experiences with volunteering in the local community.