Guidelines for Outside Employment
The CCP Program is a full-time, intensive training experience that requires significant time and effort. Students who are granted Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) positions are further expected to satisfy the requirements of such a position, which typically involves 16 to 20 hours of dedicated work weekly. Given such demands, CCP Students who are granted GRA positions are generally not permitted to hold outside employment, including part-time employment. Exceptions to this policy can be made under exceptional circumstances, providing that the outside employment does not pose a risk of interrupting the CCP Student’s responsibilities to their training, coursework, and GRA position effort. CCP Students who wish to obtain employment outside of their GRA position must formally request to do so from the CCP Faculty using the Request to Participate in Outside Employment Form. Such requests must be approved by the CCP Faculty prior to the student beginning any outside employment. The decision to approve outside employment is wholly at the discretion of the CCP Faculty.
Guidelines for External Clinical Training Experiences
The CCP Program encourages students to acquire clinical skills and experience in a variety of settings, including those that are outside of the practicum training sequence (i.e., PSY556 and CCP756) conducted in the USA Psychological Clinic or those completed as part of assigned GRA positions. However, it is necessary that clinical work be performed responsibly, with due caution for and protection of both client and clinician, since the outcome may include making major decisions or alterations in the client’s life course. In addition, clients may pursue complaints about real or imagined inadequacies of services or take legal action. Therefore, it is important that CCP Program students are neither exploited nor placed in positions where they overextend their level of skills, thereby violating ethical or legal standards.
CCP Students who wish to perform external clinical placements outside of the USA Psychological Clinic and/or their GRA position must formally request to do so from the CCP Faculty using the Request to Participate in External Clinical Training Activity Form. This requirement includes placements supervised by CCP Core Faculty, but conducted outside of the USA Psychological Clinic or the student's GRA position. Such requests must be approved by the CCP Faculty prior to the student beginning any external clinical work The decision to approve outside clinical work is wholly at the discretion of the CCP Faculty.
The following should be considered when pursuing voluntary external placements. Practicum experiences usually involve academic credit, but rarely pay. At this level, students are learning new skills, beginning to apply previously taught skills (such as assessment or crisis intervention), or working with patients with whom they have had little previous experience (such as individuals suffering from psychosis, intellectual disability, or who have experienced cultural disadvantage). Since much of a student’s involvement is for learning purposes, services are secondary and often offset the amount of time provided by the agency in training or supervision.
Problems with over extension of skills or lack of procedural safeguards most often arise when students are paid for part-time clinical work outside of the usual protection of established agencies; i.e., in working in private agencies or for professionals in independent practice.
Students are in most danger from potential legal action by clients when the following situations occur:
No malpractice insurance in force that covers all employees
Student is not considered an “employee” but an “independent contractor”
No written job description
Going beyond job description
There is no professional available for routine supervision and emergency assistance
The employer is not an established agency but a consortium of independent practices
In addition, students run the risk of violating the state licensing law and/or meeting professional disapproval in any context where they assume major responsibility for patient care.
Students are encouraged to external clinical work only with agencies who have been in operation for at least five years, headed by an appropriately trained professional for the type of agency; direct supervision by a qualified professional; work done on premises with emergency assistance available; insurance coverage for student; written job description.
Students or persons with narrow-based training or experience may be able to work with a professional under his/her direction and offer appropriate, if limited, services to clients. However, clear limits are necessary to prevent the student from assuming responsibility for major or final patient care decisions that cannot be justified without the above conditions having been met.
It is expected that students enrolled or continuing in CCP Program will be knowledgeable about ethical and legal standards for providing services and will adhere to these standards. Finally, even after a student completes the doctoral degree, he or she should continue to follow accepted ethical and legal standards for provision of psychological services.
The CCP Program core faculty views the following behaviors on the part of a student as serious violations of the above guidelines and grounds for investigation and possible dismissal from the program:
Misrepresenting (or allowing the misrepresentation of) training, degree-status, program enrollment, or extent of supervision.
Functioning in any respect as an independent practitioner regardless of setting or title.
Engaging in behavior that violates ethical standards, as set forth in the most recent Ethical Principles of Psychologists and the Standards for Providers of Psychological Services.
Going beyond levels of training or experience without adequate supervision.
Engaging in any clinical work, with or without pay, which has not been given prior approval by the CCP Program core faculty.
International students have specific visa-related requirements and should contact the Office of Immigration and International Admissions office with questions about employment and volunteering at external clinical placements.