Practicum

The Miami University Student Counseling Service (MiamiOH SCS) provides advanced clinical placement experiences for doctoral level students in psychology and master's level students in social work and counseling. A 16-20 hours per week commitment for the academic year is expected so that each student can participate in an immersive training experience. 

Outline of the Placement

Weekly Clinical Hours (10 per week):

• One hour initial consultations (two, 20-30 minute consultations)
• One hour substance abuse assessment/intervention or attention problem evaluation
• Two hours group therapy
• Five to six hours ongoing individual clients
• Consulting, triage/clinical management, walk-in emergencies

Additional Placement Hours (10 per week):

• Clinical staff meeting: Placement students must be available Wednesday mornings from 10:30 a.m.-noon for the clinical staff meeting
• Minimum of one to two outreach presentations per semester
• Paperwork

Supervision:

• Psychology placement students:
  • Fall semester individual supervision will be two hours per week, one hour provided by a psychology intern under the umbrella supervision of a licensed psychologist, and one hour provided by a licensed psychologist.
  • Spring semester individual supervision will be one and a half hours per week, provided by a licensed psychologist.
• Social work and counseling students: Supervision will be one to two hours weekly with a licensed supervisor.
• Individual supervision of group therapy will be 30 minutes per week, provided by their group co-facilitator.
• Group supervision of Individual Therapy for Placement Students is two hours every other week.

Requirements

Entrance Criteria

• Be a registered graduate student at or beyond the second year in an APA accredited doctoral level program in clinical or counseling psychology. Or, be a registered graduate student in an MSW or Clinical Counseling program. 
• Be in good standing on all requirements of the graduate program.
• Have successfully completed prior supervised practicum and clinical placement experiences, if applicable.
• Be referred by students' Training Coordinator and provide curriculum vita.
• Demonstrate consistency between candidate's professional interests and the goals of the MiamiOH SCS training program.
• In accordance with Miami hiring procedure, trainees must:
  • Pass the employee background check.
  • Be able to represent and warrant, by completing a Declaration Regarding Material Assistance/Non-Assistance to a Terrorist Organization form (supplied by the University), that the applicant has not provided any material assistance, as that term is defined in ORC Section 2909.33 C, to an organization that is included on the United States Department of State Terrorist Exclusion List and that the applicant has truthfully answered no to every question on the form.

Important Scheduling Information

• Placement students must be able to attend three days of orientation in the third week in August.
• Placement students must work 16-20 hours per week for an academic year.
• Placement students should be available Friday mornings to attend Group Supervision. 
• Any missed days due to illness must be made up.
• Placement students are granted all Miami holidays and days off.

Exit Criteria

• Attendance at a minimum of 85% of individual supervision meetings.
• Attendance at a minimum of 85% of group supervision meetings (if relevant).
• At minimum, scheduling of 90% of the contracted time (typically, 10 hours per week) in direct clinical hours during the year (includes individual and group client hours, emergency hours, and on-call crisis).
• Minimum of one to two outreach presentations per semester. 
• Satisfactory completion of all responsibilities of the half-time, two semester placement, demonstrated by ratings of "T" (on target) on all required evaluation scales.