This information is to assist students in the Clinical and Clinical-Developmental areas in the process of selecting a site for an external practicum. This can be an overwhelming experience, and we have done our best to make the process as clear as possible for you.
This webpage is divided into three main sections:
- Academic Requirements
Clinical Area
Clinical Developmental Area - Important information to keep in mind when considering a site
- Practicum placement information and brochures are organized into the following sections:
Clinical Area
Clinical Developmental Area
Currently, the formal number of practica hours to be taken prior to applying for a predoctoral internship is 990 hours, consisting of Practicum I (330 hours) and Practicum II (660 hours).
Practicum I (MA)
Practicum I (Psychology 6430P 6.0) is taken in-house, in the student’s second year of MA studies.
Practicum II (PhD)
Practicum II (Psychology 6440P 6.0) involves 660 hours of supervised training at an external setting and is taken in the second year of the PhD program.
NOTE: When students undertake their Practica, they may find that they spend additional hours on activities such as studying individual cases, learning testing materials, writing intake summaries, etc. It is important for students to keep record of these substantive additional hours to their training and to present these alongside the 990 hours when applying for a predoctoral internship.
The Clinical and CD Areas have reviewed the evidence for the numbers of hours students are normally expected to have taken before applying for predoctoral internships. The 990 hours is fully adequate. What is more important is the quality (i.e., depth and breadth of the student’s training) and the balance of the training. An example of the latter would be having substantive training in both assessment and intervention approaches. The practicum III option is provided for students who seek to add to the quality of their training given that they are progressing through the program in a timely manner.
Choosing a Practicum II Location
- Each student is asked to meet with a faculty member from the Practicum Committee (current chair is Dr. Jill Rich) to discuss the choice of a practicum location.
- Once a student has negotiated a placement with a supervisor in a practicum setting, she/he is asked to notify the Director of Clinical Training in writing (e-mail will do).
- The student obtains a “Practicum Agreement Form” from the Graduate Office. This form is completed by the Practicum Supervisor and agreed to by the student. The details entered on this form need to be clear and specific so that the student, supervisor, and Director of Clinical Training know in advance what kind of training will be provided. Among the details to be negotiated or clarified with the practicum supervisor are:
- Number of hours of supervision per week designating individual and group (if the latter occurs),
- skills to be learned (e.g., particular intervention skills, assessment tools),
- depth of learning anticipated (e.g., if student is going to learn CBT then indicate how substantively this will be covered; if doing the assessment, indicate whether the student will be learning interpretation, formulation, intervention planning informed by the assessment, etc.,
- the clientele,
- expected obligations and privileges,
- optional additional training/experience from other professional personnel on-site, and
- evaluative feedback format. In general, the Practicum Agreement Form outlines some mutually agreed specificity of the expectations for the Practicum training experience for all parties.
- The student must submit the Practicum Agreement Form to the Director of Clinical Training.
The DCT will contact the practicum supervisor to confirm arrangements. Often, however, the setting and the practicum supervisor have provided such services before and a phone contact between the DCT and practicum supervisor is not necessary. The DCT would contact the student if, upon reviewing the Practicum Agreement Form, there is insufficient information to approve it, or if there is some question(s) regarding the choice of the practicum setting.
After reviewing the Practicum Agreement Form and possibly confirming the arrangement with the practicum supervisor, the DCT will sign the Form and give it to the Graduate Psychology Office. The student must be enrolled in the Practicum to receive credit.
Optional Practicum III
The Director of Clinical Training may allow a student to take a third clinical applied practicum provided that the student has completed all course work and either the Academic Breadth Comprehensive Paper or an approved PhD dissertation proposal. Please note that this is an option that is available to a student who has been progressing in a timely manner (thus the required completion of courses and either PhD paper or dissertation proposal) and that the third practicum chosen is deemed necessary to meet the student’s training requirements.
Download Documents
York University Clinical Practicum Agreement form:
York Clinical Practicum Evaluation form:
The files above are in Adobe Acrobat format (PDF). If you require more information or need to download the free plug-in, please visit the York University Computing software page.
Practicum Day has been moved to late September/early October. Attend and get an idea of some of the sites offering assessment and intervention placements. This is an opportunity to speak with some of the supervisors at the site in order to determine whether the site will suit your interests.
NOTE: For the purposes of the assessment and intervention practica, students may be required to complete a criminal record check. Check with your site to determine whether this is required. It is strongly suggested that they be completed during the summer in anticipation of the beginning of the practicum for the coming year. Forms are available in the York University Psychology Clinic (YUPC).
Psycho-educational Assessment/Clinical and Diagnostic Assessment of Children and Adolescents (6910 and 6920)
These courses are usually taken during the second year of your Masters, prior to the Assessment Practicum in Ph.D. 1.
Assessment Practicum (6910P 3.0)
Students should have an assessment practicum site set up before September of their 3rd year (Ph.D. 1). Determine what requirements you need for your site before starting (for example, criminal check, medical evaluation and/or vaccinations, site identification requirements, workload entry requirements (often tracking of your hours is required if the site is funded by the government), etc.). A course is held concurrently at York along with the off-site practicum experience. The course is usually held every second week during both the fall and winter terms.
Intervention Strategies with Children (6930 3.0)
This course is the introductory course taken prior to starting the intervention practicum, during Ph.D. 1. It involves reading and discussion of several intervention and therapeutic methods used in the treatment of children and adolescents.
Intervention Practicum (6930P 3.0)
Start looking for practicum sites in early November of Ph.D. 1, as some sites have December deadlines. Also contact the Course Director in November to speak with him/her about searching for a site. The Course Director will arrange for a meeting or send out an email in November for all students intending to take his/her intervention course the following fall where the process of obtaining a practicum site will be discussed.
During the aforementioned meeting/email, three general themes will be discussed: a) Sites people have typically gone to (the more popular sites, as well as those viewed as providing quality placements), b) Sites that people haven’t typically gone to, but are good sites nonetheless, and c) General criteria to exercise in choosing a site.
From December to March, apply to sites, and subsequently set up meetings/interviews with sites who express an interest. During this period, maintain contact with the Course Director in order to obtain feedback with regards to the search, provide updates on potential interviews with sites, and to ask any questions. During the summer term, the Course Director may assign readings in advance of the course in the fall. Prior to the intervention practicum, it is a good idea to read books and articles regarding various forms of therapy, and to ask your site supervisor for some recommendations of readings before you begin the practicum. If you have any questions, discuss them with both the Course Director and your site supervisor. Two courses are run concurrently with the intervention practicum at this time – one is the intervention practicum course (6930P) and the other is a separate intervention strategies with children course (6930).
NOTE: Contact with the Course Director should be maintained throughout the process. Acceptance of a placement must first be approved by the Course Director as well as the director of clinical training in the CD area.
Practicum Applications and Evaluation
When starting one’s assessment or intervention practicum, students and their clinical-site supervisors will be required to complete a Practicum Agreement Form (available in the grad office; see appendix for a copy of the form). This form will outline the details of the practicum (i.e., length of practicum, estimated hours), as well as provide the department with information pertaining to your site supervisor.
In addition, prior to the start of the winter term, as well as at the completion of the practicum, an evaluation form will be completed by the student and site-supervisor outlining the student’s progress to date with regards to client characteristics, clinical hours, and a variety of core competencies.
It is recommended that students review both forms prior to beginning their practica, such that they can gain a better understanding of what is expected of them during their time at their placement, and what criteria will be utilized in their evaluation. Copies of both forms are provided in the appendix of this document.
Optional Practicum III
The Director of Clinical Training may allow a student to take a third clinical applied practicum provided that the student has completed all course work and either the Academic Breadth Comprehensive Paper or an approved PhD dissertation proposal. Please note that this is an option that is available to a student who has been progressing in a timely manner (thus the required completion of courses and either PhD paper or dissertation proposal) and that the third practicum chosen is deemed necessary to meet the student’s training requirements.
Download Documents
York University Clinical-Developmental Practicum Agreement form:
York University Clinical-Developmental Practicum Evaluation form:
The files above are in Adobe Acrobat format (PDF). If you require more information or need to download the free plug-in, please visit the York University Computing software page.
Practicum Site Information
Process of Application and General Information to Consider
- What is the process/ requirements for applying?
- Do you apply to the site or directly to a supervisor?
- Is there a brochure or website for the site?
- Do you have the contact information for this site? If so, can you specify the name of the site contact person, phone number, address and email address.
- When is the deadline to apply?
- When does the practicum start and finish?
- What’s involved in the interview and who conducts it?
- How many days per week or hours per week are students expected to be at the site? How can this time be spread out and who determines the schedule?
- Is there flexibility to move around the site (i.e., doing rotations in various departments or moving to another department if the number of hours is not being met)?
Clinical Training
- Opportunities for assessment? (if so, what type of assessments will YOU do? Note: an intake interview for a potential therapy client is not the same as full a psychological assessment; also there are different types of psyc assessments).
- What assessment instruments will be you be trained on?
- What is the process of training?
- Direct observation of your supervisor?
- Reading on your own?
- Opportunities for treatment?
- What is the client population?
- Are there opportunities to conduct couples therapy? Group therapy?
- What percentage of time is devoted to direct contact, report writing, other?
- What is the theoretical orientation used for treatment?
- Will you receive training for working with specific populations or dealing with specific mental health issues?
- What is the expected case load (i.e., number of psychotherapy cases and/or the number of assessments a student is expected to get)?
Supervision
- How many supervisors are involved in training?
- How many hours of supervision per week?
- What is the supervision style?
- Individual vs. group?
- Use of audio-tapes?
Other Opportunities
- Are research opportunities available?
- Are teaching/ didactic opportunities available?
- Is there a possibility of attending clinical rounds? Professional workshops conducted at the site?
- Are there future opportunities following a practicum such as paid assessment work, research work, and does the site formally train interns?
Practicum Facility
- How many other trainees were at the site with you? (interns, post-docs, etc.)
- What other professionals did you work with? (social workers, psychiatrists, etc.)
- Did you have your own office?
- Did you have computer access?
- Any concerns about the accessibility of the site by public transit?
- How wheelchair accessible is the site?
Overall Experience of the Practicum
- Provide a rating on a “five-star” scale of 0 stars (not recommend) to 5 stars (highly recommend) and comment on your overall experience at this practicum.
- What does a typical day look like at the site?
Other Helpful Information
- Consider downloading and watching the "match made on earth" documentary. There are tons of questions re. internship that would probably also be helpful for considering a practicum site.
- What is the perception of psychology as a profession within the site?
- How is conflict resolved at this site? Consider what would happen in the event of a problem between supervisor/supervisee. Information from former students at this site may be very helpful in this regard, to get a sense for how professionally the site conducts itself.
Practicum placement information and brochures are organized into the following sections:
- Clinical Area
- Clinical Developmental Area
Please find attached information sheets and brochures submitted by clinical sites offering practicum placements. Please note that this information is provided by the Department of Psychology GTA Practicum Day Committee for general information purposes only—we are not affiliated with any particular practicum setting.
Questions/concerns about clincal area practicum should be directed to Dr. Jennifer Mills at clindir@yorku.ca. Questions/concerns about clinical developmental practicum should be directed to Dr. Mary Desrocher at mdesroch@yorku.ca.
Learn More
The Graduate Program in Psychology at York is an exciting environment to pursue innovative, socially engaging, career-ready education. Contact our Graduate Program Assistant to learn more.