Curriculum for the Doctor of Psychology Program

Scientific and Professional Psychology (17 units):

General Psychology Core Courses (16 units)

Clinical Specialization Requirements (44 units)

Integral Studies Core Electives (6 units)

Free Electives (7 units)

Sample electives offered within the Program in recent years include:

• Taoism and Existential Psychotherapy
• Buddhism and Psychotherapy
• Body in psychotherapy
• Fantasy and dreams in psychotherapy
• Neuropsychological Assessment
• Trauma and its Treatment
• Advanced Assessment Seminar.
• Child Health and Psychopathology
• Child Assessment

Electives in most other CIIS Programs are open to PsyD students.

Predoctoral Internship (noncredit): One year full-time or two years half-time
Total Units for the Degree: 90

Clinical Training
The clinical training component of the Institute’s PsyD Program is fully integrated with the academic component. After completing qualifying first year courses, each student gains two years of practicum experience in community agencies. (Students who enter with an M.A. degree and appropriate prior supervised experience may waive one year of practicum.)

The typical supervised practicum experience requires about 20 hours a week at the training site. A minimum of one hour per week of individual supervision by a licensed psychologist, group supervision, and didactic trainings are offered at these off campus sites.  At the same time, students complete companion proseminar courses at CIIS with a core faculty member; “prosems” support integration of theoretical and clinical materials from classroom learning with the challenges of applying interventions in actual clinical settings. Prosem is the heart of clinical training in the PsyD Program.  Here students receive intensive, individually focused training and mentorship in  small year-long groups.

When all required coursework has been completed, students may begin the clinical internship at an approved training site. The internship may be one year of full-time or two years of half-time work and must be completed within two and a half years from the beginning date. Through supervised professional work in different service settings located in the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere in the United States, students deepen their skills in working with a variety of intervention strategies and psychological services across the spectrum of psychopathologies as they are presented in diverse populations.

Support for the process of selecting, applying for, and completing practicum and internship experiences is offered by the PsyD Training Director, Assistant Director of Clinical Training, and Placement Coordinator.  The Program maintains a database of training sites and their offerings.  Students choose training sites based on their own goals and interests with the assistance of the PsyD placement team. 

Research Training
The PsyD curriculum includes courses in research design and statistics. The research sequence offers an introduction to both quantitative and qualitative modes of investigation and concludes with the dissertation research seminar to assist students in developing the dissertation proposal. Research training in the PsyD Program is distinctive in the attention given to psychospiritual issues, applied program evaluation studies, under-served populations, and the breadth of research methodologies employed in addition to more traditional clinical topics.

Psychotherapy Requirement
The PsyD Program requires, as a condition of completing the doctorate, a minimum of 45 hours of personal psychotherapy from a non-faculty licensed psychotherapist. At least one-half of these hours must be in individual therapy. Personal therapy complements clinical training and promotes self-knowledge and self-awareness.

Psychospiritual Project
The psychospiritual project is a 30 hour non-credit project, designed by the student and approved by their advisor. The project is one way in which students master the psychology and spirituality integration competency: by acquiring direct personal experience of formal practices of the world’s wisdom traditions, by exploring the role of spirituality in clinical practice broadly defined, and by reflecting on the personal and professional impact of that experience.  Psychospiritual projects may include community service, specific psychospiritual practices newly undertaken, or any new experience that promotes personal reflection and learning at the psychology-spirituality boundary.

Accreditation
            The PsyD Program at CIIS is accredited by the American Psychological Association, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242;   Telephone: (800) 374-2721 or (202) 336-5500