1. When should I start looking for a placement site and/or internship?
2. Do I need to document my hours for practicum?
3. Do I need to document my hours for internship?
4. Is it true that I need to attend a predoctoral internship that will provide me with 2000 hours of clinical experience?
5. Can I be supervised by a psychologist with a Psy.D. versus a Ph.D.?
6. Can I be supervised by an MFT?
7. What if I don't get a placement site?
8. To how many sites should I apply? (practicum , internship)
9. Where can I receive help completing my practicum application, contracts, Board of Psychology related forms, APPIC application, and CAPIC application forms?
10. There seems to be some overlap between the Career Development and Field Career Development and Field Placement Office and the Director of Clinical Training's role. Can you explain the differences between these two offices?

1. When should I start looking for a placement site and/or internship?

Practica
One should start looking for a placement site in the fall the year prior to the year that you plan to begin your practicum. More specifically, if you seek to start your PRAC I in the Fall of 2005, you should begin exploring and researching options in the Fall of 2004.

Internship
If you plan on applying to any APPIC and/or APA approved sites, you should begin your search process in the Spring or Summer of the year prior to the year that you plan to begin your internship, given that the primary application due date is November 15. Thus, if you would like to complete your internship in the 2005-2006 academic year, then you should begin your search process in the Spring/Summer of 2004.

If you plan on applying to any CAPIC sites, you should begin your search process in the fall of the year prior to the year that you plan to begin your internship. CAPIC application deadlines tend to be in the first week of March. Thus, if you would like to complete your internship in the 2005-2006 academic year, then you should begin your search process in the Fall of 2004.

2. Do I need to document my hours for practicum?

Yes. Although these hours do not count towards your required hours for licensure, you are required to supply the number of hours that you have completed on your APPIC and CAPIC applications. It is also good to get in the routine of keeping track of your hours. Tracking hours spreadsheets are available on the APPIC website at www.appic.org under "Training Resources for Students". You can print these forms from this site.

3. Do I need to document my hours for internship?

Yes. These hours do count towards licensure, with a few exceptions. Specifically, some states do not honor non-APA accredited internships. Additionally, at the end of your internship experience, you need to complete a verification of experience log (in the state of California, many other states as well), and have your primary supervisor sign off on it. We highly recommend that you complete this form prior to leaving your internship, especially if it is out of state. You can obtain a copy of this form from www.psychboard.ca.gov/licensing/verofexp.pdf.

If you do attend a non-APA accredited internship, it will be critical for you to find out the state requirements in the state(s) in which you plan to apply for licensure.

4. Is it true that I need to attend a predoctoral internship that will provide me with 2000 hours of clinical experience?

Yes. It is a requirement of the CIIS Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program. Obtaining 2000 hours will enable you to have a sufficient number of hours for your application for licensure in most states in the USA.

5. Can I be supervised by a psychologist with a Psy.D. versus a Ph.D.?

Yes. The requirement is that you are supervised by a psychologist licensed in the state of California.

6. Can I be supervised by an MFT?

Group supervision can be an MFT or LCSW, but your primary supervisor must be a licensed psychologist. There are no exceptions to this rule.

7. What if I don't get a placement site?

It is highly unusual for a student not to obtain a placement site (PRAC I, PRAC II) as long as the following are true:
• You follow the timelines provided by the Career Development and Field Career Development and Field Placement Office and the Psy Doc Program
• You apply to the recommended number of sites (6-8)

8. To how many sites should I apply? (practicum , internship)

For PRAC I and PRAC II, we recommend that you apply to 6-8 sites.

For APPIC and/or APA approved predoctoral internship sites, we strongly recommend that you apply to at least 10 -12 sites. However, we do not recommend applying to more than 15 sites.

For CAPIC predoctoral internship sites, we recommend that you apply to 8-10 sites. These recommendations are based on years of previous experience with students at CIIS.

9. Where can I receive help completing my practicum application, contracts, Board of Psychology related forms, APPIC application, and CAPIC application forms?

Andrew Harlem, Director of Clinical Training for the Psy.D. program, can assist you with completing these forms. It is critical that you leave sufficient amounts of time to meet with Andrew and to complete the forms prior to the application deadline. We encourage you to meet with Andrew at least 3-4 weeks prior to the deadline.

10. There seems to be some overlap between the Career Development and Career Development and Field Career Development and Field Placement Office and the Director of Clinical Training's role. Can you explain the differences between these two offices?

Actually, there is substantial overlap and collaboration. An overview of the positions, similarities and differences is listed below:

The Director of Clinical Training (Andrew Harlem) works solely with Psy.D. students. However, in addition to overseeing the clinical placement of all students in the Psy.D. program, the Director of Career Development and Field Placement (Becky McGovern) also oversees the clinical placement needs of the four clinical master’s degree programs at CIIS.

Along with the entire Psy.D. faculty, the Director of Clinical Training (Andrew Harlem) is responsible for ensuring that students have completed all the academic and clinical requirements necessary to proceed to PRAC I, PRAC II, and pre-doctoral internship. The Director of Career Development and Field Placement (Becky McGovern) is also involved in ensuring that students are adequately qualified to proceed to practicum/internship. However, student requests for approval and exceptions to their training progression must be addressed by the Psy.D. faculty.

Both Becky and Andrew are available to assist students with the following:
• Consultation regarding appropriate placement sites to which to apply
• Consultation regarding the application processes
• Professional development, broadly defined.
• Administrative tasks, including signing of practicum contracts
• Review and final confirmation that a student's contract is completed, filed, and approved. This is an important step, because your contract is the final step in the application process, and it enables you to begin and to complete your placement. Incomplete and/or inaccurately completed contracts cannot be approved.

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