Practicum Planning and Procedures for Supervisors
- Time Frame
- Practicum class
- Practicum Planning: Timeline and Procedures
- Practicum Paperwork
- Adjunct Appointment Requirements
- Supervision Requirements
- Amount and Type of Supervision
- Supervision by individuals other than UWO Department of Psychology Adjunct Clinical Faculty
Practica usually take place over an 8-month period (e.g., September-April). But some might take more time and others less time (e.g., practica over the summer) to complete.
Students typically are not required to be on-site more than two days per week. For practica spread over shorter or longer periods of time, the weekly hours will be adjusted accordingly.
Full practica (1/2 courses) typically will involve a minimum of 65 direct clinical contact (e.g., intervention, assessment, diagnostic/intake interview) hours. To ensure breadth of training, as a general rule direct clinical contact hours should not exceed 130. In contrast, half-practica (1/4 courses) generally will entail at least 33 and not more than 65 direct clinical contact hours. For both full and half practica, there should be a minimum of one hour of regularly scheduled one-on-one supervision per week. Direct to Supervision ratio should not exceed 4:1; the average ratio is less than 3:1 (See Table 1).
II. Practicum Class
During the Fall and Winter terms students are to keep Thursday afternoons (12:00-4:30) free. This time is for Clinical Brownbags (12:00-1:00) and the Clinical Practicum Class, which meets 2:30-4:30, roughly 8-10 times from September- April. Students taking practica and those accruing program-sanctioned hours during that time period are required to attend. The class focuses on professional development, with a rotating set of annual themes and required readings. There are two student presentations per class. They need not be case presentations. But students must give at least two case presentations in practicum class during their Ph.D training. At least one in Ph.D. 1 or 2 and at least one in Ph.D. 3 or 4.
Ideally, students will not schedule activities (practicum or otherwise) on Fridays 3-4 pm. This is when the department's colloquium series is held and students are strongly encouraged to attend.
III. Practicum Planning: Timeline and Procedures
Early May: Clinical supervisors inform the program about their availability for the upcoming year (Sept. 1-Aug. 31). At that time, they also convey changes to their practice and/or supervisory capacities. The Clinical Adjunct page is updated accordingly. If and when their training roster becomes full , the clinical supervisor informs the program. Again, the Clinical Adjunct page is updated accordingly.
Early - Mid-May: Students check the updated Clinical Adjunct Advisor page. They and their research supervisors discuss how much time they can spend on practica in the upcoming year, given other demands (research, thesis, coursework, TAships). The student informs the Clinical Practicum coordinator (with a cc to the thesis supervisor) what was decided.
Late May - Mid-June: The Clinical practicum coordinator meets individually with all students going into PhD I and higher (more senior students first) about placements for the upcoming year (i.e., Sept. 1-Aug 31). As a general rule, placements will not begin before Sept. 1 nor end after Aug. 31.
Late May - mid-August: Students contact prospective supervisors (again, more senior students first), with a cc to the Clinical Practicum Coordinator. The more senior students contact prospective supervisors before their juniors because they have less time to complete the hours/training they need before applying to residency.
Students may arrange more than one practicum in a given year, as long as they are consecutive. A student may arrange a concurrent placement only after all PhD students have secured their placements. Once a placement has been confirmed, the student submits an Intent to Register Form to the Clinical Practicum Coordinator (See below for details about this form and other practicum paperwork).
For the Psychological Assessment practicum (9901) the course TA or Instructor(s) handle the matching of student with clinical supervisor in the Fall term.
Required Practicum Documentation Before beginning a practicum
Student completes the Intended Clinical Training Milestone (ICM) form form and submits it as soon as the key details (start and end date, supervisor, setting) have been confirmed, and no later than one month before the planned start of the placement. If the student and their supervisor discuss an approximate start date but have yet to settle on the exact date, students submit an ITR form with the approximate date. If and when details (including but not limited to start dates) subsequently change (either before or after the practicum starts), the student is to submit a revised Intent-to-Register form (with the revised element bolded or otherwise highlighted) to the Clinical Practicum Coordinator.
Pre-Placement Screening Procedures
Students are responsible to ensure that they have met the pre-placement requirements for the settings in which they will be doing practica. This in information is accessible either through the Setting/Clinical Adjunct webpage or will be communicated to you by your clinical supervisor.
At the beginning of a practicum
The student and supervisor meet and complete the Practicum Supervision Contract at (or before) the onset of the placement. This process is important, as the contract is intended to provide signposts for a dialogue between the supervisor and student. A copy of the contract is to be submitted to the Clinical Practicum Coordinator within one month after the start.
The practicum supervisor and student each retain a copy of the signed contract and the student provides an additional copy to the Clinical Practicum Coordinator for the Clinical Program Files.
The contract should be reviewed with an ‘expectation check’ after 4-6 weeks, at which point any revisions are noted and the contract is signed off by both parties. Send the revised contract to the Clinical Practicum Coordinator.
Midway through the practicum
When the student has accrued roughly half of the projected clinical contact hours for the practicum (i.e., about 35 for full practica and 20 for 1⁄2 practica), the supervisor completes the “Mid-Term Evaluation” column of the "Supervisor Evaluation of Student"
The student retains a copy of this completed form and provides one copy of the form to the practicum coordinator.
Note: The mid-term evaluation does not apply to 9800 (Assessment Practicum)
At the end of the practicum
Having fulfilled the practicum criteria, the student should complete the following paperwork promptly (and no later than one month after the end of the placement*) and submit it as a single packet of material to the Clinical Program Administrative Assistant. The Practicum coordinator, who also serves as Course Instructor for the Practicum courses (except for the Psychological Assessment Course) will not submit the student’s grade (Pass/Fail) for a given practicum course until all the paperwork is handed in. Students should retain a copy of this material for their files.
N.B. Placements end when students have had their final client contact or submitted the final version of their final reports to their supervisor, and not when the student and supervisor discuss and co-sign the Supervisor Evaluation of Student form.
Five items to be submitted as a Packet at the end of a Practicum
1. Practicum Log Sheets
Students may create their own log sheets, informed by CCPPP’s Guidelines for the Documentation of Professional Training hours or Time2Track. (Even those using Time2Track should refer to the CCPPP's documentation guidelines.)
The log sheets are to be signed and dated by students. They should include a clear indication of the following practicum-related activities:
- All face-to-face contact (intervention, assessment, feedback, intake/diagnostic interview) with clients and/or their guardians, ideally noting whether the supervisor is present/observing.
- Time spent in individual or group supervision.
- Indirect support activities: - Time spent outside of your therapy hours while still focused on the client (background reading, chart review, preparing and presenting case presentation).
Note: These categories are mutually exclusive. That is, a practicum hour may not be counted more than once across any of these domains.
2. Practicum Summary Sheet (fillable pdf)
To be dated and co-signed by the student and clinical supervisor
It requires a tally of the total # of hours engaged in the following activities:
DI: Direct Intervention-without supervisor present
DA:Direct Assessment-without supervisor present
DI-s:Direct Intervention- with supervisor present
DA-s: Direct Assessment-with supervisor present
S: Supervision – without client present
I: Indirect – non-classroom
I-c: Indirect- Intervention practicum class–case related
3. Student Evaluation of Supervisor and Setting
Print out at least one hard copy (you’ll be prompted to do so at the end the survey) to include with the rest of the end-of-practicum paperwork.
4. Supervisor’s Evaluation of Student (fillable pdf)
The final column and associated comments section are to completed by the clinical supervisor. The form is to be dated and co-signed by student and clinical supervisor.
5. Completed Honorarium Request Form (fillable pdf)
The Social Insurance and amount of Honorarium should be left blank.
The honorarium schedule is $350 for a full clinical practicum(1/2 course; assuming 20+ hours of supervision), $175 for a half practicum (1/4 course; assuming less than 20 hours of supervision), and $90 for setting supervisor(s ) for the initial assessment practicum. The Social Insurance field can be left blank.
V. Adjunct Appointment Requirements
Information is available at this link https://psychology.uwo.ca/research/clinical/adjunctfaculty/index.php
Primary Clinical Supervisors for a practicum (and for Program Sanctioned hours):
Must be Ph.D. level psychologists registered for autonomous practice in Ontario who have primary clinical responsibility for the supervised case(s).
Typically and preferably supervisors are UWO Department of Psychology Adjunct Clinical Faculty members, and must be in a setting that has formal arrangements with the UWO Clinical Psychology (including a Memorandum of Agreement with UWO).
Our Adjunct appointment requirements are available at:
https://psychology.uwo.ca/research/clinical/adjfacinfosheet.html
VII. Amount and type of supervision
There should be, at minimum, one hour of scheduled individual supervision per week (assuming a standard 8 month practicum) at a regular and consistent time. The ratio client contact to supervision hours should not exceed 4:1
At least some part of the supervision will involve the supervisor’s observation (direct, or via audio and/or videotapes) of the trainee’s clinical work.
To guard the safety of students and clients:
Under most circumstances, clinical supervisors will always be on-site when their students are providing services. If not, supervisors should be readily accessible (via telecommunication) and, ideally, designate a registered on-site psychologist as a back-up.
Under no circumstances are students to be alone with clients in settings. That is, as a safety precaution, at least one staff member should be immediately physically accessible whenever students are seeing clients.
VIII. Supervision by individuals other than UWO Department of Psychology Adjunct Clinical Faculty
Faculty Members
If the supervisor otherwise fulfills the criterion for a primary clinical supervisor (as specified in section IX) the student should arrange co-supervision by a UWO Psychology Department Clinical Adjunct Faculty member in the setting.
If the supervisor is an advanced level clinical psychology student at UWO, intern/resident, or non- registered psychologist, a UWO Psychology Department Clinical Adjunct Faculty member with primary clinical responsibility for the case serves as the primary clinical supervisor, in essence, supervising the supervision.
