Practicum and internship courses are required training experiences required of graduate students in the MS in Mental Health Counseling program.

• Admission into the Practicum and Internship Classes
• Requirements of Practicum and Internship classes

Admission into the Practicum and Internship Classes

Students who successfully complete the three prerequisite classes (Career Counseling, Psychopathology, and Counseling Skills) are eligible for PSY580 Counseling Practicum. The relevant faculty will review the student's academic performance and counseling skills and if these are deemed acceptable, then the student will be allowed to register for Counseling Practicum.

Successful completion of Counseling Practicum makes one eligible for the full-year internship, which consists of a site placement and two accompanying courses (PSY581 Ethics and Practice I  and PSY582 Ethics and Practice II). The relevant faculty will review the student's academic performance, counseling skills, and performance in Counseling Practicum. If these are deemed acceptable, then the student will be allowed to interview at sites offering full-year internship placements. In order to take the internship classes, a student must interview with and be offered an internship placement by an approved site. Even if given the go-ahead by the faculty, students are never guaranteed internship placements; the offer of a placement is always at the discretion of the training sites.

Importantly, placement sites always reserve the right to determine which students will be placed at their site. At any time before or during a placement, should a site determine that a student is not fit to continue with a placement, the site can dismiss the student from the placement. Further, all students completing the first semester of their year-long internship will be evaluated before being allowed to proceed to the second semester.

Requirements of Practicum and Internship Classes

Students complete their practicum training by dividing their time at two on-campus sites: the SUNY New Paltz Student Counseling Center and the SUNY New Paltz Career Center. Students complete their internship training at either on-campus or off-campus sites. Off-campus fieldwork sites have been developed to broaden the learning experiences available to students.

Expected requirements for the practicum are as follows:

• 100 hours on site, 40 hours of which are spent in direct client contact
• A combination of individual and group supervision totaling at least one hour per week
• Weekly class sessions, which include didactic presentations and discussions

Expected requirements for the internship are as follows:

• 600 hours on site, 240 hours of which are spent in direct client contact
• A combination of individual and group supervision totaling at least one hour per week for every five direct service hours
• Weekly class sessions, which include group supervision, didactic presentations, discussions; particular focus is paid to ethics and practice issues in the didactic component of the internship classes

Note: Although each off-campus fieldwork placement will have somewhat different requirements, it is expected that the specified hours designated above will be the same across all sites. Specific requirements for established off-campus environments will be completed by the on-site supervisor and according to guidelines established by SUNY New Paltz.

Procedures for both practicum and internship placements include:

• Trainees must present a copy of their liability insurance to their site and the professor teaching the practicum or internship class PRIOR to starting hours at the site.
• Trainees must understand that the supervisor at the off-campus fieldwork site is clinically responsible for all cases and therefore has absolute authority in dictating client therapy.
• There is to be regularly scheduled individual and group supervision
• Regularly scheduled learning activities, such as seminars or co-therapy, will be scheduled and attendance required.
• Trainees should not schedule a client meeting if they do not have direct access to a supervisor.
• Trainees should have immediate access to a supervisor in case an emergency should arise.

Current fieldwork placement opportunities include:

• Goshen Outpatient Mental Health Center
• Hudson River Psychiatric Center
• Occupations
• Pine Grove Outpatient Mental Health Center
• Riverhaven (Hudson Valley Housing)
• Step One
• SUNY New Paltz Psychological Counseling Center
• SUNY New Paltz Career Resource Center
• Ulster-Greene ARC