Practicum and internship experiences are the heart of our Counseling and Student Affairs programs. Students work with real clients who are struggling with real issues. Students have the opportunity to put their learning of professional skills and competencies, as well as the maintenance of ethical standards into practice. Practicum is designated CNS 590/591. Internship is designated CNS 595/596.

Practicum and Internship Course Requirements for Specific Programs
Marriage and Family Therapy Program: 1 Practicum and 2 Internships
Mental Health Program: 1 Practicum and 3 Internships
School Counseling Program: Practicum only (36 hr program)
Student Affairs Program: 1 Practicum and 2 Internships

How Practicum and Internship Works
Information provided in this document is only an introduction to the requirements and process of practicum and internship. All students are encouraged to contact the following faculty members with any further questions.

Marriage and Family Therapy Program: Dr. Jill D. Duba
Mental Health Program: Dr. Jill D. Duba
School Counseling Program: Dr. Cynthia Mason
Student Affairs Program: Dr. Aaron Hughey

Practicum and internships are typically not paid positions. All students are permitted to work while they are pursuing a Practicum or Internship. In some instances, they can complete the Practicum or Internship on their specific job site, as long as hours towards practicum or internship are not part of the regular duties. However, students should note that the practicum and internship experiences should be consistent with licensed or certified professional activities. For example, a Marriage and Family Therapy student must be doing clinical, face-to-face work with clients. All practicum and internship sites must be approved by the faculty coordinator.

Students have two instructors, a site supervisor and a faculty member. Site supervisors have master’s or higher degrees in the area students are studying. Site supervisors provide weekly individual supervision. Students meet in groups with the faculty member throughout the semester. Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health students are expected to bring videos of counseling cases and make case presentations at each scheduled group supervision session.

School Counseling Practicum
Practicum (CNS 590) must include 100 hours of experiences in a setting similar to the degree goal. These 100 hours include a minimum of 40 clinical, face-to-face contact hours with clients. For example, a teacher pursuing a school master’s degree might fulfill the practicum requirement in his/her school provided certain guidelines are followed.

Student Affairs Practicum
Practicum (CNS 590) must be taken before internship. Practicum and internship cannot be taken concurrently. Therefore, students enrolled in internship should take the practicum and internship courses consecutively across semesters. Practicum must include 150 hours (including class time) in field experiences, 50 hours of which should be spent in the delivery of student services to a designated target population.

Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Practicum
Students enrolled in the Marriage and Family Therapy or Mental Health program (CNS 591) should consider the following items and requirements specific to their practicum experience:

1. Fifteen hours of CNS courses must be completed including the following four courses: CNS 560, CNS 554, CNS 558, and CNS 559 prior to enrolling in practicum. (Please note that CNS 558 is a requisite for CNS 559. Students cannot take CNS 559 without having successfully completed CNS 558.)
2. Practicum is offered only during the summer.
3. Applications submitted to a practicum site should be done months before the actual experience. For example, Lifeskills requires the submission of a practicum application 9 months to a year before beginning the practicum experience.
4. Practicum includes 100 hours with a minimum of 40 clinical, face-to-face contact hours with clients. Marriage and Family Therapy students must complete at least 40, 50% (i.e., 20 hours of 40 total practicum hours) of their direct client contact hours in a relational modality (i.e., couples, families, or family sub-systems).

Students are encouraged to read the supplemental “Mental Health and Marriage and Family Practicum and Internship” document for additional information. The document can be found in the Department of Counseling and Student Affairs.
           
Internship
For the Marriage and Family Therapy and Student Affairs master’s program, internship (CNS 596) is across two semesters, totaling 600 hours of practical experiences (300 hours per semester). Students enrolled in the Mental Health program will have 3 semesters of internship, totaling 900 hours of practical experience. Students cannot take two courses of internship or take 6 credits of CNS 596 in one semester.

Similar to seeking practicum placement, all students should submit their placement applications months before beginning internship.

Mental Health Internship
Students enrolled in the Mental Health program should consider the following items and requirements specific to their internship experience:

1. For each internship course, or 300 hours of experience, students must have at least 120 clinical hours in clinical, face-to-face contact with clients.
2. No more than 50% of direct client contact can conducted in a group setting.

Marriage and Family Therapy Internship
Students enrolled in the Marriage and Family Therapy program should consider the following items and requirements specific to their internship experience:

1. For each internship course, or 300 hours of experience, students must have at least 150 clinical hours in clinical, face-to-face contact with clients.
2. Marriage and Family Therapy students must complete at least 60 hours of the 150 required direct client contact hours in a relational modality.
3. No more than 50% of direct client contact can be conducted in a group setting.

Students are responsible for all information related to practicum and internship that is provided through the Mental Health Counseling/Marriage & Family Therapy (MHC/MFT) listserv.