MFT Doctoral Internship and Portfolio

Catalog description

Upon completion of the practicum course, doctoral students are required to complete a 9-month, full-time (i.e., 30 hours per week) clinically focused internship. Prior to beginning the doctoral internship, all students must develop an internship contract approved by the Director of MFT Doctoral Programs. The 9-month experience is organized into three 1-credit courses, each being 12 weeks in duration. All students in this internship must have a local supervisor who has the documented expertise to mentor the PhD student’s development in the area of the student’s specialty. The supervisor’s credentials must be approved by the Clinical Team as a part of the internship contracting process. The internship contract will guide both the student’s work during the 9-month internship, and the supervisor’s evaluations of the student’s work. While each student’s internship will be individualized to provide the best possible growth through experiential learning, each internship will share these characteristics: students will meet weekly with their local supervisor; each internship is focused solidly in the student’s degree specialty (e.g., military family therapy, medical family therapy, couples therapy); it represents growth in the student’s previous functioning (i.e., it cannot be simply doing more of what the student is already doing); and it provides an experiential base for the student to meet to PhD Program Outcomes and Student Learning Outcomes.