Counseling Learning Practicum I

Catalog description

Practicum is considered a beginning clinical counseling experience and should provide beginning counseling activities. This course is time-consuming and demanding. Students should be prepared to apply more hours to this course than to most other courses. Practicum students are required to complete a total of 100 clinical hours, 40 of which are direct, before they are approved to take Internship. Students will split these hours up over COUN 6100 and COUN 6200 (typically half in each). Students will be required to meet weekly for a minimum of 60 consecutive minutes with their site supervisor in individual or triadic supervision and a minimum of 90 minutes (or more) of group supervision with the Practicum class. The site supervisor must be a licensed mental health professional with a minimum of two years of post-licensure experience and state-approved training in supervising counselor trainees (CT). Weekly skill evaluations and activity logs are a critical component of this course. Self-growth experiential activities are associated with this course content. Students are required to maintain copies of all syllabi and documentation regarding their field experience activities and save them as hard copies for licensure purposes. Tevera management and assessment system is required for this course. Tevera will assist students in building their virtual portfolio; however, safeguarding one's professional portfolio relies on students’ diligence. These two classes must be taken sequentially, with students completing COUN 6100 before they advance to COUN 6200. Each student is required to plan for Practicum with the counseling program coordinator or faculty advisor before completion of 15 credit hours in the program. Students should seek advisement early in the program regarding their program plan. Enrollment in this course requires permission of the faculty supervisor or counseling program coordinator. Students must submit an application to begin Practicum and seek approval from the faculty supervisor or counseling program coordinator prior to enrolling in the course. All required Pre-Practicum documentation must be completed, signed, and submitted prior to registration in this course (see Tevera and the Clinical Handbook). Students must obtain their own recording equipment which is compliant with HIPAA regulations. Students wishing to complete their Practicum or Internship in an elementary and/or secondary school setting must obtain special permission from the Director of the Clinical Program. They will be required to verify that their field experience in a school setting will entail providing clinical mental health counseling services and not school counseling activities. Students may NOT do in-home counseling. Students whose sites require any virtual service delivery must complete telemental health training and submit both their own and their site supervisor’s training certificate verification prior to engaging in virtual counseling services. Students must complete all required documentation on Tevera to receive approval prior to engaging in virtual counseling services. The Clinical Handbook must be reviewed and completed by each student and site supervisor, with appropriate appendices submitted to the faculty supervisor or counseling program coordinator in Tevera before a student can obtain approval to register for Practicum. Students are required to abide by the ACA Code of Ethics (2014) in their Practicum experience. Students are required to obtain professional liability insurance (PLI) through ACA student membership prior to the start of practicum and cannot see clients before submitting their certificate of PLI (extra fees involved). This course may be repeated for credit. No grades of Incomplete are permitted; hence, students should be prepared to complete all required assignments and clinical hours in Practicum. For Practicum students taking leave due to military or exceptional medical situations, see the practicum faculty supervisor and/or clinical coordinator/designee for grade completion options. Content Areas: professional practice, professional identity, helping relationships, professional orientation and ethical practice, diagnosis, assessment, social and cultural diversity. Prerequisites : COUN 5020, COUN 5050, COUN 5100, COUN 5200, COUN 5230, COUN 5600, COUN 5610, and COUN 5800. COUN 5540 is a prerequisite for field experiences that require a majority of family counseling, and COUN 5630 is a prerequisite for field experiences that require a majority of addictions and substance abuse counseling.