After completing all core and specialization course work, students begin their clinical practicum and internship experience. All experiential portions of the program are in alignment with CACREP 2024 standards. MS in Counseling students complete their practicum and internship at two sites, one on campus as part of a practicum and internship course, and an off-campus field placement site.
Through the CARE Center, students provide counseling services to members of our local communities under live supervision provided by our skilled faculty. One day per week, students attend in person (tri-county area) or virtually (outside of tri-county) a CARE Center site placement working in a reflecting team supervision format providing clinical services. An off-campus field placement site with accompanying site supervision is a crucial component of the experiential learning of the counseling experience, and students are to maintain both the CARE Center and outside field placement for the entirety of practicum and internship.
Practicum and internship clinical experiences are a critical component of counseling student interns graduate training in counseling. Practicum is the initial semester-long experiential course to familiarize students in working clinically with clients. All single specialization students are to complete 700 hours of clinical experience, over the course of at minimum 2 semesters.
To support students in the experiential portion of their masters level program, a clinical guide has been prepared to outline the practicum placement process and clinical experience and is supplementary to the MS Counseling Program Manual. All students’ specializations in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC), Marriage, Couples, and Family Counseling (MCFC) and School Counseling (SC) are to complete practicum and internship semesters with placement in the CARE Center and off campus field placement.