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Department of Psychology

Training Resources

Because we are the only APA-approved clinical psychology program offering a Ph.D. on the west coast of Florida, our students are sought by many local agencies in addition to the primary campus-based agencies. We are highly selective about which agencies we use for such placements, and these agencies are carefully screened for the type of training and clinical experiences they provide, the availability of appropriate supervision, and a rate of pay that is at least consistent with University graduate assistantships. In nearly all cases, students work for one year at each site.

Placement Committee

The clinical program has a Placement Committee that serves to integrate external training opportunities with our Program. The Committee oversees all clinical, research, and teaching positions, both paid and unpaid. In addition, the placement committee obtains formal evaluations of placement sites by students, and placement supervisors provide written evaluations of student performance. The purposes of the placement committee are to ensure

  1. That students’ training experiences and supervision are appropriate for their level of training and consistent with our program’s philosophy and values.
  2. That the process of obtaining placements is fair to all students.
  3. That students receive diverse training experiences.

The Psychological Services Center

The Psychological Services Center, an outpatient mental health clinic located within the Psychology Department, provides another unique element to our training program. The PSC primarily serves community members with a wide array of psychological problems. Starting in their first year of graduate school, students assess clients from the PSC as part of their course-linked assessment practica. Beginning in the second year, students are required to maintain a therapy caseload of two clients. Thus, students are active in our Psychology Clinic throughout their training. Most of the supervision of Clinic cases is provided by clinical core-faculty.