Every semester? Every 2 semesters? Something Different. I am just curious how things work in other programs.
Clincial Psych People: How often do you switch clinical rotations?
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Long Answer: It depends on where you are at in training, and also on the requirements of your program and your site(s). At my graduate program we had pre-practicum, where we did 6 months of shadowing and didactics through the clinic. You'd observe intakes, therapy, assessments, assessment feedback, etc. They have since changed the setup to be more universal (I had a great set of supervisors, though others in my cohort got shafted), so who knows what they do now.
In the second year we started our practicum placements, though the experience/rotations varied by site. For instance, I work at a school for 9 months doing therapy/assessment/psychoeducation, and then for the 3 summer months I did assessment/treatment planning/IEPs. A practicum site at a hospital may have students rotate through 2-3 different departments, it all depends. A forensic site may have 6 months of assessment, and 6 months of individual/group therapy.
Some programs may offer an assessment rotation for students who want to gain more assessment experience, while other programs may offer psychdynamic/analytic training where you carry cases for multiple years. Typically graduate programs require a minimum number of face to face contact hours, supervision hours, and support hours. We were required to present and defend a therapy case before being elligible to apply for internship, so students had to complete at least 1 practicum where they did therapy. The hardcore neuro people weren't happy with this, but I understand why they did it.
As for internship and post-doc/fellowship, it varies even more. I have friends that have the same schedule for the year, while others switched every 3 months. Post-doc/Fellowship will vary by speciality. I'll probably do 9mon, 9mon, 6mon on the clinical side, and 12mon/12mon or 6mon/18mon on the research side. I looked at other fellowships that did 4 6-month major rotations, and then they offered some minor rotation options and/or protected research time. The one year fellowships may just do 1 rotation, or they may do multiple rotations. I'm less familiar with these, as I only looked at 2 year neuro / rehab fellowships...yah extended cheap labor!
Short Answer: It varies.
In the second year we started our practicum placements, though the experience/rotations varied by site. For instance, I work at a school for 9 months doing therapy/assessment/psychoeducation, and then for the 3 summer months I did assessment/treatment planning/IEPs. A practicum site at a hospital may have students rotate through 2-3 different departments, it all depends. A forensic site may have 6 months of assessment, and 6 months of individual/group therapy.
Some programs may offer an assessment rotation for students who want to gain more assessment experience, while other programs may offer psychdynamic/analytic training where you carry cases for multiple years. Typically graduate programs require a minimum number of face to face contact hours, supervision hours, and support hours. We were required to present and defend a therapy case before being elligible to apply for internship, so students had to complete at least 1 practicum where they did therapy. The hardcore neuro people weren't happy with this, but I understand why they did it.
As for internship and post-doc/fellowship, it varies even more. I have friends that have the same schedule for the year, while others switched every 3 months. Post-doc/Fellowship will vary by speciality. I'll probably do 9mon, 9mon, 6mon on the clinical side, and 12mon/12mon or 6mon/18mon on the research side. I looked at other fellowships that did 4 6-month major rotations, and then they offered some minor rotation options and/or protected research time. The one year fellowships may just do 1 rotation, or they may do multiple rotations. I'm less familiar with these, as I only looked at 2 year neuro / rehab fellowships...yah extended cheap labor!
Short Answer: It varies.
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Psy1, your status says "postdoc," so I'm assuming your asking about internship or postdoc rotations. Internships at my site rotate every 3 months for a 12 month position. I WISH I had postdoc experience to share, but I'm still actively training.
In my PhD program, we rotated externship experience every one year (two semesters at least, which was 9 or 12 months depending on where you were placed). However, because it is a clinical program, you have the option to continue with your patients for longer than one year. To do so, you had to make arrangements to transfer your patients to your new site. For my psychotherapy training, the intensity became richer the longer the relationship with the patient. I've had several patients for almost two years compared to most patients for 6-9 months. Each externship had monthly didactics and plus one-two hour(s) individual supervison plus one hour group supervision.
Hope this feeds your curiousity.
D
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at my program we started practicum work in october of our first year....those go for approximately 9 months. our internships go for a full year. 3 prac years and 2 intern years. we are also attending classes during all this.
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