Question about Practicum/Internship/Postdoc

[Phyozo]

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Hello there,

I was told by someone who is pursuing a psyD that you cannot ever work at the same practicum site more than once and also cannot be at an internship or postdoc site where you worked at/been affiliated with before. Is this true? And if so, what is the reasoning behind this?

 

[erg923]

This is not true. However, generally, during grad school you want to get a variety of experience. A breadth of clinical experiences and clinical populations. Therefore, many find that working at the same prac site more than one year puts a cap on this is important factor. I know several interns and post-docs at UCSF med center (where I am now) who did prac work there as a student. One graduates from my program a couple of years ago.

 

[JockNerd]

Some individual programs might have requirements about that for breadth of training, but it isn't an apa rule or something.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Not true. Generally it is important to get a range of experience, though people stay on at sites, as well as sometimes come back later on in their training. I know a place that frequently has practicum students come back for post-doc and/or after they are licensed because there is a pretty high learning curve and it is a sought after placement.

Some people believe it is similar to academic inbreeding (where a person attends a university's undergraduate and graduate programs), and they'd rather people with a more diverse experience and they wouldn't "waste" the training on someone who had previously been trained there.

 

[Phyozo]

Hmm...ok that makes sense. Does it help or hinder (or neither) to do a practicum at a location where you eventually want to do your internship?

 

[erg923]

I think it can only help, as long as you make a good impression and are a standout prac student there.

 

[psychwanabe]

Hmm...ok that makes sense. Does it help or hinder (or neither) to do a practicum at a location where you eventually want to do your internship?

It can help (as stated above) if you do a good job, make a good impression, and are a good fit. It could also hurt if you're not, I guess.

Just to answer the original question in concert with the others, I don't know how usual it is, but the practicum site where I am working now often has students return for their internship and/or postdoc.

 

[Cosmo75]

I did my therapy and advanced practica at the same site. I suppose that hindered my breadth of experience, but I was specifically interested in health psych internships so it didn't affect my match (I assume). There is an intern at my site who did her therapy practicum there.

 

[psychmama]

Hey. I would just add one thing to what's been said. I have a couple friends doing practicum at hospitals in NYC who were told that no prac students will be considered for internship matching. I thought this was unusual, but the explanation given was that the hospitals don't want to worry about favoring/disfavoring students they already know. I imagine most sites don't have such a rule, however.🙂