VA Practicum - Necessary?

[fallen625]

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I have had two great practica experiences (& should have enough hours), and I am wondering how necessary/helpful it would be to have a third one at the VA? I am expecting a second child next year (in mid-June) and it would be nice to not have a practicum since it will be a super stressful time with a newborn and internship apps.

I am also very productive and have almost 20 pubs, but I will be applying to some VAs for internship.

If I do decide to have a practica, how could I negotiate a later start date to allow me a two month maternity leave?

I am trying to figure all of this out now as I am putting my name down on daycare waitlists...

 

[szymk1sm]

I have had two great practica experiences (& should have enough hours), and I am wondering how necessary/helpful it would be to have a third one at the VA? I am expecting a second child next year (in mid-June) and it would be nice to not have a practicum since it will be a super stressful time with a newborn and internship apps.

I am also very productive and have almost 20 pubs, but I will be applying to some VAs for internship.

If I do decide to have a practica, how could I negotiate a later start date to allow me a two month maternity leave?

I am trying to figure all of this out now as I am putting my name down on daycare waitlists...

FWIW, I matched at a VA internship and had no VA practicum experience.

I also interviewed for internship at mostly VAs or consortiums. I think I had only had 2 sites that were pure AMCs.

I imagine if the VA practicum adds something to your application that you're currently missing, then go ahead and do it. If not, you may still be ok.

 

[erg923]

I have had two great practica experiences (& should have enough hours), and I am wondering how necessary/helpful it would be to have a third one at the VA? I am expecting a second child next year (in mid-June) and it would be nice to not have a practicum since it will be a super stressful time with a newborn and internship apps.

I am also very productive and have almost 20 pubs, but I will be applying to some VAs for internship.

If I do decide to have a practica, how could I negotiate a later start date to allow me a two month maternity leave?

I am trying to figure all of this out now as I am putting my name down on daycare waitlists...

You are still enrolled. So the question, I suppose, is how does VA experience (which can be time and labor demanding) add to your training/career narrative???

Do you need more hours? Apparently not? What kind of career do you want? 20 pubs doesn't sound like clinically focused, unless you want a VA MIRREC career? You might want to do something this next year that furthers your goals, despite the growing family? But what is it?

VA practica is not necessary for a VA career...or any other scientist-practitioner career for that matter. A solid program with good training and 20 pubs should be able to get get you most anywhere you want to be. Sounds solid thus far.

I would dare say that with that record of achievement and hours, your next step could be fully your choice/indulgence? I would like to think that I was a good/successful "scientist-practitioner" for few years (not so much anymore) with half that record.

 

[PsychPhDone]

I have had two great practica experiences (& should have enough hours), and I am wondering how necessary/helpful it would be to have a third one at the VA? I am expecting a second child next year (in mid-June) and it would be nice to not have a practicum since it will be a super stressful time with a newborn and internship apps.

I am also very productive and have almost 20 pubs, but I will be applying to some VAs for internship.

If I do decide to have a practica, how could I negotiate a later start date to allow me a two month maternity leave?

I am trying to figure all of this out now as I am putting my name down on daycare waitlists...

I matched to a VA with no VA practicum. I did have 4 practica under my belt, though. I'd be more concerned over the only 2 practica than the non-VA practicum.

 

[fallen625]

You are still enrolled. So the question, I suppose, is how does VA experience (which can be time and labor demanding) add to your training/career narrative???

Do you need more hours? Apparently not? What kind of career do you want? 20 pubs doesn't sound like clinically focused, unless you want a VA MIRREC career? You might want to do something this next year that furthers your goals, despite the growing family? But what is it?

VA practica is not necessary for a VA career...or any other scientist-practitioner career for that matter. A solid program with good training and 20 pubs should be able to get get you most anywhere you want to be. Sounds solid thus far.

I would dare say that with that record of achievement and hours, your next step could be fully your choice/indulgence? I would like to think that I was a good/successful "scientist-practitioner" for few years (not so much anymore) with half that record.

I don't think I need more hours. I should have about 600 intervention hours and 200 assessment hours. I think that should be enough?

I want a research career, but I am mostly interested in treatment research and although I mostly want to focus on research, I would like to do some clinical work as part of my career. I am not necessarily set on a research-focused internship.

I envision my 5th year as a time to work on my internship applications and getting as much done of my dissertation as possible, and continuing to work on my research. Our practica are 16 hours a week and I am a bit scared of what it could look like to be applying for internship, having an infant and an older child, being gone 2 days a week from the lab, and working on my dissertation. I want to make sure that I have enough time to do everything that needs to be done for sure and to do it well (internship apps, dissertation). I think I could definitely fit a VA practica if it would be beneficial, but I am scared about issues such as taking enough time off for maternity leave, not feeling super frazzled etc. If I do a practicum. I don't know how receptive they would be to me starting later, but I guess I won't know until I ask.

I matched to a VA with no VA practicum. I did have 4 practica under my belt, though. I'd be more concerned over the only 2 practica than the non-VA practicum.

That's a good point. Does that include internal practica? I did 2 external but also 2 different internals, not sure if those count.

 

[WisNeuro]

It's not necessary, but it doesn't hurt. Most of the VAs I trained/worked at, gave having a practicum in the VA a bump in the rankings. Not a huge one, but it was definitely enough to move people ahead of other people when their stats were similar.

 

[PsyDr]

I have had two great practica experiences (& should have enough hours), and I am wondering how necessary/helpful it would be to have a third one at the VA? I am expecting a second child next year (in mid-June) and it would be nice to not have a practicum since it will be a super stressful time with a newborn and internship apps.

I am also very productive and have almost 20 pubs, but I will be applying to some VAs for internship.

If I do decide to have a practica, how could I negotiate a later start date to allow me a two month maternity leave?

I am trying to figure all of this out now as I am putting my name down on daycare waitlists...

Goddamn, woman. Leave some accomplishments for the rest of us.

Seriously though, grad school +20 pubs +pregnant+planning ahead for it= very impressive.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

As others have said: helpful? Sure. Necessary? No. If you're considering VA long-term as a career, getting some time in now could help you to start figuring out if that's a legitimate goal. Caveat being if you have absolutely no adult experience across your two prior practica, that could be a problem, and I might then recommend the VA placement.

But also as others have said: ~20 pubs is going to be enough to wipe out plenty of slight dings, such as not having prior VA experience.

 

[cara susanna]

I also matched to a VA for internship with no prior VA experience. Generally, SDN recommends some research involvement, sufficient assessment hours (I want to say 100+?), and clinical experience with complex populations and evidence-based therapies.

 

[EmotRegulation]

Same here, matched at a VA/consortium with no prior VA experience. And as someone with a toddler and a 2 month old baby, I would NOT suggest taking on an additional practicum. Dissertation and internship applications plus your family will keep you busy enough. Would a VA practicum give you more experience? Yes. Is that experience "worth it"? With your stats, I don't think so.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I also matched to a VA/consortium without prior VA experience. Being able to have a good foundation of EBTs, assessment, and exposure to sub abuse and/or chronic mental health are some of the things a VA site should look for in applicants. Research productivity is a plus; great job on the 20 pubs.

 

[PsychPhDone]

Does that include internal practica? I did 2 external but also 2 different internals, not sure if those count.

Yes - my 4 practica were 2 internal and 2 external. As long as you have some decent experience with ESTs (and you likely do with 20 pubs), you should be fine without a 5th practicum.