Clinical Psychology: PsyD, Fresno and Sacramento

A Practitioner-Scholar Program

The Fresno/Sacramento Clinical PsyD Program is a practitioner-scholar program fully accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association (750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242; Phone: 202-336-5979; Email: apaaccred@apa.org). It is designed primarily for students interested in clinical practice, the application of clinical knowledge to work in diverse settings and program administration. The program emphasizes clinical skills and the application of research knowledge. One of the unique aspects of the PsyD program is the class format in which the dissertation is completed. During their second and third years in the program, students complete their dissertation while taking the PsyD Dissertation Proposal and PsyD Dissertation course series. This intensive structure has proven extremely successful in facilitating students’ completing the program on time. The PsyD program takes four years to complete, with the fourth year spent in a full-time internship.

The clinical program is ecosystemically oriented; it trains students to consider the role of diverse systems in creating and/or remedying individual and social problems. For example, in just one course the role of individual, family, ethnicity, religion, dominant culture, the legal and medical systems, and historical time are all considered when reviewing the causes and potential interventions for child abuse. While students receive an exceptional grounding in traditional clinical assessment and intervention, they also are taught to consider the potential value of advocacy, consultation, or public policy work in helping both individuals and entire groups of clients with similar problems. For example, psychotherapy can be of great value to gay or lesbian clients struggling with the social pressures of the coming out process, but the need for such treatment might be greatly reduced by applying clinical knowledge and skills in changing social mores and the plethora of discriminatory laws that create the hostile environment with which these clients struggle.

Student Competencies

The clinical program offered at both Fresno and its Sacramento satellite campus are designed to train students to be competent in nine broad areas:

• Foundational Science of Psychology (Social and Developmental Psychology, History and Systems, Biological Science, and Cognitive and Affective Bases of Behavior) so as to link the core sciences with contemporary thought, research and practice in psychology;

• Intervention Skills enabling students to plan, implement, and evaluate their work within a cultural framework;

• Professional Practice proficiency to prepare students to effectively and ethically intervene in a variety of settings, using a variety of techniques and modalities.

• Relationship Skills enabling students to make interpersonal connections, maintain professional boundaries as appropriate to the multicultural context in which they are operating, and engage in ethical and professional behavior;

• Diversity Competence that involves developing awareness of their own culture and the cultures of others as mediators of one’s world view;

• Assessment Skills (diagnosis, interviewing, testing, and report writing) enabling them to engage in an ongoing process of evaluating their practice, research and teaching;

• Professional Development so as to be able to engage in self-evaluation and life-long learning;

• Supervision enabling them to provide good clinical and professional feedback to others; and

• Research and Evaluation so as to be able to critically evaluate the research literature in service of clinical goals and to conduct applied research and program evaluation.

In addition to their basic education in clinical psychology, clinical psychology students have the opportunity to select an emphasis area in which to develop focused study and clinical expertise. Emphasis areas include clinical forensic, ecosystemic child, and health.

Most of the students who apply to the Sacramento satellite do so because they wish to remain close to their work and family already in the Sacramento area. As a satellite, Sacramento is completely integrated with the Fresno campus. Sacramento students have access to both local staff and faculty, as well as full access to the Fresno services, staff, and faculty. Sacramento students attend both orientation and graduation in Fresno. Approximately 4-6 courses per semester are taught via videoconference from Fresno to Sacramento, and, occasionally, courses are taught via videoconference from Sacramento to Fresno. Students are welcome to travel between sites to attend courses.

Professional Training and Internship

The PsyD program emphasizes the integration of academic coursework with clinical practice. In order to integrate appropriate skills with material learned in the classroom, students participate in a professional training placement experience beginning in the first year unless prior experience has been accepted for transfer. The professional training placement experiences completed prior to the full-time predoctoral internship are known as practicum experiences. The practica and internship comprise the professional training component of the program. Students complete their professional training requirements in community mental health centers, clinics, inpatient mental health facilities, medical settings, specialized service centers, rehabilitation programs, residential, or day care programs, forensic/correctional facilities and educational programs. Students are required to train in different settings each year, gaining experience with different populations in order to ensure a broad base of training.

Students are placed in a practicum in the second semester of their first year after successfully completing Basic Foundations of Clinical Practice I, Intellectual Assessment, and Introduction to Ethics. Second-year clinical PsyD students are required to participate in a 15-hour-per-week practicum. Third-year clinical PsyD students will spend 20 hours per week in a practicum at the Psychological Services Center in Fresno or at a CSPP-approved agency in or around Sacramento.

Assignments to the practica are accomplished with guidance from the Office of Professional Training. Each practicum agency is screened prior to being presented to the student as a placement. The student and his or her Professional Training Liaison make the final placement decisions jointly.

Fourth year students are responsible for obtaining an appropriate full-time APA, APPIC, or CAPIC full year internship (2080 hours) and are assisted in this process by the Office of Professional Training. During the time that students are completing their internship requirements, payment of the full internship fee is required. (See Tuition and Fee Schedule ). For many students, in the fourth year the internship stipend covers the costs of tuition and living expenses.

Students who intern at the Golden State Psychological Internship Association (GSPIA), which is CSPP-supported, generally receive internship stipends of $15,000 or more. GSPIA makes every effort to ensure that internships for clinical doctorate students meet the licensing standards of the California Board of Psychology and other states.

International students should discuss regulations and issues related to stipends well in advance with the Director of Professional Training.

Credit for Previous Graduate Work

Students applying to the Fresno/Sacramento clinical PsyD program may be eligible to receive credit for previous graduate work. All applicants must meet the graduate level requirements for preparation in psychology. While an applicant may not have completed the graduate level requirements at the time of application to CSPP, these requirements must be satisfied before the admitted student can enroll.

Any single course can only be used to fulfill one course requirement.

1. The Fresno/Sacramento Clinical PsyD Program allows a maximum of 30 units of graduate level transfer credit into the program. These credits must be completed with a grade of a B or better and must be from an accredited institution.
    
2. Transfer credits reduce the total number of units a student must complete in order to obtain the degree. Therefore, it is sometimes possible for a student to reduce a four-year program to three years.
    
3. Graduate level transfer credits meeting our requirements are allowed even if the master’s degree has not been awarded.
    
4. Regardless of the number of transfer units allowed, a student must complete any and all requirements remaining in both the core and emphasis areas for which transfer credit was not allowed.
    
5. Listed below are courses that are NOT eligible for transfer credit. Please note that transfer units are credit units and do not require replacement.

PSY 6507	Basic Foundations of Clinical Practice: I (3 units)*
PSY 6508	Basic Foundations of Clinical Practice: II (3 units)*
PSY 7911	PsyD Proposal Development I and 7912 II (3, 3 units)
PSY 7912	PsyD Proposal Development II (3 units)
PSY 8913	PsyD Dissertation I (3 units)
PSY 8914	PsyD Dissertation II (3 units)
PSY XXXX	Any required ethics course
PSY XXXX	Any clinical practicum**
PSY XXXX	Any assessment course(s)***
Any course over seven years old

* To apply for a waiver of Basic Foundations of Clinical Practice, students should submit 1) syllabi of graduate level coursework in psychopathology/diagnosis, basic counseling skills, and theories of psychotherapy and 2) a brief videotaped role play or actual therapy session so the student’s basic counseling skills can be assessed. This material should be submitted to the Program Director no later than mid-August. The materials will be submitted to the instructor of Basic Foundations of Clinical Practice for review and for a decision. The student must sign up for the course during registration, and if the waiver is granted the course may be dropped. If the course is not approved for waiver, the student remains in the course. A decision will be made prior to the Add/Drop deadline. If the course is waived, the units must be replaced with elective units. If sufficient elective units have been transferred into the program, an additional course may not have to be completed. Because this is a year-long class, students will receive a waiver for the entire year, if granted, rather than just one semester.

** In order to waive this requirement, the Director of Field Placement reviews the information submitted by the student as to the nature and content of the practicum, the number of hours, and the site of the experience. The Director of Field Placement will make a decision and the student will be notified as to whether or not the practicum may be waived. This decision must be made as soon as possible, preferably by the Add/Drop deadline. If the practicum is waived, the units must be replaced and the hours of the waived practicum will be added to the next required practicum. Under certain circumstances practicum hours may be accepted for transfer.

*** In order to waive this requirement, the student must contact the Program Director for referral to a faculty member designated to determine waiver requirements.