2022-2023 Catalog 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2022-2023 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology (Fresno)


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School: California School of Professional Psychology

Modality(ies): On-ground

Calendar(s):  Semester

CIP Code: 42.2801

Program Description/Overview


This program is designed primarily for students interested in clinical practice. The program emphasizes clinical skills and the application of research knowledge with diverse populations in a wide range of settings.

The program prepares students to function as multifaceted clinical psychologists through curricula based on an integration of psychological theory, research and practice. This is a practitioner-oriented program. The PsyD curriculum has four major areas of study: foundations of psychology, clinical and professional theory and skills, applied clinical research and professional growth. Students can follow their own clinical interests and further their individual career goals by selecting a specialized series of courses, research and field placements related to a particular area.

The program requires a minimum of 90 academic units and 30 internship units.

Emphasis/Concentration/Tracks


In addition to their basic education in clinical psychology, students in the program may focus their study and clinical expertise by selecting the Forensic Psychology Experience Area.

Forensic Psychology Experience Area

The field of clinical forensic psychology includes clinical services provided to clients with criminal and non-criminal contact with the legal system. In addition to work in prisons and jails, the field covers needs related to divorce, custody mediation, worker’s compensation evaluations, disability evaluations, child abuse, and adoption. The Forensic Psychology Experience Area in Fresno includes courses and a practicum experience designed to prepare students for working with clients in forensic settings. To obtain the Forensic Psychology Experience Area, students must complete at least two elective courses designated as Forensic Psychology by the experience area and complete at least one practicum or internship approved as Forensic Psychology by the experience area.

Program Learning Outcomes/Goals


Program Aims and Competencies

Aim 1: Provide students with discipline-specific scientific knowledge to support the effective entry-level practice of clinical psychology.

Aim 2: Train competent health service psychologists (HSPs) to deliver scientifically informed psychological services to diverse individuals and groups.

Aim 3: Provide students with strong professional identities as licensed psychologists and the clinical skills, professional behaviors, and attitudes that reflect the highest ethical and professional standards in the entry-level practice of clinical psychology.

Program Competencies

All students are expected to acquire and demonstrate substantial understanding of and competence in the following nine profession-wide competency areas:

  1. Research
  2. Ethical and Legal Standards
  3. Individual and Cultural Diversity
  4. Professional Values and Attitudes
  5. Communication and Interpersonal Skills
  6. Assessment
  7. Intervention
  8. Supervision
  9. Consultation and Interprofessional/Interdisciplinary Skills

In addition, students are expected to possess discipline-specific knowledge in the following four areas:

  1. History and Systems of Psychology
  2. The basic content areas of scientific psychology, including affective, biological, cognitive, developmental, and social aspects of behavior
  3. Advanced integrative knowledge in scientific psychology
  4. Research Methods, Statistical Analysis, and Psychometrics

Training Model


A Practitioner-Scholar Program

This program emphasizes clinical skills and the application of research knowledge. The program takes a minimum of four years to complete, with the fourth year typically spent in a full-time internship.

The clinical program trains students to consider the role of diverse systems in creating and/or remedying individual and social problems. 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.

In addition to their basic education in clinical psychology, students have the opportunity to select the experience area in which to develop focused study and clinical expertise. During the program students are evaluated on progressive developmental stages of their training. The evaluation includes evaluation of a student’s readiness for practicum training and readiness for internship.

Professional Behavior Expectations/Ethical Guidelines


At matriculation, students are required to sign a form indicating that they have read the Program Handbook and APA code of ethics, and that they agree to abide by all Alliant, CSPP and Program Policies as well as the APA Code of Ethics.

Licensure


All psychologists who offer direct services to the public for a fee must be licensed or certified by the state in which they practice. Applicants for licensure in the state of California must hold an earned doctoral degree in psychology, educational psychology, education with a specialization in counseling psychology, or education with a specialization in educational psychology from an approved or accredited educational institution. They also must have completed 3,000 hours of supervised professional experience (of which at least 1,500 must be postdoctoral) and have taken and passed the national Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP) and the California Psychology Supplemental Examination (CPSE). In addition, they must submit evidence of having completed coursework in human sexuality, child abuse, substance abuse, spousal abuse, and aging and long-term care. Continuing education is required to maintain the license. Doctoral course requirements are designed to fulfill the programmatic requirements for licensure in California.

Every state has its own requirements for licensure. Therefore, it is essential that all students who plan to apply for licensure in states other than California contact the licensing board in those states for information on state requirements (e.g., coursework, practicum and internship hours, supervision, or nature of the doctoral project or dissertation). Students seeking licensure in other states should plan ahead to ensure they meet all of those states’ requirements.

For further information on licensure in California or other states contact:

Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards
PO Box 241245
Montgomery, AL 36124-1245
(334) 832-4580
Email: asppb@asppb.org

or

California Board of Psychology
2005 Evergreen Street, Suite 1400
Sacramento, CA 95815
(916) 263-2699
Email: bopmail@dca.ca.gov

Programmatic Accreditation


This program is a practitioner-scholar program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association (APA), which requires that we provide data on:

  1. Time to Completion
  2. Program Costs
  3. Internship Placement Rates
  4. Attrition
  5. Licensure

This data may be reviewed on our website.

Questions related to the program’s accredited status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation:

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 1st Street, N.E.,
Washington, DC 20002
Phone: (202) 336-5979
Email: apaaccred@apa.org
Web: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation

Internship, Practicum, and/or Dissertation Information


Clinical Training

The program emphasizes the integration of academic coursework with clinical practice. To integrate clinical skills with material learned in the classroom, students participate in a professional training placement beginning in the first year. Clinical training placements completed prior to the full-time doctoral internship are known as practicum experiences. Students train in diverse settings, gaining experience with different populations to ensure a broad base of training.

Students typically are placed in the Alliant Psychological Services Center for a 10-15 hour/week practicum in the second semester of their first year. Second-year clinical PsyD students spend 20 hours per week in a practicum at the Psychological Services Center on the Fresno campus. PsyD students spend twenty hours per week in a community practicum in their third year. Clinical training coursework is graded on a CR/NC basis.

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/her Professional Training Liaison make the final placement decisions jointly. Each site is evaluated annually by the students and the OPT staff.

Fourth year students are responsible for obtaining an appropriate yearlong, full-time internship (2,000 hours) and are assisted in this process by the Office of Professional Training. For many students in the fourth year, the internship stipend covers the costs of tuition and living expenses. The California Psychology Internship Consortium, housed in Fresno provides local APA-Accredited internship sites. All policies and procedures for completing the appropriate field placement/practicum and internship hours are delineated in The Clinical Practicum and Internship Manual available in the Office of Professional Training.

Beginning G1 and G2 Practicums: Faculty must endorse the G1 student as “ready’ to begin practicum and the student must also complete each of the following courses with grades of B- or better to be endorsed to begin the G1 practicum:

  1. PSY65010 - Intellectual Assessment  
  2. PSY65300A - Introduction to Ethical Practice and Law  
  3. PSY61230 - Cultural Diversity Training   
  4. PSY65200 - Introduction to Psychotherapy  
  5. PSY65230 - Advanced Psychopathology  

To begin the G2 practicum, students must have successfully completed the G1 practicum and the following courses with a grade of B- (CR) or better:

  1. PSY64500 - Theories of Personality and Psychotherapy  
  2. PSY65050 - Personality Assessment:  
  3. PSY61242 - Cultural Diversity Training  
  4. PSY65710 - Clinical PsyD First-Year Practicum  

G3 Practicum: G-3 PsyD students will choose their location for practicum in consultation with the Program Director and the Director of the Office of Professional Training. 

Internship Application Policy: During Phase I of APPIC match, students may only apply to APA-accredited internships. During Phase II of APPIC match, students may apply to both APA-accredited and APPIC (non-APA accredited) internships. PsyD students who do not match in APPIC match Phase I or II may apply for APA, APPIC or CAPIC post-match vacancies.

Full-Time Internship: It is the faculty’s expectation that the doctoral internship is a full-time year-long training experience. 

Research Training

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 course series. This four-semester intensive structure has proven extremely successful in facilitating students completing the program on time.

Dissertations

All procedures for completing a Dissertation are delineated in The Fresno Clinical PsyD Program Dissertation Policies and Procedures Manual available on the PsyD Program SharePoint site.

Credit Units


Total Credit Units: 120

Total Core Credit Units: 109

Total Elective Credit Units: 11

Total Concentration Credit Units: 11*

*Experience Area units are elective units.

Credit for Previous Work


The syllabi of courses for which a transfer student is seeking credit must be submitted to the Program Director by the end of the fall semester of the G1 year. These are reviewed by the Program Director and an Alliant faculty member who is a content expert regarding the subject matter. In addition, in some cases, the professional qualifications of the instructor are reviewed as well. An Alliant admissions officer can assist students in facilitating this review process. Regardless of the number of transfer units allowed, a student must complete all requirements remaining in both the core and experience area for which transfer credit was not allowed. 

Students who wish to transfer into the program from any other Alliant- CSPP program must meet the residency requirement and all program specific training requirements (including passing the Clinical Competency Exam (CPPR) and the Discipline Specific Knowledge Integration Exam.

Given the program is four years in length including a one-year internship, students are all in residence for a minimum of three years. Students transferring into the program from any other Alliant school or college or those transferring from another university must apply through the Admissions office.

Transfer credit awards can have implications on students’ financial aid eligibility if they become short of registration units for an academic semester (including summer). The program is not responsible for ensuring financial aid eligibility for students in all semesters.

Courses in ethics, practicum and internship are not eligible for transfer credit. Listed below are courses that are not eligible for transfer credit:

  1. PSY65300A - Introduction to Ethical Practice and Law  
  2. PSY75660 - Ethical Foundations of Clinical Practice  
  3. PSY65710 , PSY75710 , PSY75720 , PSY85770 , PSY85780  (Practicum courses)
  4. PSY95310 , PSY95320 , PSY95330  (Internship)

The following assessment courses are only eligible for transfer credit review if the comparable courses were taken in an APA-accredited doctoral program in clinical psychology:

  1. PSY65010 - Intellectual Assessment  
  2. PSY65050 - Personality Assessment:  Objective
  3. PSY65060 - Personality Assessment:  Projective

Degree Requirements


Writing Proficiency Assessment

Students enrolled in CSPP Clinical Doctoral programs are required to demonstrate their writing proficiency at the beginning of their graduate studies. Please refer to the Writing Proficiency Assessment  requirement in the Academic Policies section for more information.

Professional Development - Personal Psychotherapy Requirement

All students in this program are required to complete 30 hours of personal psychotherapy by the time they graduate. Some of the reasons for this requirement are as follows:

  1. To reap the benefits of professional modeling provided by the psychotherapist
  2. To observe how theory is applied to practice,
  3. To learn about what it is like to be a psychotherapy client,
  4. To provide the student with a source of support in the face of the stresses graduate school can   produce,
  5. To gain self-knowledge and work on any issues that might be impediments to effective clinical practice,
  6. As an opportunity for self-growth in which students can determine if they are truly well-suited to the field of clinical psychology and/or to work with certain populations or in certain settings

Personal Psychotherapy Policies

  1. The therapy must be individual psychotherapy. The psychotherapist must be a licensed doctoral-level psychologist.
  2. The psychotherapist must not be a faculty member at CSPP or otherwise hold a role that would constitute a dual relationship.
  3. All 30 hours must be completed with one psychologist.

Students may begin their hours at any time. It is strongly advised students complete these hours during their first two years in the program as these tend to be both the most stressful years and those in which students are learning the most about themselves as clinicians.

Students are solely responsible for submitting documentation indicating they have completed this requirement.

Comprehensive Examinations

Students are to pass two comprehensive exams as part of the requirement to advance to candidacy:

1. Discipline-Specific Knowledge Integration Exam (DSKIE)

The Discipline-Specific Knowledge Integration Examination (DSKIE) assesses students’ ability to integrate knowledge from at least two of the four foundational science courses, namely, PSY61050 - Biological Aspects of Behavior , PSY61013 - Cognitive & Affective Bases of Behavior , PSY61123 - Social Basis of Behavior , and PSY61093 - Human Development/Lifespan . The DSKIE specifically assesses students’ abilities to explain psychopathology by integrating theories from foundational science courses and apply the integration to a case through case conceptualization and interventions, while also considering the case’s cultural diversity factors. The DSKIE also requires students to evaluate recent peer-reviewed articles (from the last 15 years) and discuss at least three articles relevant to the case, thus assessing their competency in the areas of data analysis and research design.

Students are eligible to take the DSKIE after successful completion of all required G1 courses, the Fall semester of the G2 Practicum (PSY75710 ), and exposure to at least three of the four foundational science courses listed above (2 must be completed, 1 can be in progress). At the beginning of the Spring semester of their G2 year, students who meet these eligibility requirements are provided a brief case study with diagnoses and are given two months to answer five essay questions, integrating knowledge from multiple courses. 

Each student’s responses will be rated with strengths and weaknesses articulated in six domains, namely, Understanding of Theories, Integration of Theories, Interventions Guided by Integration, Diversity Factors, Empirical Research, and Professional Communications. This standardized process provides the faculty with information about each student’s levels of competency in integrating psychological science into clinical practice as the student begins the final year of practicum training and prepares to apply for internship.

DSKIE is a requirement for advancement to candidacy. Students must achieve a passing score (i.e., 3 ‘Sufficient Progress’ out of 5) in each domain of the DSKIE in order to pass. The DSKIE is offered twice each year (Spring and late Summer/early Fall), and students who fail it in the Spring will have an opportunity to retake it in late Summer/early Fall of the G3 year. Students who fail the DSKIE a third time will be referred to SERC to develop a remediation plan, and students who fail it a fourth time will be dismissed from the program.

2. Clinical Proficiency Progress Review (CPPR)

The Clinical Proficiency Progress Review (CPPR) is a standardized oral examination of students’ clinical skill that is administered in May of the G2 year and in August prior to the start of the G3 year.  Students are rated by two faculty members during an oral examination based on a written case report. Ratings are completed relative to the ‘Ready to Apply to Internship’ level with strengths and weaknesses articulated in six domains (Professional Communication, Assessment, Formulation, Intervention, Relationship and Self-Examination and Diversity Integration). This standardized process serves multiple functions within the program. Results from the CPPR provide the faculty with information about internship readiness and clinical competency as the student begins the final year of practicum training.

Students must achieve a passing score in each domain of the CPPR exam. Students who fail the May G2 CPPR exam, will have an opportunity to retake the exam in August at the beginning of the G3 year. CPPR Exams are offered each May and August. Students who fail the exam a third time will be required to attend case conceptualization training for an additional year to provide further opportunities to develop domain-specific skills. In addition, students who fail the exam a third time will be referred to SERC to develop a remediation plan. Students who fail the CPPR exam a fourth time will be dismissed from the program.

In addition to giving faculty enough information to complete meaningful global evaluations of students, these exams allow students the opportunity for greater self-awareness, assessment and academic planning.

Advancement to Candidacy


Students may not apply for internship until they have met all requirements noted below and have been advanced to candidacy. Requirements for advancement to candidacy include:

  1. In Good Academic Standing
  2. No outstanding tuition/fee balances
  3. Successful completion of 60 units of graduate study
  4. Completed the academic and practicum requirements for the first two years of the program
  5. Successful defense of the dissertation proposal at the Preliminary Oral Examination by September 15th of the third year
  6. Successful completion of the Discipline-Specific Knowledge integration exam (DSKIE)
  7. Successful completion of the Clinical Proficiency Progress Review (CPPR)
  8. A “Credit” grade for the spring semester practicum of the G2 year

Prerequisite Courses


Students applying to the program who were not undergraduate psychology majors must meet the prerequisite coursework requirements for preparation in the discipline. While an applicant may not have completed these undergraduate course requirements at the time of application, these requirements must be satisfied before the admitted student can enroll.

Emphasis/Concentration/Track Requirements


Curriculum Plan


The curriculum is designed as a series of sequential courses providing cumulative learning for students.

Cautions:

1. Students may not take more than 16 units in a semester without obtaining permission from their advisor. While taking a larger load may seem like a good idea initially, it often causes students to have too few units left at the end of their program to qualify for financial aid.

2. Students should not take courses out of sequence without consulting with their advisor as doing so may affect their ability to take later courses or qualify to register for practicum units when needed.

Note: First- and second- year coursework require enrollment for the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters.

Semester Calendar


Academic Year 1- Semester 3 (5 units)


Academic Year 3- Semester 1 (13 units)


Academic Year 4- Semester 1 (11 units)


Academic Year 4- Semester 2 (11 units)


Academic Year 4- Semester 3 (8 units)


Notes


^First year students attend a required, non-credit Professional Development seminar on a weekly basis during the fall and spring semesters of the G1 year. These meetings continue the facilitation of professional development with presentations on topics that include academic advisement and course selection, career-relevant activities such as preparing a CV, attending professional conferences, publishing and presenting research, applying for grants, defending dissertation proposals, plagiarism, etc.

*PSY65200 , PSY65230 PSY64500 , PSY65010 , PSY65050  and PSY65060  also require weekly participation in a one to two hour lab (scheduled separately).

First year students participate in a reciprocal learning experience with a third-year student, who has been assigned by the Supervision Seminar instructors. The first-year student meets with the faculty instructors of the Supervision Seminar class during the fall semester to accomplish the match of first- and third-year students. During the second semester, the matched supervisor-supervisee meet weekly to examine clinical material as an adjunct to the supervision provided by the first-year student’s field placement agency.

Online Course Limits: Several courses are offered online. Students may complete up to ten units of electives that meet program requirements in an online/distributed learning format. No other courses may be taken online.

Course Expectations: The Western Association of Schools and Colleges expects students to engage in at least three hours of work outside of the classroom for every hour they spend in the classroom. This means a faculty member has a right to expect students to engage in at least 12 hours of work per week for each 3-unit course. Students and faculty should also note that an outside assignment is required for all 1-unit courses in order to ensure compliance with WASC standards.

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