Graduate Practicum Placement Information
The Practicum Experience
The second year is largely devoted to their clinical practicum and/or their master’s thesis project, although students continue to come to campus to attend additional course work and participate in clinical and research supervision. Currently, students electing to do a practicum experience are required to train about 16 hours a week, typically two full days, at a forensic mental health program or institution. They receive clinical supervision on-site from a supervisor employed at the training placement who has entered into a training agreement with RWU.
Additionally, students return to campus for weekly small group (3 or 4 students) with a member of the psychology faculty at RWU. The practicum placements are provided by the graduate program, although students are supported in their efforts to secure a practicum placement on their own that better matches their professional interest.
Our students have successfully trained in the following practicum sites:
- Rhode Island Training School at Cranston
- Treatment Center for Sexually Dangerous Persons at Bridgewater
- University of Massachusetts Medical School (research)
- Juvenile Court Clinics in Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island
- Federal Correctional Institution at Devens in Ayer, MA
- Alpert Medical School at Brown University (research)
- South Bay Mental Health
- Arbour Counseling
- Day One, the Sexual Assault and Trauma Recovery Center