Curriculum

Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology Course Sequence

The Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.) program includes coursework, a training practicum, an internship, and a doctoral dissertation. Students should take courses in the proper sequence to satisfy prerequisites for advanced courses and to prepare for practicum placements. Courses marked with an asterik (*) must be complete before beginning the practicum.

Elective Menu for the Psy.D. Program:

Basic Intervention Electives consist of any of the following:

• 334 Psychodynamic Approaches to Intervention
• 335 Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches to Intervention
• 336 Humanistic/Existential Approaches to Intervention
• 337 Group Psychotherapy
• 338 Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
• 339 Biofeedback
• 662 Overview of Marriage and Family Therapy Models
• 663 Effective Marriage and Family Therapy
• 725 Neurological Intervention Techniques
• 840 Torture Survivor Well-Being: Theory and Foundation for Community Based Advocacy

Advanced Assessment/Intervention Electives consist of any of the following:

• 517 Advanced Lifestyle Assessment
• 524 Advanced Adlerian Interventions and Theory
• 652 Life Cycle and Cultural Issues in Marriage and Family Therapy
• 655 Advanced Couples Counseling
• 683 Advanced Child and Adolescent Assessment
• 685 Child and Adolescent Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
• 701 Advanced Psychodynamic Approaches to Intervention
• 702 Advanced Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches to Intervention
• 703 Advanced Humanistic/Existential Approaches to Intervention
• 704 Advanced Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
• 705 Eye Movement Desensitization and Reintegration
• 706 Trauma-Focused Approaches to Intervention
• 707 Advanced Group Psychotherapy
• 710 Theories and Techniques of Clinical Hypnosis I
• 720 Beginning Neuropsychological Assessment
• 732 Advanced Personality Assessment: Special Topics
• 822 Death, Dying, Bereavement, and Loss-Focused Approaches to Intervention
• 841 Torture Survivor Well-Being: Community-Based Advocacy
• In addition, any Intervention and/or Assessment course from the concentrations

Advanced Diversity Electives consist of any of the following:

• 672 Race, Ethnicity and Social Class
• 673 Gender and Sexual Identity in Clinical Practice
• 674 Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues Across the Lifespan
• 677 Advanced Issues in Religion and Spirituality-Theory and Therapy
• 679 Counseling Multicultural and Marginalized Communities
• 870 International Immersion in Cross Cultural Studies
• 871 International Consultation on Women's Issues
• 873 Special Topics in Diversity

Practicum

An integral part of the doctoral program is supervised field placements. Ongoing involvement in clinical activities at professional training sites, including Adler Community Health Services, provides an opportunity to apply and further develop the knowledge, skills, values, and competencies gained in coursework.

In your first year, the Community Service Practicum focuses on developing skills for community-based interventions, advocacy, social justice, and systemic interventions that benefit human welfare and well-being. You’ll spend eight to ten hours per week over the course of six months at an approved site while concurrently enrolled in required coursework. A minimum of 200 clock hours of practicums is required.

In your second and third years, expect to spend at least two days per week over the course of at least nine months at an approved clinical practicum site while concurrently enrolled in practicum seminars throughout their field training. A minimum total of 1,500 clock hours of Clinical Practicums is required. You may elect to complete an advanced practicum during your fourth year of study to obtain additional specialized or in-depth training to strengthen your learning experience. Advanced practicum students must complete a minimum of 600 clock hours of practicum over the course of at least nine months at an approved practicum site while concurrently enrolled in practicum seminars throughout the training year.

The following courses must be taken prior to or concurrently with Community Service Practicum I and II:

• Community Psychology (350)
• Professional Development, Issues and Ethics (505)
• Introduction to Adlerian Psychology and Psychopathology (402)
• Social Psychology and Individual Differences (641)

The Director of Doctoral Training and Director of Community Engagement will work with you to identify and approve clinical experiences. Because the focus is on integrating doctoral-level education with licensed doctoral-level supervised clinical training, the Adler School does not grant transfer credit for practicum credits earned elsewhere or in a previously completed Adler M.A. program. Students must successfully complete course prerequisites prior to being approved to begin their first practicum. Please refer to the Practicum Handbook for detailed information.

Internship

An important portion of the Psy.D. program is devoted to a 2,000 clock hour internship at an approved site over a 12-month (full-time) or 24-month (half-time) period. The internship provides intensive advanced clinical training that builds upon course work, practicum experiences, and clinical supervision.

The Director of Doctoral Training works closely with students to assess readiness to apply for, accept, and begin an internship, and to identify appropriate internship sites. All students are required to participate in the APPIC Match process for internship placement. Students must successfully complete all doctoral program requirements prior to beginning an internship.

Because the internship is an essential component of the Psy.D. program, it can never be waived. Students who do not successfully complete the internship are subject to dismissal from the school.

Doctoral Dissertation

The Doctoral Dissertation is the culmination of students' academic experience and clinical training. Students may identify an interest, conduct preliminary work in the area of interest, and consult with faculty regarding a possible topic at any time during the program and are encouraged to do so as early as possible.

Course 696 Doctoral Dissertation Preparation Seminar is a required non-credit course that provides assistance to students in understanding the dissertation process and developing a dissertation topic. Students must successfully complete the Community Service Capstone Paper, the Research Methods course, the Statistics course, and course 696 before registering for the Dissertation Proposal and formally beginning work on the dissertation.

Students may select a dissertation topic of historical, theoretical, clinical, social, or philosophical interest that will make a contribution to the field of clinical psychology. While students typically choose to undertake an empirically-based dissertation, they are permitted to do a clinical case study or theoretically-based dissertation that satisfies the requirements of scholarship and rigor with the approval of their faculty chairperson.

One of the most important phases in preparation of the dissertation is writing the dissertation proposal. Registration for Course 697, Doctoral Dissertation Proposal (1 credit hour), is the first formal step. Students are expected to complete a proposal to the satisfaction of their dissertation committee and to pass an oral defense of the proposal. If the proposal is not completed and defended during the term of registration in Course 697, students must register for Course 695 Doctoral Dissertation Proposal-Continued in subsequent term(s) for 0 credit hours and pay the required fee. Students have three terms (one year) from initial registration for Course 697 to complete the dissertation proposal. Failure to produce an approved proposal within one year will result in referral to the Student Comprehensive Evaluation Committee. The completion of the Doctoral Dissertation Proposal is a requirement for students prior to initiating the process of applying for internship. Students applying for internship are expected to make adequate progress on their dissertation.

Completion of the Doctoral Dissertation and Oral Defense requires students to demonstrate the ability to evaluate, synthesize, integrate, and apply relevant psychological research and practice culminating in a scholarly paper of publishable quality. Although the Oral Defense is focused on the Doctoral Dissertation, it may include areas such as research theory and design, professional psychology, clinical knowledge, and other psychology-related topics and issues.

Dissertation students must meet requirements specified in the edition of the Dissertation Handbook that is current at the time they are registered for Course 697. The School reserves the right to require students to meet any new dissertation requirements when students take longer than two years from the time of registration in Course 697 to complete the dissertation.

Students must register for Doctoral Dissertation (Course 901) within three consecutive terms after approval of their dissertation proposal or in any term in which they are actively working on their dissertation with their committee members. Once students register for dissertation, they must continue registering for three consecutive terms (901, 902, 903). Students completing their internship may be waived of this requirement with the permission of their dissertation chairperson and the Director of Training and Community Service. Such permission will only be granted if the student is not actively engaged in working on their dissertation with the chair and/or any member of their dissertation committee. In those instances where permission is granted, students must register for a total of three terms of dissertation. Students who have failed to complete their dissertation after registering for three terms are required to register for 065 Doctoral Dissertation Continuation until they are approved for the Oral Defense.

Students receive a grade of In Progress (IP) for any term in which they are making satisfactory progress on their dissertation and a grade of No Progress (NP) when they are failing to complete the project in a timely manner. Any student who has received three consecutive grades of NP for either Dissertation Proposal or Dissertation will be automatically referred to the Student Comprehensive Evaluation Committee for review. When a student satisfactorily completes the dissertation proposal or dissertation, a grade of Credit (CR) will be issued and all prior grades of NP and IP will be changed to Credit. Failure to complete the dissertation within two years of completing the internship may result in administrative dismissal from the Psy.D. program.