Practicum and Internship

Practical counseling experience occurs in your third year of study. Practicum occurs in the fall quarter of third year, and internship occurs in the subsequent winter, spring and summer quarters.

Practicum quarter requires a minimum of 100 clock hours, 40 of which are “direct hours” and 60 are “indirect hours”.  CACREP defines “direct” and “indirect” but generally speaking, a direct hour is time spent providing counseling; where an indirect hour is spent doing tasks that support counseling such as recordkeeping, attending supervision meetings, researching intervention strategies, etc.

The counseling programs have a dedicated Internship Coordinator who supports you as soon as you enter the program with discerning the right internship experience, including monthly workshops on how to research sites, prepare a counseling resume, prepare for interviews or initiate opportunities with new internship sites. The program has a robust system of resources and supports for the internship search process.

Clinical Mental Health Counseling students have found internships in a wide variety of organizations and environments. Most commonly students pursue site experience in community mental health agencies, inpatient treatment facilities, clinical counseling in school-based settings, private group practices and hospitals.

Most of our students end up pursuing internships in sites where students have worked before. However, we support the coordination of unique internship opportunities. Student internships are governed by regulations set forth by CACREP, Washington state administrative codes and program advisory councils.  In these cases, we will work in collaboration with students to explore how the unique internships can meet practical counseling experience requirements.

Yes, there are opportunities for paid internships. Though they are not the norm, paid internships are on the rise in an effort to establish equity in access to counseling education for all clinical counseling students.