Practicum Training

Students in the Clinical program who wish to be recommended by the Yale faculty for licensing for practice in psychology are expected to obtain at least eight semesters of supervised practicum training in assessment, intervention, and evaluation. Such training can be obtained partly through full-time internships and partly through practicum courses of more limited scope offered in the Yale Psychology Department Clinic (YPDC) and affiliated clinics in the broader Yale New-Haven community (for example, the Child Study Center, the Connecticut Mental Health Center, Yale-New Haven Psychiatry Hospital, the Yale Neurology Department, West Haven Department of Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center, and various other school and community agency or hospital settings in close proximity to the Psychology Department). Supervised experience is available in evidence- based assessment and psychotherapy with individuals, couples, families, and groups. 

The Department encourages students to obtain course-based and research training in subfields other than their home program. As such, students in other areas may enroll in clinical courses, although they are not able to enroll in clinical practica. If, however, a student desires to transfer formally into the Clinical program for the purpose of obtaining sufficient training in order to be recommended by the Director of Clinical Training for a predoctoral clinical psychology internship and, ultimately, to be eligible to sit for a state licensure examination, that student must submit a new standard application for admission to the Department by the annual deadline (Dec. 1st) and be considered for admission along with all new applicants to the Clinical program. Only in the most unusual circumstances would students enrolled in a program within the Department be permitted to transfer formally into the Clinical program. 

As noted earlier, the particular strengths of this department lie in its research activities, and our graduate training is oriented toward research. Students seeking to become qualified in clinical psychology primarily for practice will not find this department optimally suited to their training goals. Clinical training of high quality is provided in this research atmosphere.