Practicum placements are typically assigned for 12 months beginning the first week of July. Students are required to accrue a minimum of 500 clinical hours before applying for internship. Students are required to be trained in evidence-based assessments and interventions.
All students must complete their first practicum in the SDSU Psychology Clinic. This experience begins at the beginning of July between your first and second year in the program. Students can expect to spend around 15 hours a week in practica in the SDSU Psychology Clinic in the second year. That time will include direct service hours, supervision (both group and individual), and any didactic experiences the specific practicum may require. The experience is an intensive introduction to doing clinical work, with supervision by two different supervisors. Each student receives four hours of supervision a week, typically in 2 two-hour time slots, and an additional hour of didactic training designed to provide basic skills to the beginning therapist. Each time slot is shared with one or two other students. All sessions in the SDSU Psychology Clinic are recorded, and sessions are reviewed with supervisors in detail. Students typically see two clients with each supervisor. Each student also will complete psychological assessments and prepare integrated psychological reports during the SDSU Psychology Clinic practicum year.
Advanced graduate students enrolled in the third year and beyond of the training program complete advanced practica at sites affiliated with the JDP including SDSU, UC San Diego, the Jennifer Moreno Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and Rady Children’s Hospital. Students can expect to spend around 10 hours a week in advanced practica. That time will include direct service hours, supervision (both group and individual), and any didactic experiences the specific practicum may require. Students in advanced practica can expect to receive high quality practicum training that will be geared to your specific level of skills and experience. Guidelines for Advanced Practica for students and supervisors can be found below.
JDP Guidelines for Advanced Practicum
Selecting Practicum Sites
The selection of advanced clinical practica is a multi-step process that involves Guidance Committee approval.
General Information: Students are required to complete clinical practica in their major area of study across advanced years. Students entering their 3rd year are required to rank at least 5 practicum preferences; students entering their 4th year and above are to rank at least 3 practicum preferences.
Requirement of Guidance Committee Approval: Potential practicum sites must be thoroughly discussed with and approved by your Guidance Committee. It is never too early to begin to plan for practica over the course of your time in the JDP, in part because some sites are very popular and you may not be placed at your desired site the first time you request it. You and your Guidance Committee should be planning 2-3 years in the future so that you have a clear idea of what experiences you intend to receive while in the program. While the specific practicum choices may change from year to year, in general you should be able to identify the types of patients, presenting conditions, and the range of clinical services that are relevant to your training that you want to experience while in the program. Guidance Committee members can also help students ensure that their proposed clinical practica are in their major area of study.
Process for Guidance Committee Approval: Students will use a standardized email template to communicate their practicum rankings to their Guidance Committee for approval. Please send an email to your guidance committee using the outlined email format below.
- To: Guidance Committee Members
- Subject: Approval of Advanced Practicum Rankings
- Email Body: Please find my proposed advanced practicum rankings for Guidance Committee approval. Below please find my responses to the required questions for review and approval by the Guidance Committee.
- What is your track?
- What previous advanced practicum placements have you completed? (Please list all)
- What are your proposed advanced practicum rankings for this year?
- Are your proposed advanced practicum rankings relevant to your track?
- If not, please explain
Role of the Practicum Committee: The assignment of students to practicum sites is done by the Practicum Committee. This committee considers information about a student’s progress in prior practica, the rank ordered list of desired sites, and the requirements of various practicum sites. The Practicum Committee makes final decisions about placements in practica each year.
List of Available Practicum Sites: Practica options for the current academic year can be found below and will be updated annually.
List of Advanced Practicum Sites Available for 2025-2026
Last updated 3/25/2025