PSY 398 is a regularly scheduled course that meets weekly in a classroom setting with other Psychology student interns and a course instructor. It mimics grad school training, facilitates the learning and practice of clinical skills in a group environment under the guidance of a course instructor, and provides a forum for students to learn from each other.
Process
Prerequisites: (1) min. GPA of 2.0 (2) completion of PSY 217 (3) intention to complete a placement in a clinical/counseling setting (this includes Developmental internships in, e.g., a school counseling setting) where there is substantial direct contact with individuals served at the placement and opportunities to observe and/or perform clinical- and/or counseling-related tasks.
- Enroll in PSY 398 on PAWS (as you do for all courses.)
- Find an internship that has a clinical or counseling focus where you have substantial direct contact with individuals who are served at the placement and you observe and/or perform clinical- and/or counseling-related tasks. (See “Find an Internship” below.)
- Follow instructions provided by your PSY 398 course instructor.
Find an Internship
There are a few ways students find internship placements:
- Review sites where TCNJ Psychology students have interned in the past to identify sites of interest to you.
- Visit the TCNJ Career Center’s College Enhancement Intern program webpage for potential on-campus internships.
- Check out the Community-Based Academic Internship program at TCNJ’s Center for Community Engaged Learning and Research.
- Look on Handshake, the online job network maintained by TCN Career Services.
- Search for opportunities on Linked In.
- Consider using your current job as your internship site if you are employed and are able to perform appropriate intern duties and receive regular supervision from another member of the organization.
If you have a site in mind but you are not sure if it is appropriate for course credit, discuss the possibility with your course instructor.
Things to keep in mind when searching for an internship placement:
- The internship site must provide an on-site supervisor and appropriate intern duties to fulfill the learning objectives for PSY 398. Students and potential site supervisors should discuss the TCNJ Internship requirements listed in the PSY 398 Letter to Internship Site Supervisor during an initial, exploratory conversation.
- Internship sites have varied application / on-boarding time and content requirements, including (for example) fingerprinting, background checks, and a TB test. This may impact when opportunities are available and the time it takes to confirm a position. Discuss specific timing and site requirements with your potential site supervisor early on.