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There is a possibility that students doing the 503 assessment practicum may be able to do half of this practicum (60 client direct hours) at an external site. Whether or not this is possible depends on a number of factors including:

• availability of spaces at an external 503 half practicum
• completion of the necessary 503 hours at the clinic practicum in time to apply for the half practicum
• size of the current 503 practicum cohort

Availability

There are several sites that have offered a mini-practicum assessment experience, including Saanich Child and Youth ºìÐÓÊÓƵ Health and Youth Forensics.

A site can typically take 1-2 students per year. These spots typically are available in September/October. As there may be more students interested in this option than there are spots, typically a deadline is set each year (date(s) vary each year) and sufficient student(s) are selected from this application pool.

As typically all students applying are strong candidates, this selection is often done on a random basis (coin toss or hat draw).

Application

Use the practicum application form and approval external practicum form <need to link to forms>. The first form must be signed by your research supervisor (and clinical advisor if applicable).

The second form must be signed by the head supervisor for the clinic 503 practicum or the Psychology Clinic director.

Submit these forms to the Psychology Clinic director (psychclinicdirector@uvic.ca) who will share it with the practicum placement coordinator. Together they will make the decision about the placement. The deadline for applying is typically July 1. 

Completion

Students cannot start the external half 503 practicum until they have completed their clinic half 503 assessment practicum (60 hours direct client contact, minimum of 4 assessments).

They will only be able apply for the external half practicum if they have completed sufficient direct client hours/assessments by the application deadline in order for it to be clear they will be done on time.

Specifically, they must complete 3 assessments (reports completed, signed and on file) and have at least 1 day of testing done on their fourth assessment. They should have at least 45 direct client contact hours at this time.

Please also note that it is not possible to begin a 505 placement until the 503 practicum is complete (even if the 505 placement takes place at the same site as the 503 placement).

Cohort size

We need to maintain a sufficient number of students in the 503 practicum so that we are able to complete sufficient assessments to meet our contractual agreement with the Ministry of Children and Families. As a result, the size of the cohort of students impacts the number of students able to go to a half 503 assessment practicum.

The rough guide for numbers is as follows: