A. Internship Application/Learning Agreement -Before engaging in internship hours, interns must write, and receive approval from the Department Internship Coordinator, and complete the online Intern Application linked above. This document will ask for the following:
1. Course information: Semester you plan to do the internship, for how many credits, whether you have completed the Title IX Training for Students, the type of internship (University Sponsored or University Operated), the site supervisor’s phone number and job title, the site supervisor’s department, whether the site supervisor is a family member or student, whether the internship is paid or unpaid, start date, estimated end date, average hours per week, the Academic Internship Coordinator (Steve Barney), and internship job title. You will need to provide a job description, how often you will meet with your supervisor, and whether you have contacted the Academic Internship Supervisor. If the internship is also your regular job you will need to specify if you were previously employed, or hired on as an intern. You will be asked if you will be doing the internship on site or remotely. There will be a text box, please list the supervisor name, agency name, and whether you wish to enroll in PSY 4890 Internship or PSY 4891 Capstone Internship.
2. Next, you will develop three or four specific learning objectives. Each specific learning objective MUST include, (a) one intended outcome, (b) the plan by which to accomplish that outcome, and (c) a method for evaluating accomplishment of the intended outcome.
3. Next, you will need to acknowledge you have read and agree with the Internship Learning Agreement in its entirety.
4. Once you click submit, the form will appear in my Approval Cue. Once I read your learning objectives and approve, the form will go to your supervisor for their approval, then back to me for final vetting. Once I approve the form a second time, it will arrive at the Registrar’s Office and you will be enrolled in the course. You may begin internship work as soon as you are notified that you are enrolled in the course.
B. SUU Master Internship Agreement form. The SUU Master Internship Agreement form is a document that explains the roles and responsibilities each party involved in an internship have. The document is a formalized agreement between SUU, and the “provider”, the agency where the internship will take place. Before you begin any internship activities, the SUU Master Internship Agreement form must be completed, signed, and dated by the Provider and the University. The Agreement is in effect for 5 years. If your internship site does not have an agreement on file, they must review and sign before you can begin. The Academic Internship Coordinator works with the Internship Specialist at the SUU Career and Development Center to ensure the MIA is completed and curated correctly.
C. Internship Permission Form. The Internship Permission Form is a document that includes specific registration information for the course, including the course name, number and section, the course CRN, the number of credits, and information about the agency where the internship will take place. Once complete, return this form to the Department Internship Coordinator, who will file the form with the Registrar’s office via fax. This form is found within the Online SUU Internship Learning Agreement.
D. Field Placement Hours. Consistent with the university’s internship policy (
SUU Policy 6.3), the Psychology Department specifies a 45:1 ratio between clock hours and academic credit as the norm. The intern and internship coordinator will negotiate the actual ratio considering such factors as proportion of paid hours that are educational and difficulty level of the internship service.
Your supervisor will need to sign off on your hours at the end of the semester on the Field Supervisor Evaluation
.
E. Reflective Papers (All due dates are listed in Canvas). Students will write the following reflective papers, and submit through Canvas. Without prior approval, late work will not be accepted.
1. Four Week Check In:
1. Describe at least five differences between your role as a college student and your role as an
intern.
2. What was your transition from college student to Intern like? Were there unexpected challenges
or issues that took you by surprise?
3. Describe the supervision you are getting in your internship?
4. Explain how you are progressing on your outcome objectives that you created in your
Internship Objectives Plan?
5. From your observations and experiences, what are the main challenges faced by your intern
agency achieving their goals as outlined in their Mission Statement?
2. Midterm Report:
1. Describe progress on your Internship Learning Objectives?
2. Talk about what you yet lack in order to complete Internship Learning Objectives?
3. Discuss what changes you have made toward becoming more professional?
4. List and describe three specific skills you have developed in your role as an internship.
5. Give one instance in which you handled conflict in a productive and professional manner.
6. Give one instance in which you handled conflict in a less than ideal manner.
7. Outline your educational/occupational plan from this point forward.
Make the report about 4-8 pages in length.
3. Termination Assignment:
As you begin to wind down your internships, how you end your experience is almost important as how you conducted yourself during the semester. The process of ending a professional relationship is called "Termination". Successful termination leaves your clients, coworkers, supervisors, etc. empowered and enabled. Successful termination leaves you satisfied and confident in your abilities. Simply ending the internship with no transition amounts to "abandonment" and is strictly prohibited within the
APA Ethical Guidelines. Here are some tips for successful termination:
Discuss termination with your clients, coworkers, supervisors, etc. early on in the Internship.
Establish clear goals with your clients, coworkers, supervisors, etc. so that progress toward those goals can be recognized and completion of those goals is apparent.
Respect your client/agency's desire to terminate, but be confident in expressing concerns if you feel termination may be premature.
Keep your relationship professional and do not let it stray into the realm of friendship.
Allow clients/agencies to discuss feelings of loss surrounding termination and process your own feelings surrounding the process, as well.
Most Interns are not proficient at termination/ending relationships. For this assignment, I would like you to write a one-page paper outlining your tendencies and past history with ending professional relationships. The paper should contain three sections:
For this paper (this applies to all types of Internships), please address the following:
Section #1- Reflect on the type of termination tactics you most frequently employ. Do you tend to end things abruptly to avoid awkward interactions or sad feelings? Do you tend to hang on to these relationships, often times making promises of ongoing contact that you realistically cannot keep? Do you intentionally do something to make the person with whom you are terminating angry with you, so the termination is easier? Outline some of the unintended negative consequences to your traditional style.
Section #2- Talk about why professional termination might be difficult for you. Are you afraid of harming clients or others with whom you regularly interact? Are you doubtful of the impact you have had on your clients, supervisors, fellow researchers, etc.? Are you going to miss the interactions personally?
Section #3 -Include in your paper a plan for termination that is mutually beneficial for you and your clients, supervisors, research team members, students, etc.
*Students completing their Internship Hours in Summer Semester, but who are registered for credit Fall Semester, should complete these reflective assignments while they are doing the internship hours, and then submit them for credit during the Fall Semester.
F. Field Supervisor Evaluation. Unless extenuating circumstances allow for an exception, a favorable, written evaluation from the field placement supervisor is a condition for receiving a passing grade for internship. Students should prompt the Department Internship Coordinator to provide their supervisor with the form early enough to allow time for the supervisor to complete the form. Students should then review the evaluation with their supervisor(s). The student OR supervisor will then turn the form in to me either electronically, or in person at my office (GC 308-J).
G. Final Perspective Paper. For this five-page (minimum) assignment, divide your paper into four sections with four section headings and address the series of questions below.
1. Personal Experiences
· Comment on your experiences with this placement.
o What was your day-to-day work like?
o Was it better, worse or about the same of what you expected?
o What aspects of the placement have you enjoyed thus far? Was there anything that never got tiring?
o What aspects of the placement have you found more challenging? Was there anything that got tiring quickly?
2. Placement Evaluation
· Comment on the techniques, practices and philosophies being utilized at this agency.
o What is the mission statement? What are the primary techniques and approaches used at this agency?
o Does this agency do what it sets out to do (i.e., fulfill the aims of its mission statement)? Do these techniques work and why or why not?
o Anything else that is going well or could be improved?
o What potential ethical dilemmas could this agency encounter?
3. Professional and Personal Growth
· What new skills or ideas have you developed thus far as a professional?
· Based on your experience, where do you think you need to grow as a professional?
· How about personal growth? How have you grown as a person from your experiences thus far and/or what personal insights have you developed?
4. Career Path
· What is the impact this placement has had so far on your future career choices? How does this experience solidify your previous career assumptions or have they led you to consider different paths?
· How does this impact the population you would like to work with or the techniques you would like to use in the future?
H. Comprehensive Educational and Occupational Plan For this 7 to 10-page assignment; students devise a comprehensive occupational and/or educational plan that addresses the following topics. Due date will be on Canvas.
Undergraduate Education
· Review the process of your undergraduate education.
o What was/were your academic major(s)?
o What institution(s) did you choose for your education and why?
o What factors lead you to declare that/those major(s)?
o What courses did you find particularly formative for you?
o What extracurricular activities were meaningful to you personally and professionally?
o What lessons/principles have had the most impact on you? Be sure to include a listing of the most impactful classes you took, and what made them resonate with you.
Professional Training
· Review any formalized professional training you have had to this point.
o Include training you received while in school, before you attended school, or plan to receive immediately after your degree is complete
Graduate Education
· What graduate degree/program is required for you to fulfil your occupational goal?
o What schools offer the program?
o What are the admission requirements?
o What do you need to accomplish to make yourself a viable candidate?
Licensure
· Is there a national certification or state license required for you to perform these occupational duties?
o How does this impact the population you would like to work with or the techniques you would like to use in the future?
Occupational Goals
· What is the impact this placement has had so far on your future career choices? How does this experience solidify your previous career assumptions, or have they led you to consider different paths?
· How does this impact the population you would like to work with or the techniques you would like to use in the future?
I. Other Course Requirements
1. Discussion Assignments. Interns may be required to contribute ideas and thoughts to up to 4 on-line discussion topics, including a 4-week check in, a mid-internship assessment, a discussion on closure and transitions, and a wrap up discussion. There may be literature to read that guides the discussions. These discussion topics and written literature will be available on Canvas. Failure to respond to the discussions could lead to a non-passing grade.
2.Ethical Standards. Interns should familiarize themselves with and follow the most recent version of
Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conductpublished by the American Psychological Association. They should also take the initiative in clarifying any ambiguities, ethical conflicts, or questions.
3. Meetings with the Internship Coordinator.The field placement supervisor provides the ongoing supervision of the intern’s services. The internship coordinator (Dr. Barney) may check with the field placement supervisor during the internship, but does not provide direct supervision to the intern. Once the internship is structured, the internship coordinator and intern meet on an as-needed basis. At minimum, this is around the time of the mid-internship report and the final perspective paper due date.