Psychology Internship Capstone is a culminating and integrative experience that provides students with the opportunity to receive academic credit for supervised, professional-level service and work experience. To qualify as a Capstone experience, students are required to complete at least three (3) credit hours of internship in a single agency or organization. To be eligible for a Capstone Internship, students must have successfully completed 90 hours of coursework toward their degree with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 and have completed 24 hours of psychology courses beyond PSY 1010 to enroll. Up to 6 credit hours count toward the total number of credits needed for the major or minor in psychology. (Fall, Spring, Summer) [Pass/Fail]

Psychology Internship Capstone is a culminating and integrative experience that provides students with the opportunity to receive academic credit for supervised, professional-level service and work experience. To qualify as a Capstone experience, students are required to complete at least three credit hours (but may earn up to 12) of internship in a single agency or organization. Three PSY 4891 Credits may count as Capstone hours; the remainder will count as University upper division elective credits. Unless prior approval is given, students who have previously completed an Internship (PSY 4890) must do their Capstone Internship (PSY 4891) in a different site.

Assignments for the Capstone Internship

To qualify for internship, all students must complete the course and annual .

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:

• Next, you will develop 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.
• Next, you will need to acknowledge you have read and agree with the Internship Learning Agreement in its entirety.
• 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.

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.

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.

Field Placement Hours

Consistent with the university’s internship policy (), 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.

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.

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?

Midterm Report

• Describe progress on your Internship Learning Objectives?
• Talk about what you yet lack in order to complete Internship Learning Objectives?
• Discuss what changes you have made toward becoming more professional?
• List and describe three specific skills you have developed in your role as an internship.
• Give one instance in which you handled conflict in a productive and professional manner.
• Give one instance in which you handled conflict in a less than ideal manner.
• Outline your educational/occupational plan from this point forward.
• Make the report about 4-8 pages in length.

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 . 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.

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).

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.

Personal Experiences

• Comment on your experiences with this placement.
• What was your day-to-day work like?
• Was it better, worse or about the same of what you expected?
• What aspects of the placement have you enjoyed thus far? Was there anything that never got tiring?
• What aspects of the placement have you found more challenging? Was there anything that got tiring quickly?

Placement Evaluation

• Comment on the techniques, practices and philosophies being utilized at this agency.
• What is the mission statement? What are the primary techniques and approaches used at this agency?
• 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?
• Anything else that is going well or could be improved?
• What potential ethical dilemmas could this agency encounter?

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?

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?

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.
• What was/were your academic major(s)?
• What institution(s) did you choose for your education and why?
• What factors lead you to declare that/those major(s)?
• What courses did you find particularly formative for you?
• What extracurricular activities were meaningful to you personally and professionally?
• 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.
• 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?
• What schools offer the program?
• What are the admission requirements?
• 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?
• 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?

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.

Ethical Standards

Interns should familiarize themselves with and follow the most recent version of published by the American Psychological Association. They should also take the initiative in clarifying any ambiguities, ethical conflicts, or questions.

Meetings with the Internship Coordinator

The field placement supervisor provides the ongoing supervision of the intern’s services. 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.

Grading and Academic Credit

By Southern Utah University policy, grading for the internship is on a pass-fail basis. Students who responsibly fulfill the requirements listed above receive “P” grades. (The “P” grade does not affect a student’s grade point average.) Internship credits beyond the maximum number allowed by the department toward a major or minor in psychology fulfill general upper division credit requirements.

Waiver of Liability and Legal Clearances

Real-world learning, as compared to classroom instruction, increases exposure to potential harm. Thus, the University requires that interns sign a Waiver of Liability form.

Some agencies, especially those serving minors and vulnerable adults, require a criminal background investigation (CBI) clearance for staff, volunteers, and interns. Such background checks typically take from one to four months, depending on the number of states in which a student has lived. Students wishing to do a placement in an agency requiring a CBI should submit their applications well in advance of the beginning date of the internship.

Without prior approval, late work will not be accepted.

At present this course has a $4.00 per credit HSS Fee and an $8.00 per credit Technology Fee for online courses. Concerns about these fees should be communicated to academic administrators (Department Chair, College Dean, Provost).

Note: Some agencies require you to undergo fingerprinting and a Federal Criminal History background check. The fingerprinting fee is $10.00 and can be done at the University Police (T, 2:30-5:00 W 2:00-5:00 p.m., by appointment only) or through the Iron County Sheriff’s Office (Call 435-867-7500 to make arrangements, appointments are on T,W, Th Mornings). The Federal Background Check has an added cost, and must be arranged by the agency.

What is an Internship?

An internship is a specialized applied learning experience with an intentional and structured learning agenda incorporated into pre-professional work activities in a way that mutually benefits the student-intern and the agency or placement site. Student interns have gleaned, from their academic experiences, foundational knowledge and skills that they can contribute to the work setting. Internship placement sites provide students with a list of expectations, duties, and performance goals, along with consistent supervision with feedback about their performance.

Types of Internships

Applied/Professional. This category includes placements in human service agencies, clinical settings, educational institutions, industrial/organizational settings, sports and health psychology programs, forensic, psychology consultation services, human resources and personnel offices. Applied/Professional Internships encompass applications of psychological principles in myriad different settings.

Research. The Psychology Department’s independent research courses normally provide the opportunities and credits for student research projects. Occasionally, students who have completed research projects under the structure of those courses may desire to conduct, and receive credit for, additional research. When this occurs, students can take internship as a means of receiving credit for their additional research work. Students may also wish to serve as research assistants for department faculty or join in a group research project. Internship provides the credit-granting instrument for this type of educational and service experience as well.

Teaching. Internship can also serve as a structure for granting academic credit to students who serve/work as teaching assistants.

Academic Prerequisites

As per , B-1, Student wishing to complete the Internship Capstone, must have completed (with a C or better) 90 hours of coursework, including 24 credit hours of psychology coursework (beyond PSY 1010) and successful completion (C or better) of relevant prerequisite courses, including PSY 3800 for Applied/Professional Internships, PSY 3410 and 3415 for Research Internships, and other specific courses for Teaching Internships. All students must meet with, and obtain permission from the Academic Internship Coordinator for the Psychology Department prior to enrolling in the internship course.

Internship Sites

With more than 80 established field placement sites, placement approval is automatic for most students. To view the established sites, go to and then click successively on Academics, College of Humanities & Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Practicum/Internships.

Agency Requirements

The requirements summarized in this syllabus represent academic expectations. Host agencies may impose their own requirements. Before agreeing to a placement, students should inquire regarding agency expectations.

Psychology Department Mental Health Statement

The Southern Utah University Psychology Department values our students irrespective of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, culture, religion, nationality, capabilities, or disabilities. Our faculty and staff are committed to the intellectual, physical, and emotional health of all members of the campus community. Should anyone experience problems or issues with depression, anxiety, grief, discrimination, alienation or marginalization, helplessness or hopelessness, or thoughts of suicide, we implore you to seek us out. Our commitment is to listen, and help you find the resources you need.