Gwynedd Mercy University 2026-2027 University Catalog
Pre-practicum: Pre-practicum requirements are fulfilled in CNS 505: Foundations of Counseling. This course and the pre-practicum hours involved must be completed when applying for practicum. For more information about the pre-practicum experiences, please review the Practicum Handbook found on the student portal.
Practicum: The following courses are prerequisites for Practicum( CNS 513): CNS 501 Counseling Skills, CNS 505 Foundations of Counseling, CNS 540 Ethical and Legal Issues in Counseling, and CNS 537 Special Topics Residency. Since these courses are Core courses, students must earn a grade of“ B” or better in each in order to begin Practicum.
Practicum requires 100 hours of fieldwork over the course of 14 weeks( approximately 8 hours per week). Students must complete the full 100 hours at the practicum site with at least 40 hours of direct services with students / clients. The practicum course requires an hour and a half( 1.5) of synchronous group supervision weekly. This supervision is held during the evening hours. Students must attend this weekly class group supervision in order to pass the course. For more information about Practicum, please review the Practicum Handbook found on the student portal and on our program website.
Internship: Internship requires 600 hours of field work on site. At least 240 hours of the required fieldwork hours must be in direct service to clients / students. Each internship course requires an hour and a half of weekly synchronous group supervision, which is held during evening hours and is mandatory in order to pass the course. For more information about Internship, please review the Internship Handbook found on the student portal.
Students complete internship over the course of two semesters in Internship I( 300 hours) and Internship II( 300 hours). Students who anticipate a hardship with completing 300 hours in each internship course may petition during Practicum to complete 200 hours in each internship course and add a third internship course( Internship III, 200 hours) to the end of their program. This option will extend the length of the program and result in the student taking 3 credit hours in addition to the 60 required for the degree.
Post-graduate Clinical Mental Health Certificate students complete 200 hours of internship with at least 80 hours of direct service with clients. The internship course requires an hour and a half of weekly synchronous group supervision, which is held during evening hours and is mandatory in order to pass the course. For more information about Internship, please review the Internship Handbook found on the student portal.
Post-graduate PreK – 12 School Counseling Certification Program students follow the same fieldwork progression as degree students. However, instead of completing 600 hours of internship, they are required to complete 420 internship hours with at least 168 hours of direct service with students.
Field Placement Policies: Below is a list of some of the major field placement policies that students often have questions about. This is not an exhaustive list. For a full list of field placement expectations, policies and procedures please see the appropriate field placement handbook. These handbooks can be found on the student portal and on our program website.
• Both practicum and internship experiences must be in a setting applicable to the student’ s concentration of study under the supervision of an appropriate site supervisor with the proper
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