Gwynedd Mercy University
AY2023-2024 Graduate Academic Catalog
Counseling and CNS 527 Social Justice , Multicultural and Diversity Issues in Counseling ( and in preparing application materials for practicum ). These courses 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 520 Theories in Counseling . 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 15 weeks ( approximately 7 hours per week ). Students must complete the full 100 hours at the practicum site . Forty percent of these onsite hours must be directly working 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 .
Internship : Internship requires 600 + hours of field work on site . School concentration students must obtain a total of 620 hours of field work experience to fulfill the internship requirements for certification ( see Field Placement Policies " below ). Forty percent 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 of the student portal .
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 .
• 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 license / certification .
• No two field placements can be taken at the same time . The student must complete practicum and internship experiences separately . No field experience can start before the Practicum / Internship course begins . No field experience can end before the Practicum / Internship course ends and no Field Experience can continue after the Practicum / Internship course ends .
School Counseling concentration students :
• Cannot complete Practicum and Internship field experience during the summer .
• Must complete Practicum and Internship field experience during the PreK-12 school day when PreK- 12 school is in session .
• Must be supervised on site by a certified school counselor with three years of school counseling experience who is currently employed as a school counselor .
Clinical Mental Health concentration students are permitted to complete their field experiences during the summer .
• Students in the post-graduate Clinical Mental Health Certificate program must complete their 200 hour internship in a clinical mental health setting .
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