News Stories

In their final year, Santa Clara University (SCU) Counseling Psychology (CPSY) students begin a 10-month practicum program, designed for students to get first-hand experience and training in the field before they graduate. This academic year, a new practicum at SCU’s in-house Center for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) broke ground, facilitating a unique opportunity for CPSY students to support fellow Broncos while garnering valuable experience working with young people in a crucial developmental stage of their lives. 

What Is the Practicum?

While the CAPS practicum is in its first year, the MFT/LPCC practicum has been a requirement for CPSY graduates since the degree program’s inception. “Scary and exciting all at the same time, practicum is the combination of all of your coursework and foundation work into practice. It is the chance for a trainee to start to develop themselves as a clinician and work with the client in a therapeutic space,” says Jean Riney-Niewiadomski, Practicum Coordinator for the CPSY department.

During the practicum, students work with real clients while being coached by clinical professionals who are modeling what it looks like to provide effective therapy. “It’s a wonderful thing that’s required of the graduate program,” says Bich Nguyen-Hamilton, SCU CPSY graduate, CAPS MFT Training Director, and practicum administrator. “As a trainee, I was able to  apply the theoretical knowledge gained from academic classes into the practice of providing  therapy for clients. It was a formative experience and the first step of my 24 years vocation as a therapist.”

College is often when people receive their first exposure to mental health care – a time period marked by overwhelming self-discovery in regards to entering adulthood, vocation, and interpersonal relationships. This makes it even more important that licensed therapists in these spaces are able to learn how to provide effective therapy before stepping into these roles. 

The Collaboration

Beginning in September and wrapping up in June, the CAPS practicum is structured as a paid, part-time position with trainees working with up to 10 clients each week, following 80 hours of orientation training. In addition to providing ongoing therapy for clients, students are trained to provide crisis assessment and interventions, create clinical documentations, conduct intake assessments, and collaborate with the multidisciplinary clinical team. Work days can include anything from client time to case management, ongoing training, and meetings with CAPS staff. Trainees are also invited to join CAPS’ outreach efforts to promote mental health and CAPS services.  

“The practicum is designed to be a learning and serving adventure. We are intentional about cultivating a supportive and challenging practice environment that accepts, expects, and anticipates that mistakes are a part of learning. Our practicum provides trainees with coaching and modeling of the essential skills of reflective practice, making repairs, adjustments, and integrating clients’ feedback into practice.” says Nguyen-Hamilton. “I have learned from over two decades of clinical practice that the best way to ensure quality, effective mental health services for clients is for therapists to adopt a mindset of being lifelong learners. Practicing is the most effective way to develop competencies and skills, and it is a vulnerable way to learn. CAPS’ training team collaborates with trainees to cultivate a safe space for practicing, which results in life-giving personal and professional growth.”

By Broncos, For Broncos

While the collaboration presents clear education and professional development benefits for CPSY students, it was also created with client benefits in mind as well. 

“CAPS therapists provide support, tools, and resources so clients can achieve their goals – whether it’s managing stress, navigating interpersonal dynamics, or identity development,” says Nguyen-Hamilton. “Trainees, who are students themselves, can be more approachable and make it easier for clients to establish the therapeutic alliance that is essential to effective therapy.”

Adding trainees to the team also means CAPS is able to serve more students, which is an exciting prospect for Vice Provost of Student Life Jeanne Rosenberger: “The addition of three MFT trainees in CAPS has surpassed my expectations. In addition to serving clients through individual and group work, the trainees have allowed CAPS to expand outreach to a larger and more diverse campus audience. The MFTs have provided important workshop topics such as processing grief and trauma, supporting life skills development, managing stress and cultivating healthy relationships – all that have benefited our student community.”

This partnership between CAPS and The School of Education & Counseling Psychology (ECP) serves to support the SCU student body and educate the next generation of therapists simultaneously, and ECP Dean Sabrina Zirkel is glad to see the collaboration propel the school’s mission of expanding access to mental health care: “Our counseling psychology students are well prepared for this work and are in high demand among the schools, agencies and clinics in our region. We are so thrilled to partner with CAPS to make these same trainees available to support students at Santa Clara University, and to expand access to support the well-being of our SCU students. Currently a donor-funded initiative, we are so grateful to those who have made this partnership possible and look forward to growing the program in the years to come.”