Clinical Placement 1

This subject is not offered in 2014.

356 hours

Enrolment in one of the following Psychology professional training programs, 527CL, 527CN, 080CL, 080CN or MC-PSYCHCS

Completion of APAC approved psychology studies to fourth-year (Honours) level.

None

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements, Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This 50 day placement has three components:

(i) a placement deemed equivalent to 47 days at the University of Melbourne Psychology Clinic, and at the Royal Children’s Hospital;

(ii) attendance at 3 clinical training workshops and

(iii) participation in Clinical Case Conference held weekly during the teaching period as instructed by the Stream Convenor.

(i)Psychology Department Clinic Placement:

Students are required to complete 47 days placement in the University of Melbourne Psychology Clinic at Blackwood Street, North Melbourne and at the Royal Children’s Hospital. The placement will combine patient contact, supervision and the optional delivery of training. Over the 47 days, students are required to complete 17.5 hours) of psychological assessments and to accrue a further 100 hours of face-to-face contact with patients (assessment and ongoing treatment of adults and children with patients. 20 hours of assessment and treatment of children are undertaken at the Royal Children’s Hospital. Overall students will carry out about 80 hours of psychological treatment. Most of these hours will be spent providing individual treatment, although there may also be scope for family or group treatment. Weekly individual supervision will be augmented with fortnightly group supervision.

(ii) Supervisors for the Clinic placements will be registered as both psychologists and supervisors with the Psychologists Registration Board of Victoria. In most cases they will also be a member (or eligible for membership) of the College of Clinical Psychologists of the Australian Psychological Society. b. To support the development of clinical psychology treatment skills and to provide training in a broad range of treatment models and interventions, students are required to attend 3 full day clinical workshops. The topics of the workshops are Mindfulness in Clinical Practice, Motivational Interviewing and Grief Therapy. The workshops are presented by experienced clinical psychologists with recognized expertise in the area in focus. As the workshops are focused on the development of specialist intervention skills, workshop content includes training DVDs, case studies, modeling and role playing of core interventions, and consumer involvement.

(iii) Clinical Case Conference (Co-ordinator: Dr Lisa Phillips). There are two major purposes for the clinical case conference.

The first is to provide the opportunity (structure, feedback) for students to gain skills in presenting case material in an effective, professional manner, with emphases on the following:

• Selection of material (clinical content and focus of presentation)
• Organisation of the material (format; use of overheads, etc)
• Personal presentation skills
• Physical environment
• Timing of presentations
• Evaluation/feedback

The second is to provide the opportunity for students to discuss selected clinical issues in a large group format, with emphases on the following:

• Focus/purpose for formal case presentations
• integration of clinical and research material within scientist-practitioner framework of professional practice.
• Discussion of broad professional and ethical issues
• Implementation of professional skills

The subject aims to provide the students with further opportunities to experience a range of clinical presentations across the life span and to begin functioning as a clinical psychologist, under the supervision of a field supervisor. Students will receive further experience in history taking, conducting a mental state examination, arriving at a case formulation and making treatment plans. Under supervision, students will be given the opportunity to develop competency in the provision of psychological treatments to individuals and (where appropriate) groups. In addition, the subject aims to give the student experience of professional psychology practice, including professional presentation, report writing and record keeping, managing a clinical caseload, and liaison with other professional practitioners.

1. A hurdle requirement of

(i) attendance at placement for 8.0 hours per day for at least two days per week over about 25 weeks;

(ii) satisfactory attendance at case conference (2 hour sessions scheduled fortnightly in teaching semester);

(iii) attendance at 3 full day workshops; so that the placement period shall not be less than 400 hours in total.

2. Completion of placement goals assessed on a pass/fail basis. The assessment is undertaken by the Placement Coordinator, in consultation with the supervising clinician, on the basis of satisfactory attainment of placement goals following APAC accreditation placement standards. Placement goals are as follows: Experience in the administration and interpretation of a range of psychological assessment strategies and the writing of psychological reports; understanding of typical courses and prognoses of disorders, and capacity to develop appropriate treatment and management plans; experience with a variety of intervention strategies, which may include case management, individual therapy, family therapy and/or group interventions, and to be capable of evaluating those interventions; experience in functioning as an independent clinical psychologist within the facility, although closely supervised by field supervisors.

None

None

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

This placement subject is designed to promote an in-depth understanding of specialist practice, to expand the range of ways in which learning occurs; to develop a capacity to work collaboratively, to confront and manage unfamiliar problems, to value different cultures, and to develop a high regard for human rights, ethics and equity.