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A. Mission and Philosophy

The Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology is a unit of the School of Human Service

Professions that is devoted to the mission of preparing students for careers in professional psychology.

As noted in the Bylaws of the Institute, “This purpose entails the development of knowledge, skills and

attitudes, the cultivation of ethical and legal decision-making, and the value of lifelong professional

development.” This mission is further articulated in the Institute’s model of training, which has been

adopted from the National Council of Schools and Programs in Professional Psychology (Peterson, R.

L., Peterson, D. R., Abrams, J. A. and Stricker, G. (1997). The National Council of School and

Programs of Professional Psychology Educational Model. Professional Psychology: Research and

Practice, 28(4), 373-386.). The Institute has developed a curriculum, a field placement program and

policies and procedures that serve this mission and support the training model. Many of the aspects of

the program are outlined in the graduate program catalogue of Widener University. This manual,

which supplements the Catalogue, provides essential information to you, the student, for successful

participation in, and eventual completion of, the doctoral or Respecialization program. Certain topics

are discussed in greater detail in other manuals. Among these are the Graduate Student Handbook, the

Manuals for Practicum and Internship Training, the Manual for the Third-Year Qualifying

Examination, Manual for the Concentration Areas, the Manual for the Clinical Dissertation for the

Doctor of Psychology Degree, and the Procedural Guidelines for the Final Clinical Oral Examination

in Psychology.

You are expected to be thoroughly familiar with all of the aforementioned training documents

(available in the Central Office) at the point when each becomes relevant to your

training. Such familiarity will greatly increase the likelihood of smooth passage through the

program and a fulfilling experience at Widener University. Conversely, failure to observe the rules

and regulations of the Institute will adversely affect your capacity to complete the program. Lack of

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knowledge of the policies and procedures, rules and regulations, contained in documents will not be

accepted as an adequate explanation for failure to fulfill or comply with program requirements.

B. Overview of Training

Training for the Doctor of Psychology degree extends over a five-year period. A hallmark

feature of the program is that field work occurs simultaneously with full-time course work during each

of the five years. The concurrence of academic and field components enables the integration of the

knowledge of theory and research with practical experience. In this section, the academic and field

components each will be described in turn.

The over-arching goal of this program is to train students to be excellent generalist professional

psychologists. In the service of this goal, the program embraces the Standards of Accreditation of the

American Psychological Association and the Educational Model of the National Council of Schools

and Programs of Professional Psychology (NCSPP). During the first three years of training, students

are presented with the scientific, theoretical, and methodological foundations of professional

psychology and are acculturated to the values of the profession. They are also exposed to the six areas

of competency which, according to the NCSPP model, comprehend the scope of contemporary

professional psychology: the relationship, diversity, assessment, intervention, supervision and

management, consultation and education, and research and evaluation. As students move along

through the program, particularly in the last two years, opportunities to pursue areas of special interest

exist. Students may formalize these pursuits through the selection of an area of concentration. This

selection will determine the set of courses that are taken in the latter years of training and your field

experiences. For a listing of all concentrations, please consult the Manual for the Concentration Areas

available in the Institute office.

During the first three years of training, students have practicum placements two days per week.

These experiences provide students with the formative opportunities to acquire many of the skills of

the professional psychologist. In the latter two years of training, students do the half-time (3 days per

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week typically) Widener internship. During the internship years, students hone their skills and learn to

use them in coordination with one another. They also learn new skills, particularly in the areas of

supervision and education.

Once students have begun their internships, they become a doctoral candidate. Achievement of

candidate status is by no means automatic. In the first semester of Year 3, each student is brought up

for review by the core faculty. Faculty members consider grades, practicum evaluations, and

demeanor in all relevant professional settings in which the student has functioned or is currently

functioning while in the program. At this point, the faculty may decide that the student may begin

internship in the following July pending the fulfillment of all academic requirements or that he or she

may not be permitted to do so. In some cases, the faculty may mandate additional practicum or

academic experiences prior to the achievement of candidacy. Prior to candidacy, the student must take

and pass the Third-Year Qualifying Examination given in June following the spring semester of the

third year. Only those students who have a grade of ‘C’ or higher in every course and who are not on

academic probation in the spring semester prior to the examination may sit for the examination.

OUTSTANDING INCOMPLETES must be eliminated by the end of the prior spring semester or the

student will not be permitted to sit for the examination. For further information, please read the

“Guidelines for the Qualifying Examination” available in the Central Office.

The dissertation is a major academic experience for acquiring the skills to understand and

critically evaluate research and to discover the means to answer the questions that arise in the course of

practice. The doctoral dissertation must be defended orally before the dissertation committee no earlier

than the fall semester of the fifth year. No student will be permitted to participate in the Final Clinical

Oral Examination in the spring semester of the fifth-year if he or she did not defend by December.

Refer to the Dissertation Manual for further information. Upon a successful defense, the student will

be scheduled for the Final Clinical Oral Examination. This examination will be scheduled at the

earliest during the spring semester of the fifth year. More information about this examination can be

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found in “Procedural Guidelines for the Final Clinical Oral Examination in Psychology” available in

the Central office.

Following successful completion of the final clinical oral examination, remaining coursework

and the internship, the student will be granted the doctoral degree.

C. The Advisement System

All members of the Core Faculty are available to help you in your progress through the

program. Faculty are available to serve as mentors, to assist you in making decisions about your

training, and to solve problems that arise in the course of training. At the beginning of your training,

you will be assigned a faculty advisor who will have a special responsibility in assisting you in

pursuing your training. Your advisor will monitor your academic and field placement performance.

Following each semester, your advisor will receive a copy of your grades for that semester. Your

advisor may be contacted by the Director, the Director of the Practicum and/or Internship Training, a

site supervisor, or a faculty member if you give signs of showing difficulty in the academic or field

placement settings. If significant problems arise, your advisor will meet with you to arrive at a better

understanding of the circumstances and to formulate possible solutions. You may also wish to contact

your advisor if you have concerns about the program. However, any faculty member, including the

Director, may be contacted about a problem or concern. See Section F for further discussion of how

the program addresses student difficulties.

Either a student, his or her advisor, or the Director may decide that a student is better served by

being assigned to another advisor. If a student wishes re-assignment, this request should be made of

the Director who will attempt to accommodate a student’s request for a particular advisor.

Other individuals among the faculty have special advisory responsibility. The Directors of

Practica and Internship Training monitor your experience in your rotations in years 1-3 and 4-5

respectively. The Directors are very knowledgeable about the settings and can be helpful working with

you to identify solutions to problems. It is often better to contact the director at an early point when a