Doctoral Psychology Practicum

Overview

Description

We will be accepting applications for our next Practicum starting in either August 2025. Practica run for either 10 months, depending on students’ needs and academic program requirements. Though not required, year-long placements are preferred in order to assure clients the highest level of continuity between trainees. The Clinic offers a doctoral-level psychological assessment practicum placement.

Although the clinic serves clients throughout the lifespan, practicum students are able to focus on the client population that best suits their learning goals.

Practicum students work within the psychological services program and outpatient psychological services program. As such, students may expect to provide psychological testing to children, families, and adults who may identify from various cultural contexts, including racial minorities, gender/sexual minorities, socioeconomic status, and/or indigenous heritage. A typical workday will consist of provision of psychological testing services. Additionally practicum students will participate in case consultation, documentation, and individual supervision.

Practicum students will have access to their supervisors and other staff located at the clinic to benefit their learning throughout the workday. Students may be expected to complete normal documentation as part of their learning experience, which may include Psychological Testing Batteries, Diagnostic Assessments, Treatment Plans, Progress Notes, and Discharge Summaries. Students are expected to deepen their learning to focus on second-order change and to think beyond immediate interventions, which allows for further awareness of systemic influences on psychological services.

For the assessment practicum experience, students will be expected to be on-site at the Wayzata clinic location. Student time will be spent in administration/scoring, supervision, didactic training/case consultation, and report writing. The assessment practicum will consist of administering, scoring, and writing reports for clients of varied ages and a variety of referral concerns. Some of the referrals are from clinicians within Lorenz Clinic.

Typical concerns seen for assessment are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, some learning disabilities, mood disorders, autism spectrum disorder, and diagnostic clarification. For the assessment practicum students will work with clients from ages 6 and up. In our experience, the educational quality of a practicum is negatively correlated with a student’s concurrent credit load, and students are encouraged to begin practicum only after completing the majority of their degree requirements.

Lorenz Clinic of Family Psychology is a multi-disciplinary psychotherapy clinic serving the unique mental health needs of children, adults, families, couples and groups in the West and South suburbs of the Twin Cities, MN. Each of our locations has a multidisciplinary staff that includes child specialists, couples counselors, adult therapists, and psychiatric nurses. Having these specialized services under one roof helps us impact many problems from a variety of angles, making change more likely and sustainable.

Lorenz Clinic maintains a mission of serving underserved populations and providing effective treatments within the relational context. As an outpatient clinic, our primary focus is providing an array of weekly services aimed at assessing and treating the most common mental health issues. We are skilled at triaging client needs, selecting effective treatments, and collaborating with community resources and higher levels of care.

We work closely with pediatricians, primary care physicians, schools, and social services agencies to achieve alignment in goals in complex cases. Additional information about Lorenz Clinic may be found at:

Student Qualities Desired for Effective Work in this Program

Ideal students will have completed lifespan development, ethics, and psychopathology classes and have a strong interest in working with families within the relational context. Students in the Psychological Testing…