Curriculum
Students must accumulate a minimum of 106 academic, research, and practicum credits during their residence in the PhD Program, and 27 credits while completing the doctoral internship.
Students entering the PhD program without a master's degree must complete requirements for the master of science (MS) in clinical psychology en route to the PhD. The MS and PhD degrees typically can be completed in five years of full-time study (four years in residence devoted to coursework, research, and practicum, and one year away on doctoral internship).
Students entering the program with an approved thesis and master’s degree may be able to complete requirements for the PhD in four years of full-time study (three years in residence devoted to coursework, research, and practicum, plus one year doctoral internship).
The requirements emanate from the primary goals of the PhD in Clinical Psychology Program, which are to produce Â鶹ӰÊÓs who contribute to the scientific base of clinical psychology, who are skilled in creating, researching, and implementing evidence-based practices across diverse populations, and who are adept in functioning as 21st century clinical psychologists. The program ensures that Â鶹ӰÊÓs have obtained the full range of training mandated for doctoral-level clinical psychologists and will be adequately prepared for licensure as psychologists.
For detailed course descriptions and degree requirements, please see the current .
Practicum
Each student is required to complete a minimum of two years of clinical practicum training. Each practicum experience includes 500 training hours per year, including provision of direct clinical services (e.g., assessment and psychotherapy), supervision, and other clinically relevant experiences. Training helps students integrate theoretical knowledge and research activity with clinical application, and supervised practice experience with a range of client populations and clinical problems will be gained. The PhD program places an emphasis on evidenced-based practice in clinical psychology, and students gain didactic and experientially-based training in these techniques. As a scientist-practitioner program, the course of study encourages students to integrate their research interests and clinical work, and this process is navigated through close mentorship guidance from a primary adviser.
Training Sites
The School of Graduate Psychology operates the Pacific Psychology & Comprehensive Health Clinic (PCH), a training clinic with sites in Portland and Hillsboro. The Hillsboro clinic is located in Creighton Hall on the Hillsboro Campus and provides services in Spanish and English. The Portland clinic is located in downtown Portland. These clinics offer a wide range of psychological services to the community. Most students gain some practicum experience at the program's own training clinics; other community sites in the Portland area are also available, allowing for exposure to varied sites and populations.
Internship
The clinical psychology internship is the culminating experience of the clinical psychology PhD program. It is among the last major tasks undertaken by students prior to graduation and represents a significant commitment of time and effort. The internship provides opportunity to use and refine clinical skills and knowledge and to consolidate one’s professional identity.
The internship requires either full-time supervised clinical experience for one calendar year or a comparable halftime supervised clinical experience for two consecutive years. Internship training must be taken at a site that is APA accredited or meets Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Center (APPIC) criteria. Students apply for internships through the APPIC match procedure. We also have our own APA-accredited internship training program at the PCH.