A key element of the applied component of the Doctoral Program is the First Year Field Experience, which is required for both direct admit and MA- admit students. This non-traditional field placement provides opportunities for first year students to develop skills in the design, implementation, and evaluation of preventive interventions, inter-professional collaboration, and advocacy. The First-Year experience is linked to the first year course entitled Counseling Psychology in Context: Social Action, Consultation and Collaboration (PY844). Specifically, in the first year of the Doctoral Program, students are placed in one of a number of community settings including urban public schools as well as courts, community agencies, and detention centers for four to six hours per week. In these public practice sites, students engage in a variety of roles that are non-traditional for psychologists and broaden their understanding of the roles that professional psychologists may assume in helping individuals, families, and communities. In effect, the goal of the First Year Field Experience is for students to gain skills in providing services, above and beyond traditional psychotherapy and assessment, to populations that have typically been outside of the purview of our profession. The First Year Experience provides a thorough grounding in many of the social justice and advocacy roles that counseling psychologists can assume, thereby offering students with systematic training opportunities to build skills in this critical component of our program mission. In many cases, the hours for the First Year Field Experience can be counted toward one's assistantship; however, this is not an automatic decision and is based on a number of issues pertaining to faculty needs and available resources. Students need to consult with their advisor, assistantship supervisor, and the Director of Doctoral Training to explore this issue further.
As a means of structuring the First Year Field Experience, the faculty develops a listing of approved first year experience placements at the beginning of the academic year. Students may make suggestions for other experiences that will be considered for their ability to meet criteria for the First Year Experience. These include at least three of the following opportunities for the student: (1) exposure to the analysis of systemic factors impacting mental health and career development, (2) experience in collaboration across professions, (3) collaboration, advocacy or indirect service with under-served populations, (4) the design, delivery and/or evaluation of a preventive intervention, and (5) exposure to expanded professional roles for counseling psychologists. All placements must be distinguishable from the typical practicum placement or research experience. A faculty member, or other designated supervisor who has appropriate training and experience relevant to the setting, must also supervise all First Year Field Experiences. Whenever possible, therefore, assignments that include work with one’s faculty advisor or other Program faculty are preferable. The final decision about a student’s placement is made by the faculty.
Students have worked a wide array of sites as reflected in the following summary of previous placements. Students have worked in the Brighton Court acting as victim-witness advocates in domestic violence cases. Under the joint supervision of the Chief of Victims-Witness Advocacy for the Suffolk County District Attorney and a Boston College faculty member, students also have conducted interviews with domestic violence victims in the community to gain a better understanding of why Asian and Asian-American women choose not to use the justice system. In addition, we have had students work in an ongoing University-community partnership with Allston-Brighton, the most ethnically and culturally diverse section of Boston. Students are involved in the Extended Services School in Allston-Brighton that provides health, mental health, educational, legal, and social services as well as programs with a variety of youth- and family-serving community agencies. Another of these first year training opportunities involves students’ participation in the Tools for Tomorrow Program. This co-curricular experience provides an opportunity for doctoral students to work as co-facilitators of structured psycho-educational groups with urban high school youth. The first-year experience is linked conceptually and logistically to the PY 844 – Counseling Psychology in Context course, which provides an intellectual foundation for the field placement.
Toward the end of the first year, students are required to present a summary of their field experience to the faculty in the Program. This presentation provides students with an opportunity to consolidate their learning by exploring the social, psychological, cultural, and political aspects of their work. The presentation typically is accompanied by some thoughts about how the students’ work informs future intervention and research in counseling psychology.
Students meet every other week as part of the PY 844 course to discuss the First Year Experience and to integrate this experience with relevant literature on social justice and community action work. The discussion in this class furnishes students with an opportunity to reflect on their experience and to internalize the importance and opportunities that are available when psychologists step out of traditional roles. Students are required to maintain a log of their hours and to submit copies of this record to the Director of Doctoral Training.
Students are evaluated in their First-Year Experience by their supervisor at the field-site, their faculty advisor, and the instructor for the PY 844 course. These observations are integrated during the annual student evaluation process that takes place at the end of the spring semester.