Review Of Practicum Site: Baycrest, Department of Psychology
Name of Site: Baycrest, Department of Psychology
Duration of practicum: Flexible, must meet minimum hour requirements of practicum course though.
Process of Application and General Information to Consider
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What was the process/ requirements for applying?
Full academic and personal C.V., interview, unofficial transcript, writing sample, and letters/phone call of
reference (2 is what I was asked for)
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Did you apply to the site or directly to a supervisor? Supervisor
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Is there a brochure or website for the site? One exists for the APPIC internship, but not for a practicum.
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Do you have the contact information for this site? If so, can you specify the name of the site contact person,
phone number, address and email address.
There is no single contact person. Practica are arranged through the neuropsychologists in the psychology
department. They are contacted directly. Their information, as well as other useful information, can be
found at: http://www.baycrest.org/Psychology/default.asp
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When was the deadline to apply?
Varies by supervisor, but I would recommend contacting them well in advance to secure their services and
arrange an interview.
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When does the practicum start and finish?
Varies by supervisor, depending on their ability to provide the practicum
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What’s involved in the interview and who conducts it?
Varies by supervisor, but it is usually done by the neuropsychologist who is interviewing you. It is a one-onone interview, followed by a meet and greet with other students, faculty, and staff.
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How many days per week or hours per week were you at the site? Was there flexibility? Who determined
the schedule?
Varies by supervisor, depending on their other commitments. I had a good experience developing a
mutually convenient schedule, and I have never heard of problems in this regard.
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Was there flexibility to move around the site (i.e., doing rotations in various departments?)
I would say that it would be something you would have to bring up at the beginning and gauge the viability.
Clinical Training
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Opportunities for assessment? (if so, what type of assessments did you do? Note: an intake interview for a
potential therapy client is not the same as full a psychological assessment; also there are different types of
psyc assessments).
That was the primary focus – assessment of neurological/neuropsychological disorders
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What assessment instruments were you trained on?
HVLT, BVMT, Rey-O, WMS, WAIS, DKEFS Stroop, Trails, Motor tasks, etc.
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What was the process of training?
Observation of supervisor, practice on volunteers while observed by supervisor, then independent delivery
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Direct observation of your supervisor? Yes
o Reading on your own? Yes
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Opportunities for treatment? Not really
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What was the client population? (approximate ages) 40-93
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Opportunities to conduct couples therapy? Group therapy? No
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What percentage of time was devoted to direct contact (30%), report writing (20%), other (50%)?
Much time is spent trying to understand what is wrong with a patient and come up with the best line of
reasoning to support your opinion.
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What was the theoretical orientation used for treatment? Boston Process Model, not Fixed Battery
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Did you receive any specialized training (i.e., to work with specific populations or deal with specific mental
health issues)?
Memory disorders
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What was your case load (i.e., number of psychotherapy cases and/or the number of assessments a student is
expected to get)?
1 full patient a week
Supervision
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How many supervisors were involved in your training? 1
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How many hours of supervision per week? Varied from 10 hours initially, to 2 hours by the end
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What was the supervision style? Individual consultation and discussion
o Individual vs. group?
o Use of audio-tapes?
Other Opportunities
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Were research opportunities available for you? No
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Were teaching/ didactic opportunities available? No
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Did you attend clinical rounds? Professional workshops or colloquia at the site?
Yes, exceptionally strong learning environment that includes that Rotman Rounds, U of T rounds,
Psychiatry Rounds, Neurology Rounds, Psychology Rounds.
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Were there future opportunities following your practicum such as paid assessment work, research work, and
does the site formally train interns? Perhaps
Practicum Facility
• How many other trainees were at the site with you? (interns, post-docs, etc.) 2 interns, 1 post doc, and 1
practicum student from a non-clinical program
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What other professionals did you work with? (social workers, psychiatrists, etc.) MDs (psychiatrists,
gerentologists)
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Did you have your own office? Shared with 4 other students
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Did you have computer access? Yes
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Any concerns about accessibility of the site by public transit? No
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How wheelchair accessible is the site? Very
Overall Experience of the Practicum
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Provide a rating on a “five-star” scale of 0 stars (not recommend) to 5 stars (highly recommend) and
comment on your overall experience at this practicum. 4.5
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What did a typical day look like at the site?
One day doing a full assessment, another doing scoring and reasoning through findings, and another day
spent writing report.
Other
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What was the perception of psychology as a profession within the site? Highly regarded.
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How was conflict resolved at this site? (e.g., what would happen in the event of a problem between
supervisor/supervisee). Cannot comment, did not experience conflict.