Training Experiences

The program seeks to prepare students for careers in clinical science, including research, teaching, and service in universities, medical centers, clinics, hospitals, and similar agencies. Students receive training in research skills and empirically supported approaches to assessment, prevention, and intervention. 

This training occurs via course work, involvement in research labs from the start of the program, weekly brown-bag seminars where faculty and students present research findings, and clinical practica beginning in the second year. 

Clinical faculty have either an emphasis on child psychopathology (child track) or adult psychopathology (adult track). Several adjunct faculty and faculty from other departmental areas (developmental, social/personality, cognition & neuroscience, and quantitative) also participate in the training of clinical students.

The Psychological Services Clinic, located in the Psychology Building, is a community-based outpatient facility that serves as the clinical program’s primary clinical practicum training site. A variety of psychological services (assessment, consultation, and individual, group, and family therapy) are provided to people and agencies in the University and Columbia communities, largely by students in the program under the close supervision of the clinical faculty and psychologists on staff (currently four doctoral-level clinical psychologists). In addition, clinical training is available at various off-site placements (e.g., Fulton State Hospital).

Training experiences are designed so that through a sequence of coursework, mentored research, and clinical practicum, students develop competencies that allow them to become independent and successful clinical scientists. The program is designed so that students spend a minimum of 5 years in the doctoral program and complete the required doctoral internship in their 6th year. 

Many students choose to extend their doctoral training for an additional year (or sometimes two) to take advantage of dissertation fellowships or other research or clinical training opportunities. Students are required to complete their doctoral study in residence at least through the dissertation proposal.