INTERNSHIP

The internship experience is vital to the student's learning and equally important is the student's contribution to the cooperating site. Because the internship occurs after most course work has been completed, students are well prepared to be considered fully functioning members of the site's professional staff for the duration of the experience. Internship sites include but are not limited to community mental health agencies, hospitals, drug abuse treatment centers, and in-patient facilities.

The three primary goals of internship are to: apply theories and techniques in a real work setting; synthesize knowledge and skills while using and developing personal qualities and characteristics appropriate to the role of MFT; and grow from intern to professional practitioner.

MFT interns attend university seminar classes for the entire duration of their internship. A contract is signed by the university and internship site supervisors detailing the site's commitment to provide specific experiences for the intern. The student spends a minimum of twenty clock hours on the internship site per week which includes at least 2.5 hours of Indiana LMFT approved on-site supervision until completion of the internship. Hours are tracked on a form that verifies the details of the internship contract. Student intern forms are signed by the approved on-site supervisor and submitted to the university supervisor each week.

Interns are expected to provide four hundred hours of therapy to couples, families, individuals, and groups. Combined with the practicum requirement of one hundred hours, graduates will have accumulated a total of five hundred hours of direct service with fifty percent of the total being classified by the Indiana MFT license as "MFT Services". While internships are typically not paid experiences, interns participate in many staff development opportunities and often become an integral part of the site team leading to job opportunities upon graduation.