Practicum Program

The program is designed for advanced students who have a Master’s degree in clinical or counseling psychology. Students must be enrolled in an APA accredited doctoral graduate program and within their third, fourth, or fifth year of graduate training. Trainees join us from area universities having training contracts in place with Children's Mercy, including the University of Kansas (Clinical Psychology, Clinical Child, Counseling Psychology, School Psychology, or Applied Behavior Analysis programs) and University of Missouri-Kansas City (Clinical and Counseling Psychology programs). Other applicants may apply if the student meets the basic requirements, but a contract cannot be guaranteed for programs beyond those mentioned.

These practicum positions met criteria for a Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology Practicum as defined by the APA Stages of Education and Training and Levels of Educational Opportunities approved by APA Council of Specialties in Professional Psychology (COSPP) for the specialty area of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (CAPP).

Current practicum experiences 

The practicum experiences offered by the Section of Psychology are subject to change for each new training year. The following practicum experiences are often offered each year:

Behavioral pediatrics

The behavioral pediatric practicum provides psychology trainees with the opportunity to see children and families for brief behavioral assessment and treatment addressing a variety of behavioral and developmental problems. Common presenting issues include disruptive behaviors (tantrums, noncompliance, aggression), ADHD, bedtime/sleep problems, and toileting problems, as well as issues related to Autism and developmental disabilities (severe self-injury and tantrums, communication deficits, etc.). Opportunities for exposure or participation in other professional activities, including relevant research and manuscript review, are also available. The experience is designed for students with interests in parent training, behavior therapy, and behavior-analytic approaches in clinical psychology.

Pediatric Chronic Pain Management Practicum Training Experience

The chronic pain management program at Children’s Mercy comprises a multi-specialty interdisciplinary team that provides comprehensive assessment and multimodal treatment of idiopathic and disease-related chronic pain for children and adolescents. Opportunities for practicum students include participating in interdisciplinary evaluation of newly referred clinic patients (including the general Pain Management Clinic, Amplified Pain Clinic, Comprehensive Headache Clinic, and Sickle Cell Pain Clinic), providing targeted behavioral recommendations during follow-up clinic assessments, implementing traditional and contextual cognitive-behavioral therapy for clinic cases in which this is recommended as part of treatment, and participating in assessment and individual, family, and group therapy. Practicum students become increasingly independent over the course of the practicum, initially shadowing the clinical supervisors and subsequently taking on their own cases. Additional opportunities exist for observing the contribution of other disciplines to the management of chronic pain (e.g., physical and occupational therapy, massage therapy, biofeedback, yoga), and there also are opportunities to observe psychologists who work with other programs throughout the hospital and clinics. The practicum is intended primarily for students interested in clinical health and pediatric psychology. Prior experience with medical populations is preferred but not required. Students should have at least 2 years of graduate-level training in a clinical psychology program. This is a 9-month, 1.5 days practicum starting in September and ending in May. Students can select which specific days to attend based on what works best with their schedule.

Autism/Developmental Disabilities

The special needs/autism practicum provides psychology trainees with the opportunity to see children and families for brief behavioral assessment and treatment addressing a variety of behavioral and developmental problems associated with Autism. Common presenting issues include disruptive behaviors (tantrums, noncompliance, and aggression), sleep problems, and toileting problems, as well as issues related to Autism and developmental disabilities (severe self-injury and tantrums, communication deficits, etc.). The experience is designed for students with interests in parent training, behavior therapy, and behavior-analytic approaches in clinical psychology. The student will primarily engage in co-therapy. This is a 1-day rotation starting in September and ending in May. There can also be opportunities to shadow psychologists and other clinics throughout the hospital in addition to the practicum experience described above.

Pediatric weight management

The pediatric obesity practicum provides the advanced graduate student with exposure to multidisciplinary team-based treatment of youth with obesity and special needs such as autism spectrum disorders, Down Syndrome, physical disabilities, and developmental disabilities, as well as a young child family-based weight management intervention. The Special Needs Weight Management Clinic (SNWMC) provides team evaluation of families by a pediatric psychologist, pediatric nurse practitioner, dietitian, and occupational therapist. Research is ongoing on food preferences, dietary intake, anthropometrics, and laboratory values over time of these children. The Zoom to Health Program is a 6-week family-based parenting skills and nutrition education program for young children ages 2-8 years who are overweight. The practicum student would participate in shadowing of clinical assessment during the SNWMC and provide parenting skills recommendations and behavioral strategies with parents and children. In the Zoom to Health program, after observing the first session, the student could co-facilitate sessions and then lead group sessions along with our dietitian, alternating between teaching parents and children.

Additional opportunities may be offered each year based on supervisor’s availability.