N.M. Admin. Code § 16.22.6.8

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 21, November 5, 2024

Section 16.22.6.8 - PRACTICUM, DOCTORAL INTERNSHIP, AND POSTDOCTORAL SUPERVISED EXPERIENCE

A.Supervised experience leading toward licensure:

(1) two years (3,000 hours) of supervised experience are required for licensure;

(a) up to one year (1500 hours) of the supervised experience may be obtained in practicum hours overseen by the doctoral training program and consistent with the guidelines on practicum experience for licensure promulgated by the association of state and provincial psychology board; and

(b) up to one year (1500 hours) of the supervised experience may be obtained in a doctoral internship approved by the American psychological association; or

(c) up to one-half year (750 hours) of the supervised experience may be obtained in a doctoral internship not approved by the American psychological association; and

(d) after totaling approved doctoral practicum hours and allowed hours for doctoral internship, the remainder of the (3000 hours) supervised experience must be obtained in supervised postdoctoral psychological work.

(2) doctoral and postdoctoral experience from all supervisors shall be documented on forms provided by the board.

B.Practicum experience. Practicum training is an organized, sequential series of supervised experiences of increasing complexity, serving to prepare the student for internship and partially meeting the requirements for licensure. Training experiences shall follow appropriate academic preparation and shall be overseen by the doctoral training program. Not all supervised experience accumulated during graduate training may count toward licensure. The board requires that all practicum experiences counting toward licensure be of high quality and carefully approved and monitored by the doctoral training program. In particular, these experiences should advance the doctoral student's role and identity as a psychologist. All experiences counting toward licensure must be supervised one hour per week by a licensed psychologist or clinical faculty member who is allowed to practice psychology under the laws of the state. The director of clinical training of the doctoral training program, or designee of that program's chair, shall certify, in a form satisfactory to the board, that the hours meet the following specifications of type of clinical activity and supervision:

(1) The practicum setting was approved by, integrated with and monitored by the doctoral training program;

(2) The hours were obtained in the course of an organized, sequential series of supervised experiences of increasing complexity, serving to prepare the student for internship and partially meeting the requirements for licensure.

(3) Supervised practicum experience occurred in psychological service settings that had, as part of the organizational mission, a goal of training professional psychologists.

(4) Each practicum setting had an identified, licensed psychologist who was responsible for maintaining the integrity and quality of the experience for each trainee. The doctoral training program shall assign a licensed psychologist to serve in this role if none is available on site.

(5) All supervisors were qualified by education, licensure and experience to provide supervision of doctoral students.

(6) Where experiences counted for licensure were obtained in various settings, each setting was an appropriate experience in itself, the particular student was academically prepared for that experience and the combination of experiences was appropriate to the student's training needs.

(7) The following clinical experiences and supervision were present across settings:

(a) At least fifty percent of the total hours of supervised experience were in service-related activities, defined as treatment/intervention, assessment, interviews, report-writing, case presentations, and consultations.

(b) At least twenty-five percent of the total hours were face-to-face patient/client contact.

(c) Supervision by a licensed psychologist or clinical faculty member who is allowed to practice psychology under the laws of the state was at least one hour for each day (eight hours including the supervision; 12 and a half percent of total) of supervised experience for experienced students. Telesupervision is equivalent to face to face supervision. The doctoral training program shall assure that higher levels of supervision are provided for less experienced students. All supervision time, whether individual or group, including additional supervision beyond that may be counted as part of the total supervised experience.

(8) The board requires that all predoctoral practicum experiences counting toward licensure be of high quality and carefully approved and monitored by the doctoral training program. In particular, these experiences should advance the doctoral student's role and identity as a psychologist.

(9) The board may, at its discretion, require documentation that above system of training was in place for the applicant. Possible forms of documentation include but are not limited to:

(a) individual written training plans between the doctoral training program and each practicum training cite;

(b) policies and procedures of the doctoral training program designating the expectations for practicum training sequences;

(c) program descriptions or self-study documents submitted for program approval to the American psychological association or the American association of state and provincial psychology boards.

C.Internship or fellowship accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation body. If the doctoral or postdoctoral experience is obtained in an internship or fellowship accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation body, a board form completed by the director of training will satisfy the requirement of certifying all supervision received during the internship or fellowship.

D.Internship not accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation body. If the predoctoral experience is obtained in an internship that is not accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation body, it will be counted for 750 hours of the required 3,000 hours if it meets the following criteria:

(1) the agency or institution offers internship education and training in psychology, one goal of which is to prepare applicants for the practice of professional psychology;

(2) the internship program is sponsored by an institution or agency, which has among its primary functions the provision of service to a population of recipients sufficient in number and variability to provide interns with adequate experiential exposure to meet its training purposes, goals, and objectives;

(3) the internship is completed within 24 consecutive months at a minimum of 20 hours per week:

(a) an internship that involves more than one agency, organization, or institution will be accepted if the primary supervisor and the applicant can demonstrate that the internship program is organized under a unifying or coordinating structure (e.g. a consortium with a core clinical faculty) and central leadership (e.g., one director of training or central supervisor overseeing the entire internship program and the supervision of the intern);

(b) internships consisting of less than 20 hours per week will not be accepted;

(4) the director of clinical training of the applicant's doctoral training program certifies in a manner acceptable to the board that the internship was approved as part of the degree requirements for obtaining the doctoral degree.

E.Postdoctoral supervised practice leading toward licensure.

(1) The applicant may complete a doctoral supervised practicum up to 1500 hours and a doctoral internship up to 1500 hours before completing the doctorate. Depending on the number of hours of doctoral supervised experience, the applicant shall complete the remainder of the required 3,000 hours through postdoctoral supervision.

(2) If the applicant is completing postdoctoral hours in New Mexico, the applicant shall submit a postdoctoral supervisory plan to the board for review before beginning supervised practice. Once a plan for supervision is submitted to the board, the board or a designated board member will respond in writing to the acceptability of such a plan within 60 days. If the plan is found unacceptable, the board or a designated board member will specify the areas of deficiency based on the guidelines specified in Part 3. If the board approves the plan, the applicant will be assured that postdoctoral experience, if completed according to the plan, will meet the postdoctoral requirements and the applicant will be registered as participating in an approved supervision program.

(3) If the applicant is completing postdoctoral hours outside New Mexico, a supervisory plan is optional.

(4) If the applicant does not obtain a board-approved postdoctoral supervisory plan, the applicant shall submit documentation of the postdoctoral supervised practice after its completion. However, if the board does not approve this experience, part or all of the postdoctoral supervised experience shall be repeated. In this case, the board will require the applicant to submit a supervisory plan, and the supervisory plan must be approved by the board before the applicant's supervised practice begins.

N.M. Admin. Code § 16.22.6.8

16.22.6.8 NMAC - Rp, 16.22.6.8 NMAC, 11/15/06; A, 04/11/12, Amended by New Mexico Register, Volume XXIX, Issue 11, June 12, 2018, eff. 7/1/2018, Amended by New Mexico Register, Volume XXXII, Issue 01, January 11, 2022, eff. 2/10/2022