Student Placement Training at the RMIT Counselling Service

The RMIT Counselling Service Placement Program for Provisionally Registered Psychologists offers a wide variety of training experiences for postgraduate students at different levels of their careers in psychology. These experiences include offering short term individual therapy; providing group training and interventions, involvement in projects and counselling service initiatives, having individual and group supervision; and working with psychologists in various orientations to counselling and psychology.

Placement Coordinators from Masters and Doctoral level programs, please contact us for more information or to discuss the placement program. We are more than happy for you to visit with us for a tour and more information about our program.

For further information and questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us by phone or email.

The RMIT Counselling Service Program seeks to provide a quality experience for Provisionally Registered Psychologists on Placement interns who need to complete a supervised placement to fulfill postgraduate academic course requirements. Students studying relevant Counselling or Clinical courses at the Master’s and Doctoral level are invited to apply to do their placement in the RMIT Counselling Service. Our supervisors are an experienced team of Counselling and Clinical Psychologists.

We also welcome students at the Masters or Doctoral level in Educational Psychology to apply but cannot provide supervision by an Educational Psychologist and so you may need to discuss your supervision needs with your placement coordinator and whether we are able to meet those needs.

RMIT offers a stimulating, nurturing and professionally challenging placement experience for our interns. Our interns are considered an important part of our team. The clinicians that we have at the Counselling Service are very experienced and have interests across a variety of therapeutic modalities.

Clients who attend the RMIT Counselling Service have a wide range of issues, many are from different cultures and issues include adjustment and transition difficulties as well as a large amount of Axis 1 and Axis 11 Disorders, with additional family, social and relationship issues. There is, therefore, a very high clinical component regarding presenting issues related to mental health. Students with some previous experience would be most suited to this placement.

Approximately 7 intern places are offered each year.

Interns are based at one of RMIT’s metropolitan campuses: City (3-4), Brunswick (1), and Bundoora (2).

The placement runs next year from 4 February 2013 to 29 November 2013. Applications for 2013 will be accepted from August 2012.

Supervision is provided by experienced psychologists in the service. We offer Provisional Psychologists comprehensive supervision and support.

Interns have a regular weekly supervision meeting of one hour’s duration with their supervisor. All interns will also have a back-up or Secondary Supervisor who will also meet with them regularly and provide supervision when their Primary Supervisor is absent.

Interns also meet monthly for a two and half hour group supervision session. This meeting is facilitated by a rotating member of our supervision team and provides valuable peer support, networking and information-sharing opportunities. In addition to the discussion of case material and other pertinent issues, RMIT Psychologists present on specialist topics chosen in consultation with our Interns.

The Counselling Service endeavours to provide an appropriate level of client hours to allow interns to achieve course requirements. The workload is managed so that interns also have adequate time for case notes, follow-up and research during the working day.

• At beginning of placement, an assessment of interns’ current level of practice is conducted and clients are assigned as appropriate by supervisor.
• Clients are informed that they have an appointment with an intern.
• The optimum number of clients is 3 per day for interns although this may increase to 4 clients per day as the intern gains confidence.

• The minimum number of clients we expect our interns to see each day is 2 per day. Interns are not normally assigned to new client sessions in the first 2-3 weeks of placement but begin taking new client bookings after this time
• Interns are always supported by staff of the service who are available to assist them with any questions or challenges they may be experiencing while on placements.
• Interns do not see clients if another staff member is not working on site at the same time.

• Interns have scheduled weekly 1 hour supervision sessions with their supervisor or back up supervisor
• Interns have access to their supervisor, back up Supervisor (or another RMIT Psychologist) outside the formal supervision hour for consultations regarding clients as required.
• Supervision meetings are clearly marked out in the interns and Supervisor’s appointments diary.

The goals of supervision are discussed in the initial stages of supervision to ensure that the supervisee and supervisor have a clear understanding of the nature of their supervision contract. A written learning contract is jointly drafted to assist with clarifying goals.

Supervision logs are kept by the intern and the Supervisor.

All Interns will attend Orientation and Training Days on 4, 5, and 6 Feb 2012 from 9 am–5 pm for an introduction and orientation to the Counselling Service and the Student Services Group of RMIT.

Interns are expected to participate 2 days a week at the Counselling Service plus attend the monthly supervision/ professional development group that occurs on Wednesdays from 9.30 am to 12 pm at our Brunswick campus.

Interns are invited to attend a clinical meeting offered at each campus for opportunities to present cases and observe peer consultations on complex cases.

In addition to individual client contact, interns have other training activities in which they are encouraged to participate:

• Participating in and delivering workshops to students during orientation and other special events such as RU OK day
• Participation in running therapeutic or support groups on issues such as anxiety management and enhancing happiness.

To apply for placement at RMIT Counselling Service, applicants must be or have:

• Currently enrolled in a post graduate psychology training program
• Current Working with Children Check ID
• Had at least one clinical or counselling placement and or equivalent Clinical or Counselling work experience
• May notbe a currently enrolled student orcurrent employee of RMIT University

The application and selection process follows formal procedures similar to those required when applying for a professional position in a large organisation.

• a Letter of Application stating/highlighting:
• Reasons for applying for a placement in the RMIT Counselling Service
• clinical or Counselling placement/ work experience
• and indicate campus preference (City, Brunswick, or Bundoora, note: at this time, Clinical placements occur only in City)
• a CV or résumé, with referees listed (including previous placement).

Note: If you have already sent an application for 2013 Placement consideration, please do not re-send.

Closing date for applications is October 15, 2012. Applications should be addressed to Elizabeth Matjacic, Placement Coordinator, RMIT University Counselling Service, PO Box 71, Bundoora, 3083 or emailed to elizabeth.matjacic@rmit.edu.au

Applicants will be notified by email or letter for interviews by the Placement Coordinator by the end of October 2012. Late applications will be accepted but late applicants will only be considered if positions cannot be filled from the current pool of timely applications.

Interviews take place on the campus for which the applicant is being considered for potential placement, are conducted by potential supervisors, and are about 30 minutes. The interview involves questions asked of the applicant, a 10 minute role play, and an opportunity for applicants to ask questions.

For further information or general enquiries regarding placements contact the Placement Coordinators, Elizabeth Matjacic or Lara Bardsley on 9925 4365.

Placements to commence 4 February 2013 to 29 November 2013.

The Counselling Service can be contacted at 9925-4365 between 9 am and 5 pm Monday through Friday.

This page was last updated on 13 August 2012.