UNIVERSITY PLACEMENT PARTNERSHIPS
Who are we?
Why school-based placements?
ABOUT US
We organise placements for students completing Masters and Doctorate degrees in Psychology within Primary Schools and Secondary schools across Victoria and Queensland, alongside support and supervision.
We were inspired by the findings of the Royal Commission into Mental Health 2021 outlined the importance of accessible, high quality mental health care within the education system:
Education settings are a key place where mental health and wellbeing can be supported and promoted (Volume 2 p.80).
Young Victorians in rural and regional areas face additional challenges when trying to access treatment, care and support, including stigma, access to local services and workforce shortages (Volume 2, p.83).
Mental health initiatives in educational settings have strong potential to influence risk and protective factors for mental health and wellbeing (Volume 2, p.84).
Children and young people experiencing poor mental health are more likely to achieve lower academic achievement, miss more days of schools and leave school early resulting in limited employment opportunities (Volume 2, p.87).
The placements
PLACEMENTS
Placements are on-site at schools, across primary and secondary schools, located in Victoria and Queensland.
Each placement provides enough direct client contact hours across the course of a school semester to meet all of your university requirements. Placements typically run across a full school semester (two terms).
You will be able to support the mental health needs of children and adolescents by providing face to face therapy sessions on site, within the school. You will have contact with teachers, parents and students.
Referrals
Psychs in Schools carefully triages referrals and provides low caseloads of mild-to-moderate presentations. The caseload of students is carefully balanced to ensure a mix of clients that are not too easy but not too challenging.
Learning Opportunities
Access to outcome measurement software.
Supervision and practice in Feedback Informed Treatment and Deliberate Practice (The only two evidence-based strategies that can increase the effectiveness of therapists).
Work face to face with individual clients.
Learn CBT, ACT, Mindfulness and DBT.
Training on high impact interventions for young people.
Training in the administration of cognitive assessments.
Develop the skills to flexibly apply interventions based on client outcomes.
Develop skills to understand your own therapeutic effectiveness.
Observation of Senior Psychologists delivering therapy and Feedback Informed Treatment.
Access to workshops and professional development.
Online Learning Portal: Psychs in Schools has sought feedback from over 20 Provisional Psychologists on the topics they would most likely want to master for their competencies on placement, which are accessible through the Psychs in Schools Learning Portal.
SUPPORT AND SUPERVISION
Psychs in Schools is guided by four key pillars to create the best possible placements for you. The four pillars are: SAFE / RESPONSIVE / SUPPORTIVE / TAILORED LEARNING.
Our Team
Our team of psychologists are all supervisors who are all highly trained, and experienced in working in schools. Psychs in Schools is committed to providing the very best training and support during your placement. Supervisors will utilise Feedback Informer Treatment and Deliberate Practice to inform your supervision sessions and track your client’s progress.
Supervision
Comprehensive supervision will be provided for at least one hour per placement day, inclusive of:
Individual supervision.
Group supervision.
On call supervision: Clinical supervisors will be available on call during the day to support you through any risks, or clinical/ethical matters that may arise.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Eligibility
Provisional Registration as a Psychologist with AHPRA.
National Police Check.
Requirements
Step 1: Please send your application directly to your Placement Coordinator by email. An email application should include a Cover Letter and Resume (CV) combined in one document in the following naming convention: Student Name Application for Agency (e.g. Sally Smith Application for Psychs in Schools).
Step 2: Applications will be collated by your Placement Coordinator, and sent to Nathan Castle and Jesse Diggins from Psychs in Schools (info@psychsinschools.com) to review, meet with you and, if successful, match you to the school placement that will work best for you.
If you are interested in learning how to be an effective therapist, while being a part of accessible mental health support in schools, please apply.
OUR OUTCOMES
Psychs in Schools is the only clinical school-based service in Australia that utilises feedback informed treatment.
Our psychologists and partner schools can see exactly how much difference is being made with referred students and how effective their treatment is to their wellbeing.
Since Psychs in Schools began, we’ve collected data on our effectiveness. We believe in being transparent with our findings and we’re proud to achieve above outcomes.
We’ve recently presented our work at the International School Psychology Association’s 2023 Conference in Bologna, Italy.
This research also focuses on the methods we’ve used to provide high quality training that focuses on what we know provisional psychologists can do to make a big impact, even when very early in their careers.