The RAMS practicum is opened to students in professional training programs: psychology, social work, and marriage & family therapy. It is designed to provide the trainees with the generalized professional practice skills expected of a novice therapist under supervision. Because of the rich cultural diversity of the client population and clinical staff, trainees have the opportunity to hone their skills while developing clinical sensitivity to issues of diversity: cultural, religious, ethnic, disability, sexual orientation, gender. In fact, we seek students who have an expressed interest in cultural competence training and the vision of working with minority populations.

Practicum trainees function as integral members of our Outpatient Services and of an already diverse clinical staff while receiving didactic and supervisory training. The program is designed to facilitate the trainees' growth as clinicians, and the expectation is that proficiency will be established for the clinical evaluation and assessment, conduct of psychotherapy (individual, family, group & couples) across the life span, and intervention with the more disturbed and chronically troubled patient. Trainees will receive training in brief and longer-term psychotherapy and case management. They will learn to search for clients' strengths and liabilities and make the evaluation data relevant to functional life skills. Because of the nature of the client population trainees will also learn counseling related to post-traumatic stress and grief and adaptation to major life changes.

The training program is twelve months in duration from the beginning of September until the end of August. There are twelve available positions. This practicum requires a 20-hour per week  time commitment (or 16 hrs for some schools) with the additional demand that trainees attend training sessions and a staff meeting ( Tuesday and Wednesday morning; Thursday morning or afternoon) A caseload of approximately 10-13 clients is assigned including children, families, couples, and adults (the exact percentage of each is based on the actual cases referred to  RAMS  and varies from year to year) . There is an expectation of 7-10 hours of direct client contact per week, depending on the contracted hours. Trainees are supervised for a minimum of one hour per week by a licensed mental health professional (they may have another hour a week of individual supervision with a secondary supervisor if their schools require it). Additionally, all trainees receive 1.5 hours of group supervision every other week. The training year starts with an intensive three-week-long Orientation Program. During these two weeks trainees are expected to attend orientation trainings 9am through 5pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. After that, there are two weekly didactic training seminars. One, which is held on Tuesdays, is for practicum students and  pre-doctoral psychology interns only. During the second half of the training year, a case conference format is utilized for this seminar. The other seminar is our Wednesday In-service Training for the entire Outpatient Services staff. The supervision is psychodynamic/family systems in approach, and both seminars and supervision include a strong emphasis on cultural competency. The focus especially targets an understanding of Asian, Pacific Islander, and Russian-speaking ethnicities. Students can expect to receive considerable didactic and experiential training in these areas and cultural competency in general.