Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology

The Psy.D. program builds on La Verne’s established tradition of community service, and prepares graduates to work competently and responsibly in a multicultural and pluralistic society. Students receive a breadth and depth of training that combine practical experience with research and writing requirements, integrating knowledge and skills with scientific foundations of psychology. The program exemplifies the scholar-practitioner model of professional training and prepares clinical psychologists to promote mental health for the welfare of individuals, families, groups, institutions, and society as a whole. The core mission of the program is to train scholar-practitioners who think critically, apply their knowledge diligently, and practice ethically and compassionately. 

Philosophy of Training

The philosophy of training for the Psy.D. Program is based upon the value that the needs of a multicultural society are best served by a psychology profession that is both culturally competent and inclusive. In accordance with this value, the Program seeks to provide students with a rich exposure to culturally and individually diverse populationsthrough its academic training and applied experiences. It also seeks to train students who have been underrepresented in the field.

Training Model.

The Psy.D Program is designed to provide a secular doctoral program in professional psychology following a scholar-practitioner model. The program follows the NCSPP professional psychology educational model as well as the APA Guidelines and Principals for Accreditation of Programs in Professional Psychology. The curriculum also meets the California Board of Psychology educational requirements for licensure as a psychologist.

The primary goal of the program is to prepare doctoral students to become multiculturally competent professionals in the field of clinical psychology. The program’s philosophy is that clinical practice should be based on the scientific foundations of psychology and that the science of psychology is informed by good clinical practice. Consistent with this view, our program includes systematic training in both research and practice and our students are expected to develop competencies in clinical and research skills. Our curriculum is designed to prepare clinicians able to critically evaluate empirical research pertinent to the practice of clinical psychology and incorporate this information into practice.

The program is committed to the integration of science and practice through training that is sequential, cumulative, and graded in complexity. All students are enrolled in a Professional Development Seminar (PSY 610) during both the fall and spring semesters of their first year in the program. This provides them with an ongoing introduction and orientation to the program, including program expectations and requirements. The first two years of the program lay the academic foundation in psychological theory, clinical assessment, professional practice and techniques, statistics, and research design. The required clinical practica are completed during the second and third years of the program, and involve clinical experiences at two different practicum sites. By the third year, students have acquired the skills to begin developing their dissertation proposals. The fourth year consists of the remaining elective course work, courses in supervision and consultation skills, and completion of the doctoral dissertation. Some students also take an elective practicum in their fourth year either to round out their experiences or develop additional expertise in a specific content area. The pre-doctoral internship is completed in the last year of the program. Students
have the option of completing either a one-year full-time internship during their fifth year or completing their internship over a two-year half-time internship extending into a sixth year of training.