Understanding General Practicum Rules and Regs
TLDR:
You must complete practicum. It can be hard to find a compliant practicum site at a licensed service center
APL hosts its own practicum to train you well and meet all the requirements
You can work with a service center in your area, but they need to have a profressional connection to APL, have a declared practicum site supervisor, and run practicum that is coherent with APL educational standards.
All accredited facilitator training programs in Oregon must include 40 hours of practicum instruction designed to help students understand the actual work of facilitation. Ideally, all students would shadow working facilitators at service centers in their areas, watching as those more experienced facilitators worked with clients through all aspects of the client experience. Unfortunately, there are few service centers currently open in Oregon and even fewer working with practicum students. Additionally, many facilitators do not feel comfortable bringing inexperienced students into their work, even for teaching purposes.
This combination of few places to host facilitation in general, fewer places established and coordinated enough to work with training programs, and yet fewer facilitators who want to serve as practicum models creates a dirth of opportunites for facilitator practicum in the style of other similar training models like student teaching or clinical internship.
Fortunately, OPS has created an Alternative Practicum path for students to do in-person role play, watch and reflect on recorded sessions, and other important activities that create opportunities to practice the skills used in actual facilitation.
These AltPrac requirements are met through weekend “intensives,” usually as a pair of Satudays and Sundays from 8:30-6:30 in Portland, OR. These intensives are usually placed in the last two weeks of any cohort’s schedule. If you are planning to satisfy your practicum hours at a Service Center seperate from the AltPrac intensives, you’ll need to coordinate with the APl program directors. It is important to note however, that all practicum requirements must be met before certificates of completion are granted and they must be finished within 12 months of completing your didactic course work. So if you’re not sure whether you’ll be able to complete practicum at a service center in your area, plan to attend the APL administered practicum advertised as part of your cohort’s schedule.
All practicum must be administered by APL instructors or practicum coordinators officially associated with APL at a licensed service center. You may be able to satisfy your practicum requirement at a licensed service center in your area if you have contacts or opportunities you would like to utilize, but you will need to talk with our program coordinators to determine eligibility of the service center and feasabilty of implementation for that location before beginning any practicum work.
Understanding APL Practicum
Usually a pair of Saturdays and Sundays (ie two weekends) toward the end of any cohort schedule, APL has created a series of in-person activities to train you and give you the opportunity to practice real-world faciliation skills like patient intakes and preparation, de-escalation skills practice and situational challenges, and critical analysis of recorded sessions and videos to highlight best practicies and train the ability to recognize deficiencies in practice. These training opportunities are coupled with activities to help train non-drug induced changes in consciousness like meditation and breath-work.
When an ammenable client is available or if there are students in the training cohort who want to serve as a client for their peers to observe and learn from, APL works with licensed facilitators at a licensed service center to take the client(s) through the whole facilitation experience, start-to-finish, so that students can observe and ultimately discuss and debrief the process. It is not always possible to secure a willing lay-person client, and since taking psilocybin and undergoing a facilitation does not count toward the requisite practicum hours, there are not always students willing to undergo the process. Thus, APL practicums utilize real clients with real facilitation whenever possible, but will always provide the training and skills to practicum students regardless of whether a live client is available or not.
PLEASE NOTE: Taking a psilocyin journey is not a part of APL practicum. Some students may have the opportunity to serve as clients for other students to observe under the care and direction of a licensed facilitator, but the hours spent on the journey do not count toward practicum hours and so have to be made up elsewhere during the weekends.
APL Connected Service Center
Practicum Sites
Any non-APL sponsored practicum must be completed at a licensed service center. That service center must have a declared relationship with APL, have a practicum site coordinator, and fill out APL paperwork for the student to submit as proof of participation.
If you see a site in your area that you would like to work with, you can reach out to them directly to see if they have any practicum opportunities on their calendars and what the costs would be.
If you do not see the service center you want to work with listed below, please reach out to the service center to see if they are interested in hosting practicum students. If they are amenable, we are happy to explore new relationships and would love to have more sites where students could meet this requirement. However, that process is not guraranteed to work out, is likely to include more costs for the students than APL tuition alone, and can take some time to finalize. Plan your practicum options accordingly.
Current Service Center Opportunities
ASHLAND
Omnia Group
Status: Active and Approved
Contact: Email Omnia Group directly to see if they have any upcoming practicum opportunities (www.omniagroupashland.com)
PORTLAND
Chariot
Status: Contact established, possibilities being explored
Project Circle
Status: Active and Approved
Contact: Project Circle is a host site for faciliation observation during APL administered practicum weekends. Observation opportunities are coordinated through your APL program director.
Space Psychedelic Clinic
Status: Active and Approved
Contact: Space is a host site for faciliation observation during APL administered practicum weekends. Observation opportunities are coordinated through your APL program director.