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Field Experience Courses
Field Experience Courses allow you to earn course credit while gaining careeer-relevant experience in our community.
Field experience students meet in an IU classroom for orientation or for occasional class sessions. They also submit assignments and weekly journals via Oncourse. The majority of a student's time committment for a field experience course is, however, spent working at a field site in our community.
Field experience courses are internship experiences. Like any good internship experience, a field experience course will allow you to learn more about a career of interest to you. It will allow you test to see if a particular career will be a good fit for your personality, skills, and work values, and it will allow you to gain experience that graduate schools and employers desire.
In PBS field experience courses, students get to interact with clients who utilize the services of the field site. Students work under the supervision of a field site staff member and, thus, have the opportunity to learn about careers by networking with professionals. Students may also get to observe professionals in action or work with a professional while they perform some of the tasks that are part of the career.
In the Milestones Field Experience students work under supervision of therapists at Milestones Clinical & Health Resources.
Some students design and implement activities to meet specific therapeutic goals for children whose parents are attending parenting therapy groups. Others directly assist therapists with groups who need to learn social skills and coping strategies.
Learn MUCH more about the Milestones Field Experience -- opportunities offered in past semesters, what's expected of you, and how to receive permission to enroll.
The Milestones Field Experiences are intended for psychology and neuroscience majors who enjoy working with children or teens; who've had experience planning activities for groups of children; and who've helped challenging children improve their behavior. This program is intended for students who envision themselves potentially working in a career with children and/or families as a mental health professional, social worker, or teacher.
Field experience positions that have been offered in past semesters include:
- IY Children's Group Volunteers provide childcare for parents who will be attending a 90-minute weekly Parenting Therapy session. The parents are attending sessions so they can learn how to help their children reduce aggressive behaviors and increase their emotional & social competence. Families include at least one child with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, ADHD, or who is anxious or depressed. Providing childcare for this group is "clinically-relevant public service" - it demonstrates your desire to make mental/behavioral health care available to children and families.
- Dino Club Therapist's Assistants help a licensed therapist throughout two therapeutic sessions each week. Students get to observe and participate in presenting the entire Incredible Years Social, Emotional, and Problem-Solving curriculum to two groups of children. This intervention uses behavioral-cognitive therapeutic techniques and behavior modification to teach children skills such as emotional regulation, problem-solving, friendship skills, and family diplomacy.
- Teen Aspergers / Anxiety Social Skills Group Therapist's Assistants help a licensed therapist teach the ABCs of social skills to young teen girls with PDD-like symptoms who experience difficulties with expressive communication and social interaction. This group focuses on improving communication, learning effective ways of handling peer pressure, dealing with siblings and/or family conflict, learning better problem-solving and decision-making skills, exploring issues related to self-image, and learning more effective ways of handling stress in school, family and social situations.
- Preschool Social Skill Group Therapist's Assistants work with a licensed therapist during play therapy sessions for 4-6 year old children.
As part of the Milestones Field Experience, you'll read papers and complete a written assignment to prepare for an orientation session on campus early in the semester. You'll read one or more books about the therapeutic program for your group and will submit 3 reflection papers about the books. You'll submit weekly journals about your experiences at the clinic via Oncourse.
To receive permission to enroll: Students must submit an application. Applications are typically sent out via the email listserv to all psychology and neuroscience majors around the first week of classes each semester.
Why are applications only available at the start of the semester? Therapists at the clinic decide which groups they're going to offer and how many students they'll need just a few weeks before the group sessions begin and that's usually around the first week of classes.
Therapy groups for children, teens, and families are typically scheduled in the afternoons or evenings, so if you want to increase the chances that you'll be able to apply for a position at Milestones, then try to schedule your other classes in the morning or early afternoon.
The Volunteers in Medicine Field Experience matches psychology and neuroscience students with opportunities to work at Volunteers in Medicine of Monroe County.
VIM provides quality primary and preventative health care and health education without cost to the medically underserved in Monroe and Owen Counties.
Learn MUCH more about the Volunteers in Medicine Field Experience -- descriptions of volunteer activities, what's expected of you, and how to receive permission to enroll.
The Volunteers in Medicine Field Experience offered through the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences is primarily intended for students who want to help people in our community and who are interested in a career in medicine or a related health care field (physician's assistant, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, pharmacy, health information administration) or health psychology. We've also accepted students in the past who were interested in genetic counseling or mental health counseling.
Students who work at VIM get to experience working in a busy health care clinic and may help schedule appointments, direct patients to appropriate services, prepare charts and file medical test results, work in the pharmacy, and enhance their fluency with medical and pharmaceutical terminology.
VIM: Delivering Quality Care to the Underserved
For P457, you'll work 8 hours per week at the clinic and submit a weekly journal about your experiences via Oncourse. You'll complete 3-4 assignments on topics pertaining to active communication, poverty, medicine, and integrated health care and will attend 3-4 class meetings during the semester.
To receive permission to enroll: Students must submit an application! We'll send out applications to all psychology & neuroscience majors via the email listserv around the time students are registering for classes for next semester (Fall or Spring).
You must have completed your enrollment for all of your other classes before you can submit an application for VIM, because the volunteer co-ordinator has to know what times you're available throughout the week before she can determine if she has volunteer shifts available that you can work.
VIM shifts are Monday-Friday mornings (8-12 noon) and afternoons (1-5 pm) - so, if you want to increase the chances that you'll be able to fit into 2 available shifts at VIM each week then try to schedule your other classes so that you have 2-3 mornings or 2-3 afternoons open each week.
