Clinical Program

Clinical Program Overview

The Department of Psychology is organized into three divisions (Adult, Child, and Health) which oversee the major graduate and research programs of the Department. Cutting across all three divisions is the Clinical Psychology Program, which provides clinical training with an emphasis on adult, child, pediatric, and health clinical psychology. The clinical program abides by the guidelines and principles for APA accreditation and has been continuously accredited for the past 40 years. The APA Commission on Accreditation can be contacted at:

The Director of Clinical Training (Annette M. La Greca, Ph.D.) oversees the Clinical Program with input from the Clinical Advisory Group: Amy Weisman de Mamani, Ph.D. (adult); Kristin Lindahl, Ph.D. (child); Patrice Saab, Ph.D. (health) and Saneya Tawfik, Ph.D. (Director of Psychological Services). The Clinical Faculty also participate in overseeing the Clinical Program to ensure compliance with APA standards and Guidelines.

In the clinical program, The philosophy and model of training for the UM program in clinical psychology is that of a scientist-practitioner model, as elaborated at the Boulder Conference in 1949, with a somewhat greater emphasis on the clinical science component. To facilitate the clinical science component, the UM program uses a "mentor model" for research training, in that applicants are admitted to the program based in part on their "match" with the research interests of a specific faculty mentor; mentors closely supervise the research activities of the students working in their labs. The UM clinical program prepares students to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field and to practice clinical psychology. In addition to broad and general training in clinical psychology, the program provides training in one of the following substantive areas of focus within clinical psychology: adult, child, pediatric, and health psychology.

Following from the program's philosophy, the educational model and curriculum plan focus on two major and interrelated goals that integrate science and practice: 1) to produce graduates who have the requisite knowledge and skills to produce and disseminate knowledge in clinical science and who understand the interface between science and practice, and 2) to produce graduates who have the requisite knowledge and skills for entry into the practice of professional clinical psychology with a track-specific area of focus (adult, child, pediatric or health psychology), and who understand and value the importance of a scientific basis to clinical practice.

The integration of science and practice takes place through coursework, practicum, and research training.

Coursework - required and elective clinical courses in psychopathology, assessment, and intervention emphasize empirical findings that are pertinent to clinical practice, and the literature that is reviewed in these courses is critiqued from a science perspective.

Practicum - all students spend at least two semesters at the Department's Psychological Services Center (PSC), where they are required to use evidence-based assessment measures in evaluating clinical cases, and to incorporate evidence-based treatment strategies. Several other advanced practicum sites that are primary external practicum placements, such as the Mailman Center for Child Development, the University of Miami Counseling Center, and the Miami VA, are also APA-accredited clinical internships that emphasize the scientific basis of practice.

Research - the emphasis of the Department is on applied research that focuses on important clinical issues in psychopathology, assessment, and/or intervention with clinical or clinical health populations. Consequently, with the exception of a very rare student who has interests in animal models, all graduate students are engaged in clinically relevant research activities (for master's thesis, dissertation, and grant-funded research activities) that involve clinical populations, investigate clinical treatments, and/or have direct implications for clinical practice. The dissertation topics of our graduates have focused on applied clinical issues, such as: stress management among breast cancer patients; the relationship between peer victimization and adolescent depression; affective dysregulation, and so on.

Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data

Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data (pdf)

Clinical Program Details

The following are links to pages containing specific information about our Clinical Training Program. More information about the specific tracks of our clinical program will be found following the links provided off the main menu (see Graduate Overview). More information about our entire department can be found throughout this website

Transfers to the Clinical Program

Procedures for transfers from non-clinical programs to one of the clinical tracks or for completion of a joint program (e.g., developmental/clinical child) (pdf)

Alumni Survey Results

Data show that our alumni are obtaining full-time employment in psychology careers that have research and practice components, consistent with our model of training scientist-practitioners, with an emphasis on the science component. Specifically, most alumni seek postdoctoral training (85% over the last 7 years). Of those beyond postdoctoral training, 37% are in primarily academic positions (e.g., universities, medical schools); 14% have full-time research positions; and about 48% have clinical positions (e.g., staff psychologist, independent practice). The most common employment settings are medical centers (39%), academic settings (34%), and other hospital settings (23%) (e.g., children's hospital). Alumni report that research is either a major (55%) or minor (32%) aspect of their current positions and most report that they have presented a paper at a scientific conference (71%) or published (65%) since graduation. In terms of ratings, most alumni (95% - 98.5%) report that the program prepared them well for various research competencies; across the competencies, the median rating for "preparation" was 6.06 (1 = not well prepared, 7 = very well prepared). Alumni also view research training as a program strength, with a mean rating of 6.31 (7-point scale), and report high overall program "satisfaction" with a mean rating of 6.14 (7-point scale).

Our outcome data also indicate that we are preparing alumni for psychology careers that have clinical components. As noted above, for alumni beyond postdoctoral training, about 48% have clinical positions. Also, 84 - 86% of our alumni report that clinical services (e.g., assessment, treatment) are either a major or minor aspect of their current job activities. Regarding licensure (for alumni more than 2-years post-degree), 96% are licensed. Further, 71% of the alumni who are 1 to 2 years post-degree have already become licensed. These rates of licensure are high, especially for a graduate program that also trains individuals for research-oriented careers. Finally, most alumni (90.8% - 100%) report that the program prepared them well for various practice competencies. Across our practice competency items, the median rating of preparation was 5.93 (1 = not well prepared; 7 = very well prepared). These data indicate that the alumni feel the program prepared them well for clinical practice.

Please click the following link to see a full report of this survey.