Concentration in child, adolescent, and family services

This concentration is designed to provide students with training in the delivery of psychological services to children, adolescents, and families. Students who have completed coursework, practica, and an internship that include services to children, adolescents, and families would then be prepared to seek registration/licensure in delivering psychological services to these populations.

Entering the concentration

Students wishing to pursue a concentration in child, adolescent, and family clinical psychology should declare their intent to the Director(s) of the Clinical Psychology program by the end of the Winter term of their 1st academic year.

A request to enter the concentration, submitted as late as the end of the student’s 2nd academic year, will be considered if the student (a) has already successfully completed at least one of the required courses in the concentration and (b) is in the process of completing the second required course in the concentration or is registered to complete the course in their 3rd academic year.

To help decide on whether this concentration may be an option, students are invited to contact the Director(s) of the Clinical Psychology program and/or attend the clinical supervision of a professor who works with this population.

Concentration course requirements

Students must complete the following courses and training (or their equivalent):

  • PSY 6132 Child Psychopathology
  • PSY 7105 Evidence-Based Psychological Services for Children, Adolescents, and Families
  • Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (K-SADS) Training

These courses/trainings should typically be completed prior to beginning clinical training in treatment services for child, adolescent, or family clients at the Centre for Psychological Services and Research (CPSR). However, it will be possible to begin clinical training in treatment services if at least one of the courses has been completed and the other course will be completed. The KSADS training must be completed before engaging in any services with these populations.

As part of the Canadian Psychological Association accreditation requirements, all students in the clinical psychology program must demonstrate competence in the core content area of individual behaviour. For many students in our program, this requirement is met by completion of two or more senior undergraduate courses, often including courses in developmental psychology. As a result, these students are not required to complete a graduate course in developmental psychology or any other course in the realm of individual behaviour. However, many internship sites require applicants to have completed a graduate course in developmental psychology. Therefore, students in this concentration may wish to take one or more graduate courses in developmental psychology even if they have met the individual behaviour core content requirement on the basis of their undergraduate program or other graduate courses.

Concentration clinical training requirements

It is expected that students will complete or have underway at least one assessment case and one intervention case at CPSR prior to undertaking community-based child clinical practica. At least one of these cases will be supervised by a full-time faculty member. Over the course of their CPSR training, it is strongly recommended that students complete a minimum of 2 cases (assessment and/or intervention) with the same full-time faculty member. Overall, it is expected that at least half of the direct clinical hours accumulated by students throughout their clinical training be with child, adolescent, and family populations.

There is much variability across internship sites in terms of the expected number of completed assessment/intervention cases and hours. Students are expected to work with the Coordinator of Practicum and Internships to build a profile that will make them competitive for specific internship settings.

The requirements outlined below represent what the child, adolescent, and family clinical faculty deem to be a minimal threshold for consideration into the CPSR internship (child and family position). Throughout the duration of the clinical program (i.e., CPSR and external practica) and prior to internship, it is expected that students complete the following:

  • A minimumof 5 integrated assessments. These can be stand-alone assessments or assessments for purposes of treatment planning. This should provide approximately 50 hours of direct service.
  • A minimumof 5-7 intervention cases, depending on the length of services and the complexity of the case. There should be diversity across these cases (e.g., child age, gender, and presenting difficulties). This should provide approximately 150-210 hours of direct service.

Eligibility requirements

Students who wish to pursue the concentration must submit a 2-page double-spaced paper explaining their reasons for wishing to pursue clinical work with children, adolescents, and families. This must be submitted by email by April 15 after the 1st academic year to the Director(s) of the Clinical Psychology program.  

June 2015 (edited December 2016)
Revised March 2020
Adopted August 2020
Revised April 2023