Practicum and Internships

One of the benefits of being located in the Nation’s Capital is the range and diversity of internship sites. We have sites in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia. Upon entering the program, students earn a minimum of 100 hours of practicum at a placement site in conjunction with introductory coursework. Thereafter, a minimum of 900 hours of internship experience is accrued over the course of the program.

Graduate student interns typically spend between sixteen and twenty-four hours at their placement site. The best matches of site and student usually comes about through interviews with site supervisors, experiencing the site and sometimes even meeting the patients or clients. Students complete two internships, one with adults and one with children or adolescents; occasionally a student may complete a third internship, depending on need and availability. Students also gain experience and hours in the Art Therapy Clinic.

Students are expected to participate fully at each setting and to participate in many aspects of their clients' treatment, such as treatment team meetings, treatment planning and goal setting, in-services to staff and much more. Students may also conduct art therapy assessments and provide individual, group, and family art therapy as primary or adjunct therapists, depending on the site.

In addition to experiential training at internship sites, many leaders in the field of art therapy education believe that experiencing art therapy as a client is an invaluable element in training for professional practice as an art therapist. The graduate program in art therapy at George Washington University strongly recommends that students join an art therapy group or contract for individual sessions with an art therapist for personal therapy while in graduate school.

Internship placements are arranged by the art therapy Clinical Placement Coordinator in collaboration with students. Students participating in an internship also attend a weekly, two-hour supervision group on campus. The University has a wide selection of placements such as:

• Children's National Medical Center
• Clean and Sober Streets Arts
• CONCERN
• DC Public Schools
• Ft. Belvoir Community Hospital
• Dominion Hospital
• Downtown Clusters
• Fairfax County Public Schools
• Georgetown Hospital/Lombardi Center
• George Washington University Hospital
• Goodwin House
• Make Studio
• McClendon Center
• Miriam's Kitchen
• National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE)
• Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute
• Sheppard Pratt Healthcare System, Inc.
• St. Elizabeth’s Hospital
• Suburban Hospital
• Sunrise on Connecticut
• Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Experienced clinical instructors, all of whom are licensed and/or credentialed and board-certified, provide weekly on-site supervision and provide exposure to diverse theoretical perspectives. Clinical instructors work in a wide variety of treatment settings in which students gain experience in individual, group, and family art therapy, diagnostic assessments, and, in some cases, other expressive therapies, such as dance, music, and movement.