Clinical Psychology Curriculum
To be awarded the Psychology MA (Clinical Psychology) degree, students must complete the following requirements.
The Master of Psychology is offered on a full-time basis only, and is a 2-year program. Required courses are typically offered every year; elective courses offered vary from year to year.
S8101 / Statistics and Research Design I / normally completed in the Fall term of MA Year 1
PS8301 / Psychopathology / normally completed in the Fall term of MA Year 1
PS8309 / Psychological Assessment I / normally completed in the Fall term of MA Year 1
PS8102 / Statistics and Research Design II / normally completed in the Winter term of MA Year 1
PS8310 / Psychological Assessment II / normally completed in the Winter term of MA Year 1
PS8306 / Practicum in Clinical Psychology I / normally starts in the Summer of MA Year 1
PS8103 / Clinical Research Methods / normally completed in the Fall term of MA Year 2
PS8312 / Culturally Informed Clinical Practice / normally completed in the Winter term of MA Year 1
PS9306 / Cognitive Behavioural Therapy / normally completed in the Fall term of MA Year 2
MA Thesis / Milestone to be completed by August 31 of MA Year 2
Electives / 2 Psychology electives* / a minimum of one elective should be completed in MA Year 1, and all electives should be completed by May 1 of MA Year 2
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To be awarded the Psychology PhD (Clinical Psychology) degree, students must complete the following requirements.
The Psychology PhD is offered on a full-time basis only, and is a four-year program (the Internship takes place during the fourth year). Required courses are typically offered every year; elective courses offered vary from year to year.
PS8303 / Systems of Psychotherapy / normally completed during the Winter term of PhD Year 1
PS9301 / Ethical Professional Issues in Clinical Psychology / normally completed during the Fall term of PhD Year 1
PS9303 / Practicum in Clinical Psychology II
PS9304 / Practicum in Clinical Psychology III
PS9307 / Supervision, Consultation and Program Evaluation / normally completed during the Winter term of PhD Year 2
Comprehensive Requirement / Milestone normally completed by the end of PhD Year 1
Dissertation / Milestone
Predoctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology / Milestone normally completed during the PhD Year 4
Electives / 3 psychology electives* / if a History of Psychology credit was not completed at the MA or senior undergraduate level, PS9101 History of Psychology must be one of the electives
Psychology Training Clinic
CPA Accreditation
The program is designed to train professional psychologists at the doctoral level within a scientist-practitioner orientation. The curriculum was developed to meet all of the requirements for registration with the College of Psychologists of Ontario. The program was first accredited by the Canadian Psychological Association in 2012, and it was re-accredited in 2022 for a 5-year term (until 2026-2027) (Accreditation Office, Canadian Psychological Association, 141 Laurier Avenue West, Suite 702, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5J3, accreditationoffice@cpa.ca, 613-237-2144 x 328 or 1-888-472-0657 x328).
*Clinical psychology students are required to take graduate or undergraduate courses covering the five core areas.
For official program requirement listings, please see the official Graduate Studies Calendar. The School of Graduate Studies minimum residency requirement for the MA and PhD programs in psychology is six academic terms (for each program); note that each academic year is three terms. Continuous enrolment throughout the residency period is required.
Core Areas
The Canadian Psychological Association defines five core areas that must be covered by the curriculum of all CPA-accredited programs. Core areas include: (1) Biological Bases of Behaviour; (2) Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behaviour (3) Social Bases of Behaviour; (4) Individual Behaviour and (5) Historical and Scientific Foundations of General Psychology.
To meet the first four core areas, students are required to have taken two senior undergraduate classes or one graduate class in each area (by the end of the PhD in clinical psychology). Students must have taken one class at the undergraduate or graduate level fulfilling the historical and scientific foundations core area by the end of the PhD in clinical psychology (e.g.: PS9101 History of Psychology).
Complete the CPA Core Areas Course Review Form and submit to the Director of Clinical Training for approval, then submit to the Graduate Program Administrator in JOR941. The original form is kept on file as each core area is being fulfilled for the duration of the program.