TABLE OF CONTENTS



Q. I think I need secondary supervision. Should I contact my secondary supervisor directly?


A. If you need supplementary supervision, you should complete the secondary supervision request form on the college Portal under Resources and contact PALS. At the College, you have an allocated panel of secondary supervisors, not just one (there will be one signatory on your paperwork). This allows a greater safety net and more flexibility to organise supplementary supervision when you need it. We will discuss your situation with you and allocate you to a suitable available secondary supervisor.


Q. Can I count observation of a session or ‘shadowing’ as direct client contact?


A. Yes. Role plays, observing other practitioners in the workplace, watching videos of sessions, and administering psychometric assessments to colleagues can be recorded as simulated direct client contact. In the 4+2 program, 90 hours of simulated direct client contact can be logged in the first year and 60 hours in the second year (a total of 150 possible simulated hours of the 1000 client contact hours required). For the 5+1 program 60 hours of simulated client contact (of the total 500 required client contact hours) may be logged.


Q. What should I do if I am unwell or my supervisor is unwell, and we are unable to schedule supervision?

 

A. If someone is unwell, the missed supervision session can be absorbed into the following sessions by having a longer session in the following weeks or additional sessions. 


Q. My principal supervisor is going on leave, what should I do?


A. As soon as an intern is made aware that their supervisor is going to be on leave for more than two weeks, the intern should complete the secondary supervision request form and contact PALS to organise secondary supervision. If a principal supervisor will be on leave or unavailable for longer than a month, transfer to a different principal supervisor should be considered in consultation with the intern’s existing principal supervisor and PALS. 

 

 

A. Focused reading can be counted as a client-related activity only if it relates to a specific session with a client (e.g. reading about an outcome instrument or a specific therapeutic strategy, or a theoretical concept); however, reading in general on various topics on psychological disorders or a therapeutic model clearly serves broader learning and training function and should be recorded as professional development.

 

Q. How many psychological practice hours a week can I log?


A. AHPRA defines a full-time load for a provisional psychologist as 34 hours per week, this includes our supervision hours. Remember psychological practice hours are only those involving direct client contact or client-related activity. This does not include activities such as team meetings, travel to or from client appointments, workplace administrative tasks etc. If you log more hours than this per week the Board may raise concerns regarding practicing beyond your level of competence or public safety given that you are still training. Should you have any concerns regarding this please contact PALS.

 

Q. Should I send my Progress Report to COPP prior to submission to AHPRA?


A. Yes please send your progress reports to pals@copp.edu.au prior to submission to AHPRA. This allows COPP to review your calculations and progress and advise or any concerns and possible solutions.

 

Q. I am finding it difficult to record direct observations. What is required, and what should I do?


A. Supervisors are required to observe the provisional psychologist conduct a minimum of two psychological assessments and two intervention sessions every six months. Listening to an audio recording or watching a video recording of the provisional psychologist’s practice can meet the requirement for ‘direct observation’. 

Many new provisional psychologists will find the prospect of supervisor observation daunting, intimidating, and anxiety-provoking. Remember the observation and feedback process is an important learning and reflection tool in your training. Take observation opportunities whenever possible and appropriate. Don’t wait for the ‘ideal session or client’ to be set-up, like a test scenario. Record at every possible opportunity, knowing that those times which don’t go to plan can either be discarded later or used for interesting and useful discussion. This approach can assist in generating sufficient content for evaluation, as well as breach the initial reluctance to be recorded Remember to gain client consent prior to recording and to present this to your supervisor.


Observed activities such as role-plays, the presentation of reports to various audiences and communication with colleagues are useful teaching and assessment tools and should be logged as part of the internship program, but cannot be counted as direct observation. 

 

Q. Does COPP provide a review of case reports to be submitted to AHPRA?


A. Yes once you and your supervisor are happy that a case report is ready to be submitted to AHPRA please email the draft to Anne.Nanayakkara@copp.edu.au who will send it on to a member of our case report review panel. Feedback will be sent to you within 7 days.

 

Q. Does COPP help with preparation for the National Psychology Exam?


A. Yes. There is a self-paced e-learning module on preparation for the NPE available on the portal to guide your study. The readings from the NPE curriculum are available in the COPP library. In addition, COPP runs an exam preparation study group before each exam block. Emails will be sent out asking for sign-ups for the study group two months prior to the exam block. The group involves a teams group to share questions and resources along with 4 x 2-hour exam preparation sessions with a supervisor.

 

Q. I am going on holiday, do I need to let AHPRA or COPP know?


A. If you are going on leave for 8 weeks or more you will need to notify AHPRA and request permission for leave. If you are going on leave for 4 weeks or more, please notify PALS and your COPP internship can be placed on hold. 

 

Q. I am going to start a new job role, what do I do?


A. You will need to submit a new SPPR (internship plan) to AHPRA for approval. Please contact PALS to send a copy of your new job description which will be reviewed. We will also send you the SPPR template and prepare an offsite supervision letter for you once you provide your workplace manage name and title. This paperwork can then be submitted to AHPRA. Hours in your new job role can be counted from the date your paperwork is received by AHPRA.



Should you have any questions that weren't mentioned here Please do not hesistate to email PALS@copp.edu.au