New Mexico Register / Volume XXXIII, Issue 1 / January 11, 2022

This is an amendment to 16.22.6 NMAC, Section 8, and Section 9 effective 02/10/2022.

16.22.6.8 PRACTICUM, DOCTORAL INTERNSHIP, AND POSTDOCTORAL SUPERVISED EXPERIENCE:

A. Supervised experience leading toward licensure:

(1) two years (3,000 hours) of supervised experience are required for licensure;

(a) up to one year (1500 hours) of the supervised experience may be obtained in practicum hours overseen by the doctoral training program and consistent with the guidelines on practicum experience for licensure promulgated by the association of state and provincial psychology board; and

(b) up to one year (1500 hours) of the supervised experience may be obtained in a doctoral internship approved by the American psychological association; or

(c) up to one-half year (750 hours) of the supervised experience may be obtained in a doctoral internship not approved by the American psychological association; and

(d) after totaling approved doctoral practicum hours and allowed hours for doctoral internship, the remainder of the (3000 hours) supervised experience must be obtained in supervised postdoctoral psychological work.

(2) doctoral and postdoctoral experience from all supervisors shall be documented on forms provided by the board.

B. Practicum experience. Practicum training is an organized, sequential series of supervised experiences of increasing complexity, serving to prepare the student for internship and partially meeting the requirements for licensure. Training experiences shall follow appropriate academic preparation and shall be overseen by the doctoral training program. Not all supervised experience accumulated during graduate training may count toward licensure. The board requires that all practicum experiences counting toward licensure be of high quality and carefully approved and monitored by the doctoral training program. In particular, these experiences should advance the doctoral student’s role and identity as a psychologist. All experiences counting toward licensure must be supervised one hour per week by a licensed psychologist or clinical faculty member who is allowed to practice psychology under the laws of the state. The director of clinical training of the doctoral training program, or designee of that program’s chair, shall certify, in a form satisfactory to the board, that the hours meet the following specifications of type of clinical activity and supervision:

(1) The practicum setting was approved by, integrated with and monitored by the doctoral training program;

(2) The hours were obtained in the course of an organized, sequential series of supervised experiences of increasing complexity, serving to prepare the student for internship and partially meeting the requirements for licensure.

(3) Supervised practicum experience occurred in psychological service settings that had, as part of the organizational mission, a goal of training professional psychologists.

(4) Each practicum setting had an identified, licensed psychologist who was responsible for maintaining the integrity and quality of the experience for each trainee. The doctoral training program shall assign a licensed psychologist to serve in this role if none is available on site.

[(5) Telesupervison or telephonic supervision did not account for more than fifty percent of the total supervision at a given practicum site. The doctoral training program shall have a formal policy addressing its utilization of telesupervison or telephonic supervision that includes:

(a) an explicit rationale for using telesupervison or telephonic supervision;

(b) how and when telesupervison or telephonic supervision is utilized in clinical training;

(c) how it is determined which trainees can participate in telesupervison or telephonic supervision;

(d) how an off-site supervisor maintains full professional responsibility of clinical cases;

(e) how non-scheduled consultation and crisis coverage are managed; and

(f) how privacy and confidentiality of the client and trainees are assured.]

[(6)] (5) All supervisors were qualified by education, licensure and experience to provide supervision of doctoral students.

[(7)] (6) Where experiences counted for licensure were obtained in various settings, each setting was an appropriate experience in itself, the particular student was academically prepared for that experience and the combination of experiences was appropriate to the student’s training needs.

[(8)] (7) The following clinical experiences and supervision were present across settings:

(a) At least fifty percent of the total hours of supervised experience were in service-related activities, defined as treatment/intervention, assessment, interviews, report-writing, case presentations, and consultations.

(b) At least twenty-five percent of the total hours were face-to-face patient/client contact.

(c) Supervision by a licensed psychologist or clinical faculty member who is allowed to practice psychology under the laws of the state was at least one hour for each day (eight hours including the supervision; 12 and a half percent of total) of supervised experience for experienced students. Telesupervision is equivalent to face to face supervision. The doctoral training program shall assure that higher levels of supervision are provided for less experienced students. All supervision time, whether individual or group, including additional supervision beyond that may be counted as part of the total supervised experience.

[(9)] (8) The board requires that all predoctoral practicum experiences counting toward licensure be of high quality and carefully approved and monitored by the doctoral training program. In particular, these experiences should advance the doctoral student’s role and identity as a psychologist.

[(10)] (9) The board may, at its discretion, require documentation that above system of training was in place for the applicant. Possible forms of documentation include but are not limited to:

(a) individual written training plans between the doctoral training program and each practicum training cite;

(b) policies and procedures of the doctoral training program designating the expectations for practicum training sequences;

(c) program descriptions or self-study documents submitted for program approval to the American psychological association or the American association of state and provincial psychology boards.

C. Internship or fellowship accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation body. If the doctoral or postdoctoral experience is obtained in an internship or fellowship accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation body, a board form completed by the director of training will satisfy the requirement of certifying all supervision received during the internship or fellowship.

D. Internship not accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation body. If the predoctoral experience is obtained in an internship that is not accredited by a nationally recognized accreditation body, it will be counted for 750 hours of the required 3,000 hours if it meets the following criteria:

(1) the agency or institution offers internship education and training in psychology, one goal of which is to prepare applicants for the practice of professional psychology;

(2) the internship program is sponsored by an institution or agency, which has among its primary functions the provision of service to a population of recipients sufficient in number and variability to provide interns with adequate experiential exposure to meet its training purposes, goals, and objectives;

(3) the internship is completed within 24 consecutive months at a minimum of 20 hours per week:

(a) an internship that involves more than one agency, organization, or institution will be accepted if the primary supervisor and the applicant can demonstrate that the internship program is organized under a unifying or coordinating structure (e.g. a consortium with a core clinical faculty) and central leadership (e.g., one director of training or central supervisor overseeing the entire internship program and the supervision of the intern);

(b) internships consisting of less than 20 hours per week will not be accepted;

(4) the director of clinical training of the applicant’s doctoral training program certifies in a manner acceptable to the board that the internship was approved as part of the degree requirements for obtaining the doctoral degree.

E. Postdoctoral supervised practice leading toward licensure.

(1) The applicant may complete a doctoral supervised practicum up to 1500 hours and a doctoral internship up to 1500 hours before completing the doctorate. Depending on the number of hours of doctoral supervised experience, the applicant shall complete the remainder of the required 3,000 hours through postdoctoral supervision.

(2) If the applicant is completing postdoctoral hours in New Mexico, the applicant shall submit a postdoctoral supervisory plan to the board for review before beginning supervised practice. Once a plan for supervision is submitted to the board, the board or a designated board member will respond in writing to the acceptability of such a plan within 60 days. If the plan is found unacceptable, the board or a designated board member will specify the areas of deficiency based on the guidelines specified in Part 3. If the board approves the plan, the applicant will be assured that postdoctoral experience, if completed according to the plan, will meet the postdoctoral requirements and the applicant will be registered as participating in an approved supervision program.

(3) If the applicant is completing postdoctoral hours outside New Mexico, a supervisory plan is optional.

(4) If the applicant does not obtain a board-approved postdoctoral supervisory plan, the applicant shall submit documentation of the postdoctoral supervised practice after its completion. However, if the board does not approve this experience, part or all of the postdoctoral supervised experience shall be repeated. In this case, the board will require the applicant to submit a supervisory plan, and the supervisory plan must be approved by the board before the applicant's supervised practice begins.

[16.22.6.8 NMAC - Rp, 16.22.6.8 NMAC, 11/15/2006; A, 4/11/2012; A, 7/1/2018; A, 02/10/2022]

16.22.6.9 CONDITIONS OF POSTDOCTORAL SUPERVISION:

A. Primary supervisors.

(1) One licensed psychologist who serves as a primary supervisor shall be responsible for the overall supervision of the supervisee's professional growth. Specific skill training may be assigned to other licensed specialists, under the authority of the supervising psychologist. The other licensed specialists shall have clearly established practice and teaching skills demonstrable to the satisfaction of both the primary supervisor and the supervisee.

(2) The primary supervisor shall limit the number of applicants supervised to the number that the supervisor’s work position and clinical responsibilities reasonably permit, so as to maintain a level of supervision and practice consistent with professional standards and ensure the welfare of the supervisees and their clients or patients.

(3) The supervisor shall not be a member of the supervisee’s immediate family or in a dual relationship that would compromise the supervisor’s objectivity.

B. Supervisory contact.

[(1) In-person supervision must account for at least fifty percent of any postdoctoral supervision used toward the required 3,000 hours of supervised experience for licensure. Telesupervison or telephonic supervision may account for no more than fifty percent of postdoctoral supervision hours. The supervisor must have a formal policy addressing the utilization of telesupervison or telephonic supervision as specified in Paragraph 5 of Subsection B of 16.22.6.8 NMAC.]

(2)] At a minimum, supervision by the primary supervisor shall be provided on a one-to-one basis for one hour per week for a total at least 46 hours of one-to-one supervision per year. Telesupervision is equivalent to face to face supervision.

C. Conduct of supervision.

(1) The board recognizes that variability in preparation for practice of the applicant will require individually tailored supervision. The specific content of the supervision procedures shall be worked out between the primary supervisor and the applicant.

(2) The primary supervisor who provides supervision for the applicant for licensure shall have clinical and professional responsibility for the work of the applicant.

(3) A supervisor, either primary or designated, shall be available to the applicant whenever decisions about clients or patients are made.

(4) The primary supervisor shall be responsible for the delivery of services, the representation to the public of services, and the supervisor/applicant relationship. This responsibility includes, but is not limited to, the following requirements.

(a) All clients or patients shall be informed of the availability or possible necessity of meetings with the primary supervisor at the request of the client or patient, the applicant, or the psychologist. The supervisor shall be available for emergency consultation or intervention.

(b) All written communication shall clearly identify the primary supervisor as clinically and professionally responsible for all psychological services provided. Public announcement of services and fees and contact with the public or professional community shall be offered in the name of the primary supervisor, business, or agency. Both the primary supervisor and the applicant shall inform the client or patient, to whatever extent is necessary for the client or patient to understand, of the supervisory status and other specific information as to the applicant’s qualifications and functions.

(c) The primary supervisor shall oversee the maintenance of information and files relevant to the client or patient during the supervisory period.

(d) The primary supervisor shall not be a member of the applicant's extended or immediate family or be involved in a dual relationship.

(e) The supervision shall not be delivered in an agency or business in which the applicant has a financial interest.

D. Inappropriate representation. In the event applicants publicly represent themselves inappropriately, or supervision is not conducted according to Subsection C of 16.22.6.9 NMAC, conduct of supervision, any experience gained under such circumstances does not comply with these rules and regulations and will not be accepted as experience toward licensure. Any psychologist providing supervision under such circumstances is in violation of these rules and regulations and may be subject to disciplinary action.

[16.22.6.9 NMAC - Rp, 16.22.6.9 NMAC, 11/15/2006; A, 4/11/2012; A, 7/1/2018; A, 02/10/2022]