Training psychology students

Undergraduate students of Psychology (Volunteering at the youth ward)
 
The Volunteering Project at the youth ward was established out of a need to fill the void that creates after the completion of the educational activity hours in the ward.

 
The youth ward is a heterogeneous ward that hosts teenage inpatients, who besides their illness, are engaged in the content characteristic of adolescence and who often yearn for a relationship.

 
The volunteers arrive at the ward once a week, for three hours, to meet and stay with the patients, whether by games, activities, trips, and talks.
The lack of formality in their role and their young age, allows students to establish a unique and direct relationship, in which they are seen by the adolescents as if they were their older siblings.

 
The volunteers go through training every other week for one and a half hours, provided by a psychologist from the ward, during which they present their doubts, feelings and understanding, while observing and learning.
 
Undergraduate students of Psychology ("Field Experience" pattern)
 
Every year a group of about 10-15 students are accepted for one academic year at the Haifa University. Each student is assigned to one patient of the hospital and escorts him throughout the year. The patients come from the youth day care facility, Children's Clinic, and Adults' Clinic, as well as from the inpatient wards. The goal is to form a social relationship, through joint activity, during which a significant relationship is formed between the student and the patient.

 
Hospital psychologists guide the work of students with close mentoring, in small groups. Students and patients both gain a lot from the relationship formed within this framework. For the student this is a unique opportunity to encounter for the first time, and to experience a relationship with therapy reference. For the patient this is a young and unique target for social skills development.
This experience is highly important for the professional development of the students, as future psychologists.
 
Graduate students (within the "practicum")
 
The "Practicum" - a framework offering field experience to students from various clinical disciplines. The student is assigned to one of the hospital's clinics or wards. Each student is guided by the psychologist of the ward to which he was assigned, and by a psychologist that personally guides him. The student undertakes to experience during the practicum year with running and analyzing several psycho-diagnostic exams, with close guidance. In addition he must also treat two to three patients during the year. The student is fully integrated within his unit, and participates in ward meetings, and in its ongoing work. The work of the students provides a significant contribution to the unit in which they work, and the student himself acquires an experience which is highly significant to his professional qualification in the future.