Welcome to Field Experience
Field experience marks an important milestone in your program as you can apply the knowledge and skills you have acquired in real-world settings. You may find that this new stage in your program comes with lots of excitement, nervousness, and questions. You are not alone! The School of Counseling Office of Field Experience (SOC-OFE) is here to help.
This Field Experience Manual is designed to guide you from the beginning stages of field experience all the way to your proud moment of completion. The manual is composed of five key sections to help you understand the requirements and policies for field experience. Section 1 contains an introduction to field experience for the counseling masters’ programs at Walden University. Section 2 provides information about finding appropriate field experience sites. Section 3 guides you through the application process. Section 4 contains detailed information about the expectations and requirements of your participation in field experience. Section 5 describes additional policies that are important for you to be aware of during your enrollment in the program and in field experience.
We trust that you will find this information useful in your journey though field experience. You are expected to read this manual in detail and adhere to the policies included within. You must acknowledge that you have read and understood all the policies in this manual prior to applying for field experience. Failure to comply with the policies within this manual is considered a violation of Walden University’s Code of Conduct and Student Professional Conduct Policy and may result in formal sanctions, including but not limited to, award of a failing course grade, Code of Conduct inquiry, and dismissal from the university. See the Walden University Student Handbook for details.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or need additional support.
ACTION REQUIRED: Walden email is the main method by which the Office of Field Experience will communicate with you. Be sure to add counselingfield@mail.waldenu.edu to your email address book and periodically check your spam/junk and other email inboxes to ensure that you receive important communications throughout your program.
Note: You are subject to the policies and procedures described in the most current Field Experience Manual, regardless of the academic year in which you were admitted. The university reserves the right to change any provision, offering, requirement, or fee at any time within your enrollment period.