As a future advanced practice nurse, it is important that you are able to connect your classroom experience to your practicum experience. By applying the concepts you study in the classroom to clinical settings, you enhance your professional competency.

Each week, you complete an Assignment that prompts you to reflect on your practicum experiences and relate them to the material presented in the classroom. This week, you begin documenting your practicum experiences in your Practicum Journal.

The Assignment

In preparation for this course's practicum experience, address the following in your Practicum Journal:

· Select one nursing theory and one counseling theory to best guide your practice in psychotherapy.

Note: For guidance on nursing and counseling theories, refer to this week's

Learning Resources.

· Explain why you selected these theories. Support your approach with evidence-based literature.

· Develop at least three goals and at least three objectives for the practicum experience in this course.

· Create a timeline of practicum activities based on your practicum requirements.

NOTE: THE Practicum Journal Template (Word document) IS ATTACHED WITH THIS ASSIGNMENT.

Learning Resources

Required Readings

Wheeler, K. (Ed.). (2014). Psychotherapy for the advanced practice psychiatric nurse: A how-to guide for evidence-based practice. New York, NY: Springer.

Chapter 11, "Group Therapy" (pp. 407-428)

Nichols, M. (2014). The essentials of family therapy (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Chapter 1, "The Foundations of Family Therapy" (pp. 1-6)

Chapter 2, "The Evolution of Family Therapy" (pp. 7-28)