| Course | NU672 PMHNP Psychotherapy for Individuals, Groups, and Families Clinical |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 1 |
| Paper type | Practicum learning goals statement |
| Length | About 860 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MSN |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NU672 Unit 1
Three Formats and One Habit of Mind: Practicum Learning Goals for a PMHNP Psychotherapy Placement, Each Checkable Against a Recording
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
NU672: PMHNP Psychotherapy for Individuals, Groups, and Families Clinical
Unit 1 Practicum Learning Goals
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The clinic is composite; targets and dates are bracketed. Approval lines are left blank for the supervisor.
The Placement
The practicum takes place in a community outpatient mental health clinic serving adults and families. Over [16] weeks I will carry a caseload of [four to six] individual clients for cognitive behavioral therapy, co-lead a weekly [eight]-member interpersonal process group with a licensed clinical social worker, and conduct family intake interviews on Thursdays. All individual sessions are recorded with client consent for supervision. My supervisor is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner who also provides therapy.
I have completed didactic courses in psychotherapy but have delivered cognitive behavioral therapy only in role-plays. I have never co-led a group or interviewed a family. I tend to rush to reassure distressed clients, which I noticed in my role-play recordings. These facts shape the goals below.
How Each Goal Is Written
Each goal names the skill, the setting, a measure that can be checked against a recording or record, a target, and the point in the term when it will be reviewed. Targets are bracketed because my supervisor may adjust them after seeing my first recordings.
Goal 1: Delivering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy With Fidelity
Skill: structure sessions and use cognitive and behavioral methods competently with individual adult clients. Measure: the Revised Cognitive Therapy Scale, which rates [12] items of therapist competence from 0 to 6, for a maximum of 72, and has shown good internal consistency and reliability (Blackburn et al., 2001). My supervisor will rate one recorded session every [two] weeks. Target: a total of at least [36], a commonly used threshold for competence, by week [12], with no item below [2]. Review: week [8] and week [16].
Goal 2: Building and Tracking the Alliance
Skill: form a working alliance with each client and notice when it weakens. Measure: the short revised Working Alliance Inventory, completed by each client after sessions [3], [6] and [10] (Hatcher & Gillaspy, 2006), together with a brief outcome measure each session. Routine outcome monitoring with feedback reduced deterioration and nearly doubled the rate of clinically significant change among clients predicted to do poorly (Lambert et al., 2018). Target: bring any alliance score that falls by [five] points or more to supervision within one week, with a plan to address it. Review: every supervision session, formally at week [8].
Goal 3: Co-Leading the Process Group
Skill: co-lead a process group, including making at least one here-and-now observation per session and responding to conflict without shutting it down. Measure: my co-leader and I will review each session using a short checklist of observations made, members addressed and conflicts handled; [four] sessions will be audio recorded for review with my supervisor. Target: at least one here-and-now observation per session by week [6]; by week [12], at least one response to member conflict that my co-leader rates as helpful. Review: week [8] and week [16].
Goal 4: Conducting Family Intakes
Skill: conduct a structured family intake that includes every member present, a three-generation genogram and a working hypothesis about family patterns. Measure: my written intake notes and genograms, reviewed by my supervisor against the clinic's intake standard. Target: [six] completed family intakes, with the last [three] requiring no major revision. Review: week [12].
Goal 5: Bringing My Reactions Into Supervision
Skill: notice and describe my own emotional reactions to clients, especially the urge to rescue, and use them in my clinical work rather than act on them. Measure: a brief reaction log after each session, noting any strong feeling, what I did with it, and whether it affected the session; one entry discussed in each supervision meeting. Target: by week [8], at least [three] instances in which I noticed the urge to reassure and chose a different response, identifiable on the recording. Review: week [8] and week [16].
I chose this goal because my role-play recordings show the problem clearly, and because research suggests that how well countertransference is managed matters more than whether it occurs. A meta-analysis found that successful countertransference management was strongly associated with better therapy outcomes (Hayes et al., 2011).
How the Goals Fit Together
The five goals are linked. Fidelity to the cognitive behavioral model will mean little if the alliance is weak, so goals 1 and 2 are reviewed together. The group and family goals widen my practice beyond one-to-one work, which the course requires. The fifth goal runs through the others: my urge to reassure affects individual sessions, group moments of conflict and family interviews alike, and the reaction log will draw examples from all three settings.
What Is Not in This Statement
The statement does not record hours, client counts or any evaluation of my performance; those belong to my clinical log and my supervisor's evaluation. It also does not include medication management, which is covered in a separate practicum.
Approval
Supervisor name and credentials: ______________________
Date reviewed: ______________________
Revisions agreed: ______________________
References
Blackburn, I.-M., James, I. A., Milne, D. L., Baker, C., Standart, S., Garland, A., & Reichelt, F. K. (2001). The Revised Cognitive Therapy Scale (CTS-R): Psychometric properties. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 29(4), 431-446. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465801004040
Hatcher, R. L., & Gillaspy, J. A. (2006). Development and validation of a revised short version of the Working Alliance Inventory. Psychotherapy Research, 16(1), 12-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503300500352500
Hayes, J. A., Gelso, C. J., & Hummel, A. M. (2011). Managing countertransference. Psychotherapy, 48(1), 88-97. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022182
Lambert, M. J., Whipple, J. L., & Kleinstäuber, M. (2018). Collecting and delivering progress feedback: A meta-analysis of routine outcome monitoring. Psychotherapy, 55(4), 520-537. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000167
The Purdue Global NU672 Unit 1 instructions
The first NU672 assignment asks you to set learning goals for the psychotherapy practicum. Most templates want three to five goals, each specific, measurable and tied to the formats of therapy your site offers, with a way your supervisor can verify progress and a date for review. The statement is usually two to three pages. Graders look for goals that fit the placement, that name a real measure rather than a feeling of confidence, and that address both technique and the therapist's own reactions. An honest account of your starting point, including skills you have practiced only in role-plays, helps your supervisor shape the term. Leave signature and approval lines for your supervisor to complete after review.
Inside the NU672 Unit 1 example
The statement opens with the placement: an individual caseload, a co-led process group and family intakes, with sessions recorded for supervision. It then names the student's starting point, including a habit of rushing to reassure seen in role-play recordings. A short section explains how each goal is written. Five goals follow in the same format of skill, measure, target and review, using the CTS-R, the WAI-SR with routine outcome monitoring, a group checklist, intake records and a reaction log. A highlighted sentence explains why the fifth goal matters, citing the countertransference meta-analysis. A section shows how the goals fit together, and the statement ends with what it leaves out and blank approval lines.
Reading the NU672 Unit 1 grading rubric
Learning goals are commonly graded on alignment with the course, measurability, feasibility at the site, self-awareness and presentation. Alignment earns full credit when the goals cover individual, group and family work, the three formats the course names. Measurability asks one thing of each target: could a supervisor confirm it from a recording, a rating scale or a written record? Feasibility rewards targets matched to a realistic caseload for one term. Self-awareness points go to goals that address the student's known weaknesses rather than general aspirations. Presentation covers a consistent format, correct citations for each measure and a document short enough for a busy supervisor to review in one sitting.
NU672 Unit 1 help: mistakes that cost points
A common weakness is writing goals such as "become confident with CBT," which no one can measure. Another is choosing measures that do not exist at the site, or that the supervisor has no time to use. Students often leave out group or family work because it feels unfamiliar, though the course expects it. Some statements list techniques rather than skills. Others ignore the student's own reactions, which supervision is designed to address. And filling in approval lines, hours or evaluations in advance takes over the supervisor's role; leave those for the supervisor, and keep hours in your own clinical log where they belong.
Get an NU672 Unit 1 example written to your instructions
Which formats does your NU672 placement offer: individual, group, family or all three? Tell us, add anything your supervisor has already asked of you, and attach the goals template and rubric. The first sample is free and back within 24-48h, each goal tied to a named model and a measure someone else could check. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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NU672 Unit 1 questions, answered
How many learning goals does a psychotherapy practicum usually need?
Three to five is common, and the template often decides. One goal per format the site offers is a sensible floor, since a term with individual, group and family work but goals for only one of them leaves the other two unassessed. More than five tends to thin the measures, and supervisors generally prefer fewer goals they can observe.
Can a learning goal be about my own reactions rather than a technique?
Yes, and many supervisors welcome one. Therapy training depends on noticing what a client stirs up in the clinician, so a goal about bringing those reactions to supervision is legitimate. It still needs a concrete form, such as one time-stamped moment per supervision session, so that progress can be seen rather than simply asserted in a final summary.
Should the goals mention medication?
Only if the practicum includes it. A psychotherapy placement usually keeps prescribing outside its scope, and goals that drift into dosing blur what the term is meant to assess. A single sentence noting that medication management happens elsewhere, or with another clinician, is enough. Your site agreement and your supervisor's expectations settle the question, since those set the practicum's boundaries.
Where can I find a free NU672 Unit 1 sample paper?
The complete NU672 Unit 1 practicum learning goals statement is on this page, with the placement, five goals with their measures and targets, the links between them and blank approval lines, plus four references. If you share your site's formats, a version fitted to your placement can be drafted.
Which measures does the NU672 Unit 1 statement use?
The Revised Cognitive Therapy Scale for fidelity, with a target of 36 out of 72, the short Working Alliance Inventory with session-by-session outcome monitoring, a group co-leading checklist, intake notes and genograms, and a reaction log reviewed in supervision.