Introduction
The University’s board has decided to expand the trainee program, which means that students from other institutions will be accepted as a trainee and trained. To execute this, the counseling program management should have a detailed plan with the suggestions and changes to the existing policies that are needed for the new program. This document will detail the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and any pertinent suggestions for changes to the University’s policies and procedures manual that will allow executing the new trainee program.
Relevant Documents
MOU is a document where one addresses a type of agreement between several people. According to Kenton (2021), MOU is a formal agreement between two or more parties that is not legally binding, but it indicates the parties’ desire to proceed with a contract. The University and the trainees will sign an MOU where the student’s agreement to participate in the trainee program, alongside the duration and desired outcomes, will be signed. Hence, the first change that must be implemented into the University’s current policies is the development of an MOU form that will be distributed among the future trainees. Next, the MFT Trainee Clinical Placement Agreement is another document that the University will need to implement, which details the clinical practice that the students will participate in, including the number of hours and the types of activities they will take part in.
Needs Assessment
The importance of a needs assessment is that it enables the University to identify the gaps that are obstructing the institution from achieving its objectives. A needs assessment is a systematic method for identifying and addressing needs, or “gaps” between present and desired circumstances (“Needs assessment,” n.d.). To properly define the demand, the difference between the present and desired conditions must be quantified, which in this document will be discussed under the “Objectives” heading.
The requirement might be a desire to improve present performance or to address a weakness. The gap that this University currently has is the lack of a trainee program that would help students gain clinical experience and participate in activities that will provide them with experiences relevant to their future practice. Since not all students from this University may desire to participate in this program, the trainee initiative will be open to students from other Universities as well.
A needs assessment is a component of planning that is frequently used to better individuals, education or training, organizations, or communities. It has the ability to enhance and improve a product, such as training or service provided to a client (Markaki et al., 2021). It can be a valuable tool for clarifying problems and identifying relevant actions or solutions. By precisely defining the problem, limited resources may be directed toward creating and executing a realistic and appropriate solution. The second step in the needs assessment plan is gathering relevant and adequate data, which guides the process of designing a successful product that addresses the requirements and desires of the group. Needs assessments are only helpful when they are goal-oriented and give specific data that can be utilized to identify which of the available means-to-the-ends are the most effective and efficient for obtaining the intended objectives.
The model for this project follows these steps: conducting the needs assessment, identifying gaps in education and training of students, developing a list of stakeholders, identifying the desired outcomes and timeline for the program, allocating the budget for the execution, and developing the MFT and MOU agreements that the trainees will sign before the beginning of the program. These documents will outline the duties and responsibilities of the University and the trainees. Additionally, the trainee program will have a selection process for the applicants. For example, the individuals who want to apply will have to provide their credentials, such as their diplomas, and go through an interview with the professors from the University who will determine the candidate’s readiness to participate in training.
The main goal of this project is to provide clinical training for the trainees who will enroll in this project. The expected outcome of this training project is to have a specific number of trainees that will participate in the program, which is ten students. Additionally, these students should complete the 600 hours of clinical training under this training program.
A stepwise approach to accomplishing the goals outlined above are based on the development of a detailed plan, examination of the relevant stakeholders, obtaining the budget, and executing the plan. The critical control measures and outcomes include the number of trainees who enrolled in the program, the percentage of students accepted after the interview, and the number of hours completed by these individuals, which should be 600 over the course of the training. The trainees should complete this program in three months. The materials needed to execute this project include the curriculum, outline of activities, the manager of the trainee program, classroom or clinical space to conduct the training sessions, and the professors or clinical professionals who will be guiding this program.
The primary ethical concern that arises with the implementation of this program is the enrollment of students from other universities. Hence, the management should consider prioritizing students who have completed their studies at this facility and providing them with an opportunity to participate in clinical training if there are not enough students who have completed their degrees at this University, candidates from other facilities who have applied. Another ethical consideration is the access to clinical information that the trainees will have. Since the students will participate in clinical practice training, the facility should consider asking the trainees with non-disclosure agreements that will guarantee that the participants will not use patients’ information outside of their training. This issue is also a legal concern since disclosure of patient data is not allowed, which should be addressed through the non-disclosure agreements as well.
The cultural issue that should be considered is the use of culturally-centered practices that clinical professionals should employ in their work. To ensure that the students understand and use this approach, the training program should begin with a workshop on culturally competent training before the trainees participate in clinical practices (Kirmayer et al., 2020). Personal biases that can become an obstacle in the course of the program are linked to the personal biases of the trainees. This can be addressed by discussing the expectations of the trainees from the program and collecting their feedback.
Conclusion
In summary, this paper outlines the MFT and MOU agreements for the University’s trainee program. Additionally, this document outlines the main aspects of creating and facilitating a trainee program. The main goal of this program is to develop a strategy that allows the trainees to receive clinical training that will prepare them for future work and practice. The legal and ethical concerns, as well as biases and potential obstacles and ways of addressing these barriers, are discussed as well.
References
Kenton, W. (2021). Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Kirmayer, L. J., Fung, K., Rousseau, C., Lo, H. T., Menzies, P., Guzder, J., Ganesan, S., Andermann, L., & McKenzie, K. (2021). Guidelines for training in cultural psychiatry. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 66(2), 195–246.
Markaki, A., Malhotra, S., Billings, R., & Theus, L. (2021). Training needs assessment: Tool utilization and global impact. BMC Medical Education, 21(1), 10-20. doi: 10.1186/s12909-021-02748-y
Needs assessment. (n.d.)