Preceptors for UC's psychiatric-mental health NP

How UC offers the PMHNP

UC has no PMHNP MSN. You enter the specialty through the online BSN-to-DNP, which starts in fall only and runs about three years with the internships in semesters 6 to 8, or through the online post-master's certificate, which starts in spring, summer and fall and can be finished in as few as 16 months.

Certificate students attend a mandatory two-day virtual intensive in their first semester, normally held midweek in week 6. Upcoming dates include Feb 17–18 for Spring 2027 and Jun 16–17 for Summer 2027. APRN students who take NURS8020C from Spring 2027 also attend its three-day campus immersion, even though the certificate's curriculum page still calls the program fully online. Whether that applies to you depends on whether the course is on your individualized plan; see the immersion page.

The DNP isn't open to Washington students. UC authorizes Washington clinicals for certificates, but the Washington approval list UC publishes doesn't name PMHNP, so ask UC before planning any hours there.

Three internships, two kinds of preceptor

Each internship is 168 hours, averaging about 12 hours a week. The clinical requirements list the courses below; PMHNP internships has the complete rules.

About the course numbers: the DNP curriculum guide lists the practicums as ANPS8020, ANPS8022 and ANPS8024 at 3 credits each, while the clinical requirements use ANPS8028, ANPS8030 and ANPS8032 at 168 hours each. This page follows the clinical requirements. Check the numbers on your own plan of study with your advisor.

Who qualifies at each stage

Internship I runs against intuition. For ANPS8028, psychiatric NPs and psychiatrists do not qualify; UC wants a licensed therapist who does psychotherapy. Once a preceptor meets UC's baseline on UC preceptor requirements, the PMHNP rules below decide the fit.

• California swaps in a different Internship I list: an NP, a physician, a clinical psychologist, or a psychiatrist if the program director approves.
• From Internship II on, every preceptor needs prescribing privileges: PMHNP-BC, PMHCNS-BC, or a board-certified or board-eligible psychiatrist.
• At least 40 hours with each preceptor, no more than two preceptors in one semester and at least three before you graduate.
• A fifth or more of your hours under a certified psychiatric-mental health NP.
• Relatives can't precept you, and training where you're employed is off the table unless UC approves it.

Logging more than 168 hours in Internship I or II requires the program director's OK, so ask before you plan to bank extra time early.

The age-group rule and telehealth

Over the whole program you owe 100 hours or more in every age band: pediatric (0 to 17), adult (18 to 61) and geriatric (62 and over). A typical adult outpatient caseload supplies plenty of adult hours and far fewer of the other two, so reaching the pediatric and geriatric floors often means adding a preceptor whose patients include children or older adults.

Telehealth time can count when the program director approves it for your case. Where FNP, AGPC and PNP-AC students must stand beside the preceptor, a PMHNP student may log in from elsewhere over a live video link, as long as it isn't from a public setting. Telepsychiatry is named as allowed in Internships II and III, and you need an RN license for whatever state each patient is in. Telehealth clinical hours explains the college-wide rule.

Where PMHNP searches get stuck

Two handoffs cause most of the work. The first is finding a therapist for Internship I who will host an NP student. Your outreach should explain up front that UC wants a therapist, not a prescriber, for this course, and what eMedley will ask of them. The second is lining up prescribers for Internships II and III whose patient panels cover the age groups you still need.

The two-preceptor cap per semester leaves little room to patch a gap mid-term, and any replacement still needs UC's approval before hours count. A backup prescriber identified in advance is worth more than a long list of maybes.

Weekly rhythm matters as well. Each internship averages about 12 hours a week, so a preceptor who can host one long clinic day, or two shorter ones, fits the load better than someone offering scattered hours.

Timing the internship packets

1. Sequence the three internships. Name a therapist for Internship I and at least one prescriber for each later internship, and note which age groups each one will supply.
2. Submit by UC's packet date. Each term's cutoff Friday is on packet deadlines. Start the Preceptor Application with your own section, then pass it to the therapist or prescriber.
3. Allow for the agreement. Count on six weeks or more for UC's standard site contract. Private therapy practices and hospital systems that want their own terms can take many months; affiliation agreements explains the process.
4. Look for approval in eMedley. A welcome email signals approval, after which your preceptor shows up in eMedley and starts confirming your logged time every two weeks.
5. Be secured by week 2. If week 2 ends with no confirmed site, drop before the drop date to keep your refund intact; the week-2 rule covers the alternatives.

Where we fit: we search for therapists and psychiatric prescribers who meet UC's rules for the internship you're entering, help you collect what the application and agreement need, and step back in if one withdraws. UC makes every approval decision itself. The how it works page lays out our part.