Internship Update
The AHTA board recognizes the challenges with finding internship supervisors for our members. Online supervision was developed to help address this challenge. It is important to note why AHTA requires supervision of internship hours for professional registration. Professional registration standards have been developed using best practices. One element of professional registration is the supervised internship. A supervised internship helps to bridge the knowledge gained through educational programs with real world applications. It takes our knowledge and puts it into practice so we can further develop our skills and abilities.
The AHTA board recognizes that many people seeking professional registration come from other healthcare backgrounds and have already completed a supervised internship. We understand that the geographic distribution of HTRs has continued to pose challenges for many. We also recognize that someone who is already a certified or licensed healthcare professional has completed a clinically supervised internship, and some healthcare professionals are private practitioners who operate their own business.
At our September, 2023 board meeting we revised our online internship supervision policy to allow for approved licensed or certified individuals to complete an online supervised internship without having an on-site internship coordinator. The updated policy can be found on the AHTA Internship Handbook webpage and you can now download the updated internship application form.
G. Supervision of Internship
Students electing to undertake an internship after completing 6 semester credits are required to be directly supervised on-site by an HTR or HTM.
Off-site: If an intern is supervised off-site, the intern must have completed 9 semester credits in horticultural therapy before starting the internship.
Online: Students seeking online supervision must meet the following eligibility requirements:
- An intern is unable to obtain an AHTA internship supervisor within a geographic area.
- An intern cannot relocate and/or travel to a site where they can be supervised by an AHTA internship supervisor.
- An intern must have completed all 12 semester credits in plant science, 12 semester credits in human science, and 9 semester credits in horticultural therapy coursework must be completed prior to the start of an internship. Refer to Section II.C. of the AHTA Professional Registration Policies and Procedures for a list of required coursework.
Certified/Licensed professionals: Students who are currently certified or licensed in a profession accepted by the American Horticultural Therapy Association may be exempt from the requirement to have an on-site coordinator. The AHTA recommends having an on-site coordinator to support the internship experience with the recognition that not all internship sites offer this opportunity. The intern is required to have an AHTA approved internship supervisor for online supervision.
Licensed and certified professions accepted by the American Horticultural Therapy Association. If your license or certification is not listed contact AHTA for consideration.
- Mental health or related profession:
- Social work, clinical - LCSW, LMSW
- Certified Rehabilitation Counselor – CRC
- Professional counselor/therapist, licensed - LPC, LCADC, LMFT
- Behavior technician/assistant/analyst, registered or certified - BCaBA, BCBA
- Allied Professions
- Occupational therapist, registered or licensed - OTR, OTR/L, OTD Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist - CTRS
- Speech and Language Pathologist - SLP
- Art therapist, registered or certified - ATR, ATR-BC
- Physical therapist/assistant, licensed - PT, PTA
- Activity professional, certified - AAP-BC
- Nursing - LPN, RN, BSN, NP
