NRS 856: your first psychiatric clinical at Clarkson College
NRS 856 Introduction to Psychiatric-Mental Health Concepts is where a Clarkson College PMHNP student first trains under a psychiatric provider: 150 clinical hours in the MSN and post-graduate certificate, 200 in the BSN to DNP. It is also the one course on Clarkson's November 2023 PMHNP clinical sheet that reserves 50 hours for a licensed master's-prepared therapist, so you will usually arrange two preceptors, and two agreements, before you can register.
Find both NRS 856 preceptors
Tell us your term and state. We line up the psychiatric provider and the therapist together.
NRS 856 hours, by plan and by week
The 2026-27 catalog prints two figures on the NRS 856 course page: 150 hours on the MSN and certificate plan and 200 on the BSN to DNP plan, the second marked "DNP-effective Spring 2024." Both sit inside the track totals of 750 and 975 hours that Clarkson's credit hour policy, AA-55, sets for nurse practitioner students.
| Plan | Course hours | Per week, 15-week term | Per week, 12-week summer | Half the hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSN or certificate | 150 | 10 | 12.5 | 75 |
| BSN to DNP | 200 | About 13.3 | About 16.7 | 100 |
The last column matters because Clarkson's 2021-22 handbook tied a passing midterm to having half the hours in hand, and it wanted hours paced evenly rather than bunched at the end of the term. A summer NRS 856 squeezes the same hours into twelve weeks, so a preceptor with only one clinic day a week will leave you short. The pacing guide runs the same math for every clinical course.
Where NRS 856 falls in the PMHNP sequence
NRS 856 is the second clinical course of the PMHNP track and the first one in psychiatry. The catalog lists NRS 830 and NRS 835 as prerequisites and NRS 855 as a co-requisite, which you take in the same term. NRS 857 cannot begin until NRS 856 is passed, and NRS 858 and NRS 859 follow in the same one-after-another order.
The step up from NRS 830 is larger than it looks. In physical assessment a PMHNP student trains with a family practice MD, DO or NP, and the sheet allowed a physician assistant there and nowhere else in the track. From NRS 856 on, every hour outside the therapist block needs a psychiatrist or a PMHNP. The catalog describes the course population as diverse psychiatric-mental health clients across the lifespan, so a preceptor with a broad mix of ages and diagnoses suits it best.
The two preceptors NRS 856 usually needs
Clarkson's November 2023 PMHNP sheet splits the course between two kinds of clinician. Fifty hours go to a licensed therapist prepared at the master's level. The remaining hours are with a psychiatrist or a PMHNP.
Therapists the sheet gives as examples
- Social worker holding an independent license
- Social worker holding a master's-level license
- Psychologist
- PMHNP who provides counseling only
Both people also have to clear Clarkson's general NP preceptor rules: a current license in the state where your hours happen, two or more years of experience, practice tied to the course, and no family relationship with you. The full list sits on the preceptor requirements page.
Count heads before you commit. The sheets capped each clinical course at two preceptors unless faculty agreed in writing to more, and the therapist fills one of those two places. If you want a second psychiatric provider on top, get course faculty's written approval before any hours begin.
Two agreements before you register
Each preceptor needs a Clinical/Practicum Site & Preceptor Agreement Form, filed through DocuSign. Clarkson's sheets required a new form for every preceptor, every course and every semester, so NRS 856 normally means two: one naming the psychiatric provider and one naming the therapist.
- Get two firm yesesConfirm the psychiatrist or PMHNP and the therapist, along with each one's license details and the exact legal name of each practice or agency.
- Check the second siteA therapist at a different agency brings a second site, which may need its own affiliation agreement. Clarkson's paperwork warned that can take up to two months.
- File by the deadlineClarkson's 2021-22 handbook and 2023 sheets put the spring deadline at Nov. 1, summer at Mar. 1 and fall at Jun. 1. Your Graduate Nursing advisor has the current dates.
- Wait for every sign-offFour approvals stand between filing and your first counted hour: advisor, Compliance, Graduate Nursing, then course faculty. Typhon gets the preceptor's name only once DocuSign is done.
The agreement guide covers the form itself, and the affiliation agreement page explains the Compliance office's side of a new site.
An hour with either preceptor counts only after that preceptor's agreement is fully approved and course faculty have signed off.
Settings that suit an introductory psychiatric course
The PMHNP sheet lists five kinds of site: inpatient psychiatric facilities, outpatient psychiatric facilities, psychiatric emergency or crisis units, outpatient counseling centers, and outpatient community health centers where the preceptor is a mental health provider. Any of them can host NRS 856 if the preceptor qualifies.
For a first psychiatric course, an outpatient practice with a steady flow of new evaluations and follow-up visits lets you learn the psychiatric interview at a workable pace. A counseling center is the natural home for the therapist hours, and some agencies have a prescriber and a therapist under one roof, which keeps the paperwork to a single site.
Video visits can count as well. The sheet made telehealth optional and allowed as many as 300 hours of it in the psychiatric clinicals, as long as you were with the provider, so any video hours here draw on that one allowance. Start recording each patient's age group in Typhon from day one as well, because the sheet sets minimum hours with adults, with patients under 18 and with adults 60 and over; the PMHNP clinical sites guide sets those out.
How we set up NRS 856 for Clarkson students
Our placement desk runs the two searches side by side. One finds a psychiatrist or PMHNP with at least two years in practice, licensed where you live and seeing a wide range of patients. The other finds a licensed master's-prepared therapist close enough to fit your week, ideally at the same agency so one site covers both.
Before anything reaches Clarkson, we check each person against the November 2023 rules, collect the license details, credentials and legal agency names the DocuSign form asks for, and tell you early whether either site will need a new affiliation agreement. Then we map NRS 857 through NRS 859 so the next preceptor is ready before this course ends. Give us your term and state in the form below.
Questions Clarkson students ask
Can a physician assistant precept me in NRS 856?
No. Clarkson's November 2023 PMHNP sheet limited PAs to NRS 830, the physical assessment course. Every psychiatric course after it calls for a psychiatrist or a PMHNP, with the 50 therapist hours in NRS 856 as the lone exception. If a practice offers you a PA, ask whether a psychiatrist or PMHNP there could take you instead.
Are the 50 therapist hours on top of the 150?
No. The sheet places them inside NRS 856, so an MSN or certificate student would spend about 100 hours with the psychiatric preceptor and 50 with the therapist. The sheet gives one figure for the course, so BSN to DNP students, whose version runs 200 hours, should confirm the split with course faculty.
Can NRS 856 be done by telehealth?
In part. Telehealth counted in the psychiatric courses up to a 300-hour ceiling on the PMHNP sheet, with you present alongside the provider, and never in NRS 830. No site has to offer it, so an in-person-only practice works fine. Track your video hours as you go and confirm with faculty how the ceiling is tallied over NRS 856 to NRS 859.
Is there a campus visit during NRS 856?
No. The one on-campus requirement for Clarkson NP students is the Graduate Weekend attached to NRS 830, the course before this one. By the time you reach NRS 856 you have passed that skills check-off, and the course runs online with your hours at approved clinical sites near home.
Can I take NRS 856 and NRS 857 in the same term?
No. Clarkson's program pages allow one clinical course at a time, and NRS 857 lists NRS 856 as its prerequisite. What you can do is start the search for your NRS 857 preceptor while NRS 856 is running, so the next agreement is filed before its deadline and the following term starts on time.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Clarkson College's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and Graduate Nursing advisor have the final word.
Clarkson asks you to find your preceptor. We make the search the easy part.
Tell us your Clarkson track, your city and your next clinical course. We line up preceptors who fit the NRS course and Clarkson's rules, gather the details the site and preceptor agreement asks for, and flag early whether the site needs a new affiliation agreement.
- Preceptors matched to the course: all-ages primary care for FNP, acute care units for AGACNP, psychiatric providers for PMHNP
- License, experience and site details checked against Clarkson's rules before the agreement is filed
- Every clinical course planned in sequence, close to home in a state where Clarkson's graduate nursing meets requirements
Start your placement plan
Track, city and next clinical course is all we need to begin.