Training

Training of Mental Health Professionals

The Counseling Center is active in the placement and training of students in the mental health professions. Graduate students in counseling, social work, and psychology may seek practicum and internship placements in our center, provided they are recommended by their host department and meet other requirements. The Counseling Center does not provide basic or introductory practicum training experiences.

The Counseling Center requirements are:

• Students must be an active and current student in good standing with an accredited, full-time residential training program
• Students must have already successfully completed a basic or introductory practicum course in which there was in-person contact with actual clients
• Such in-person contacts must satisfy the relevant accreditation agency’s definitions of direct and indirect contact hours, as applicable
• Supervision for contact hours must have been provided by a licensed mental health professional in the relevant discipline, and this supervision must have been provided in-person
• The Counseling Center must have available training slots to fill and spaces in which trainees may work

In addition the Counseling Center has the following strong preferences:

• Students who are familiar with and exposed to developmental or contextual models of service delivery and views of clients
• Students who have had direct, in-person therapy contact with college students
• Students who have been observed, using a range of supervisory practices (such as video recording, live observation, and/or live audio) in their direct, in-person therapy practica experiences
• Students in UA training programs which meet our requirements

After being recommended, in writing, by an accredited, full-time residential training program, graduate students who are interested in our paid placements must complete an application, consisting of a letter of interest and a resume. Though there are exceptions depending on training department timelines, we are usually prepared to receive applications after late January to mid-February of each year. Qualified applicants are selected for interviews held at the Counseling Center. For those beginning in the fall term, the positions are typically filled by mid-April.

Graduate students from accredited, full-time residential training programs seeking volunteer externship and/or practicum placements should 1) ask his or her training director to provide the Counseling Center Executive Director a written recommendation for the placement, 2) after the recommendation is received, forward a copy of a letter of interest and resume or vita, and 3) after being contacted by the Counseling Center, schedule an interview.

For more information contact the Executive Director of the Counseling Center at 348-3863.