MASTER'S INTERNSHIP & PRACTICA EXPERIENCES

An Overview

The Counseling and Testing Services is a department of the Division of Student Affairs. The innovative and service oriented University Counseling and Testing Services provides a full range of services and programs which promote students' developmental and psychological well being. The staff is strongly committed to programming which respects individual and cultural diversity.

Counseling and Testing Services offers individual, couples, and group counseling for students, faculty and staff who are dealing with anxiety, decision making, depression, eating disorders, loneliness, sexual identity, relationships, career decision, academic problems, life planning, chemical abuse/ dependency and other life adjustment concerns.

Outreach programming such as assertiveness training, test anxiety, study skills, time management, interpersonal communication, and rape prevention are an important component of our services as well. Some of these skills training and personal growth workshops are off-site. For example, alcohol prevention and wellness training has been offered in the University Student Union, and an HIV therapy group was offered at United Campus Ministry. Many of these programs occur after hours and interns earn comp time when these are performed.

Career counseling and testing is also offered to help both prospective and current students gain a better understanding of themselves in relation to a potential career. As a result, Counseling and Testing Services offers a series of personal and career inventories. The student first meets with a counselor to determine the individual's needs or concerns, is assisted in determining which inventories would be helpful, and after completing the tests, meets for an interpretive session to go over the results of the tests and answer questions.

Setting and Facilities

University Counseling and Testing Services is located on the main campus of the University of Oklahoma across the street from the Main OU Library. Counseling and Testing Services is on the second floor of Goddard Health Center. Goddard is a modern, well-equipped health facility that is nationally regarded as one of the best university health centers. Counseling and Testing Services has three group conference rooms as well as individual offices equipped with audiotape recorders and computer terminals.

University Counseling and Testing Services has a strong commitment to maintaining close working relationships with other departments of the Division of Student Affairs, including Career Planning & Placement, the University Housing, and Minority Student Services.


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GENERAL TRAINING REQUIREMENTS

Student Training Philosophy

The training program at the University of Oklahoma Counseling and Testing Services provides intensive training with a variety of professional activities. To further the student’s personal and professional growth this training program provides a wide variety of training opportunities so that students gain exposure to the various roles of staff member in a university counseling center. Each student’s training experiences will be tailored to meet individual needs and preferences. Students have the opportunity to receive training in the following core areas:

1) Psychological intervention and treatment with a culturally diverse population, including individual, marital, family (limited basis) and group psychotherapy;
2) Psychological assessment and diagnosis of a culturally diverse population, utilizing a broad range of instruments, methods, and clinical interviewing techniques;
3) Methods of psychological research, and the application of critical thinking and research to professional practice;
4) Professional ethics and legal and professional issues and their application to the practice of psychology;
5) Appreciation of ethnic and cultural diversity, and sensitive appraisal of the impact of such diversity on professional practice;

Duration

A full time practicum or internship experience must consist of a two-semester commitment that involves 16-20 hours of work on site per week. Leave during the training period should be arranged through your primary supervisor. Students are encouraged to take vacation time during the breaks between semesters or other university vacations, as these are times we experience a decrease in clientele.

Supervision

upervision will consist of one hour per week of individual supervision. In addition opportunities will exist for students to meet for group supervision throughout the year to be presented with didactic experiences, discussion of cases, and processing of training experience.


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AGENCY SPECIFIC STUDENT ACTIVITIES

Individual and Couples Therapy

Each student will carry a weekly caseload of approximately 8-12 clients. Clients are generally seen once per week, though more or less frequent meetings are arranged depending on the need. These clients are students, faculty and staff and their dependents who are dealing with anxiety, decision making, depression, eating disorders, loneliness, sexual identity, relationships, career decision making, academic problems, life planning and more severe, long standing disorders. Student cases are considered short-term (1-16 sessions). Cases are selected in conjunction with the supervisor and an attempt is made to meet the specific training needs of the individual student in case selection.

Group Therapy

Students are involved in providing group therapy at Counseling and Testing Services. A possible training opportunity would involve a student to run at least one process-oriented group. These groups may take the form of eating disorders, children from dysfunctional families, assertiveness training, test anxiety, career decision-making, or other adjustment concerns. Besides the process-oriented groups, there are psychotherapy groups dealing with depression, eating disorders, loneliness, sexual identity, and rape or incest abuse. Students are encouraged to be involved in leading both types of groups. Opportunities to gain group experience may depend on the number of groups being facilitated each semester

Outreach

Outreach and consultation programming are integral parts of the preventative and developmental emphases of Counseling and Testing Services. Students will be required to complete a number of outreach programs during the training year and students are encouraged to develop and present programs in areas of special interest and/or to work with new topics and populations. Students and Senior Staff often work in teams in presenting programs on such topics as AIDS, women's issues, minority and relationship issues. In addition, students may be called upon to provide consultation services. The consulting relationship may involve such activities as working with residence hall staff on crisis intervention and crisis management, providing training for resident advisors, or working directly with groups of students on specific issues, such as grief counseling.

Crisis Services

Students will gain exposure in working with clients that are experiencing immediate crisis. This exposure will be gained through either the student’s individual case load or by taking part in the agencies on-call counselor rotation system. Students will receive supervision in working with clients in crisis and will be encouraged to talk about these experiences with their individual supervisor or during group supervision experiences.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or wish to be considered for a student internship/practicum experience, contact Dr. Scott Miller at 325-2700.


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