Internship Activities
Direct Service Experience
Individual and Couples Counseling
Most clients are served through brief therapy although our center does not have a session limit. Interns work with a diverse student population since our student body is comprised of non-traditional aged students, international students, students from a variety of racial and cultural, sexual minorities, and students with disabilities. In addition to individual therapy the Center also provides relationship counseling for gay, lesbian, and heterosexual couples. A typical intern case load is about 15 client contact hours per week, including new client slots.
Intake Service
Interns conduct clinical intake interviews. On average each staff member conducts three new intakes per week. That number may increase during peak times of the semester. Interns will conduct the initial interview, write up the intake reports and conduct ongoing assessment as they formulate conceptualizations of the clients' concerns. Interns will also provide crisis services as necessary.
Consultation and Outreach
The Counseling Center staff often serves as guest speakers for academic classrooms,
university offices, and university organizations. Topics range from anxiety, depression,
eating concerns, responsible bystander behavior (a.k.a., Green Dot™), MBTI, LGBTQIA
topics and SAFE Zone. Interns are an integral part of our outreach program.
In addition, our staff is sometimes consulted by offices and departments within the university for student-related problems. In addition, staff members sometimes serve on university committees. Consultation and outreach are important aspects of the Center's many services and interns actively participate in both the planning and delivery of these services.
SUPERVISION AND TRAINING EXPERIENCE
Individual Supervision
Supervision at the Center is designed so that interns have exposure to a number of different staff members during their internship year. Each intern has two individual supervisors throughout the year; each provides an hour of supervision weekly, covering half the intern's caseload.
Group Supervision
This twice monthly seminar provides an opportunity for interns to discuss their clinical work with each other and the seminar facilitator. Goals are to conceptualize cases from various theoretical perspectives, to consider new ideas regarding intervention options, to heighten awareness of therapist reactions and experiences, and to offer and receive support from the intern cohort. An additional focus of the seminar is to discuss and practice case presentation skills culminating in case presentation to the enter Center staff.
Supervision Seminar and Practice
The center is also a training facility for master's students from multidisciplinary settings. As a result interns are involved in providing supervision. Fall semester is spent exploring various theoretical orientations to supervision while serving as a member of the master's student's supervision team. Spring semester is spent with the intern as the lead supervisor of the student's supervision team. The didactic portion of this seminar will meet twice monthly in the fall. The supervision teams will meet weekly in the spring to discussion supervision issues.
Crisis Intervention Seminar
Interns receive intensive training on crisis intervention skills including suicidality assessments. This 90-minute seminar is offered during the fall semester.
Professional/General Topics Seminar
Ninety-minute professional practice seminars are held throughout the fall and spring semesters. Senior staff and guest mental health professionals present seminars on topics of interest to clinicians.
Multicultural Seminar
Multicultural sensitivity and competence is an expectation at the Counseling Center.
As a result multicultural concerns and issues are infused into every aspect of the
training experience. Formal multicultural supervision is provided in group format
beginning spring of the internship year. The aim of this seminar is to develop interns'
skills, sensitivity, and awareness regarding individual differences, diversity and
multicultural issues in group process. This is provided through a combination of didactic
training, self-exploration and case discussion.
Professional Identity Seminar
This seminar meets twice monthly, is led by the Training Coordinator, and provides
an opportunity for interns to explore their professional identities. The seminar is
semi-structured. Some meetings are devoted to processing the interns' experiences
in various stages of the internship. Other meetings would involve specific topics
such as the job search, interviewing skills, ethics training, Kentucky mental health
law, etc. Topics will be decided upon by the interns and Training Coordinator.
***Please note that seminar offerings are subject to change based on emerging needs of the interns.
Training Information:
Internship Programs
Additional Resources
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