at the UNC counseling center
The University of Northern Colorado Counseling Center offers many training opportunities for graduate students in Counseling Psychology and Clinical Psychology programs of study, including: two pre-doctoral psychology intern positions, two Counseling Masters internship positions, and two practicum positions for graduate students.
The full-time pre-doctoral internship program, the Counseling Psychology Masters internship program, and the Practicum experiences offered by the University of Northern Colorado Counseling Center are designed to provide a broad-based professional training experience in the range of activities carried out by psychologists and counselors in a university counseling center. Our philosophy of training incorporates a generalist, developmental apprenticeship perspective with mentorship and experiential learning. We believe in using developmental models of training. We are also committed to diversity and multicultural awareness in all aspects of our training program.
We aim to train interns and practicum students as skilled generalists equipped to work in a variety of post-internship employment settings. To accomplish this we provide a range of didactic and experiential training activities that psychologists and counselors in a large university counseling center setting or other mental health settings are likely to encounter, including: individual, couples, and group psychotherapy, clinical assessment, crisis intervention, outreach, and consultation.
Our staff recognizes the importance of clinical practice that is informed by scholarly inquiry. Theoretical and research literature is integrated with experiential components of training. Administrative and policy decisions at our center are informed by scholarly review of both empirical and theoretical literature, as well as our center's ongoing examination of service utilization, client demographics, and client satisfaction. Results of ongoing satisfaction surveys may also inform areas in need of attention for clinical staff and trainees.
Mentorship in our training program is indicated by a genuine commitment of both individual and group supervision. Interns are considered developing professionals and are encouraged to work closely with senior staff members, who provide mentoring and serve as professional role models for our trainees. Overall, we seek to create an atmosphere of respect and trust where interns and professional staff support their own and others' growth, both personally and professionally. Staff members model ethical and professional clinical approaches and they participate in teaching through supervision, consultation, and seminars devoted to the professional development of interns. Staff members utilize a variety of theoretical orientations in our clinical work, including cognitive, relational, mindfulness-based, feminist, systems, existential, and solution-focused. Regardless of the primary orientations of each staff member, all staff believe the therapeutic relationship is the key contributor to therapy process and progress. Therefore, interns have the opportunity to get exposure to a variety of therapeutic approaches and styles, while still refining their ability to attend to relational dynamics and use the therapeutic relationship as a primary tool or change mechanism.
We recognize that each intern brings a variety of skills, experience, and training needs to the internship and that some flexibility to tailor the training program according to the strengths, needs, and interests of each intern is necessary for optimal growth. This is accomplished in numerous ways, including customizing training contracts for each intern based on their particular interests and needs, providing opportunities for intern input in the planning of various center and training activities, and allowing interns the opportunity to select a special interest area. Potential special interest areas could include (but are not limited to) eating disorders, trauma/sexual assault, religion/spirituality, learning difference, men's issues, substance abuse, mindfulness, supervision, etc. Our internship program attends to diversity/multicultural issues throughout various training activities including didactic training, supervision, and actual clinical experiences with a diverse client population. The staff of The Counseling Center is committed to the awareness and affirmation of diversity in all our clinical and non-clinical endeavors. Multicultural awareness and sensitivity pervade all training and service at our center.
We see the internship year as a transition period when interns will be shifting from a trainee identity and developing their clinical and professional identities. We seek to assist in this developmental process by providing interns opportunities to stretch, take risks, try out different interventions and therapy approaches, and begin to discover their own individual styles and approaches that are consistent with their sense of self, values, strengths, and interests, with greater sensitivity and respect for the multicultural world in which we exist. We welcome your inquiries and applications. Please contact Dr. Meredith Cohn for more information at (970) 351-2496 or Meredith.Cohn@unco.edu
"This internship site agrees to abide by the APPIC policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept, or use any ranking-related information from any intern applicant."
To apply, please follow the link below:
Pre-doctoral Internship Program
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