Counseling Center

Practicum Training

Training experiences described below include:

Advanced Practicum Training

LD/ADHD Assessment Practicum

Second Year Practicum Training

Graduate Assistant: LD/ADHD Assessment

practicum office

The Counseling Center

The Counseling Center's primary mission is to provide therapeutic, training, consultative, and outreach services to the University community. The Counseling Center is in the Student Health Center, located adjacent to the Rec Center on campus and easily accessible. The interview rooms are equipped with cameras so that your work can be taped and observed for supervision purposes.

In addition to interview rooms, there is a practicum office with computer terminals so that you can do your progress notes and other paperwork. There are also television monitors enabling you to observe your own work.

The Clientele

Our clients are undergraduate and graduate students whose concerns range from acute situational stress and adjustment reactions to more severe trauma reactions and long-standing psychological problems. Our student body includes many non-traditional, minority, and international students. Approximately twenty percent of our clients are members of racial/ethnic minorities. A fourth of our clients have previously received psychological services in another setting, and the average age of our clients is 25 years old.

The Staff

Our training staff is friendly, enthusiastic, and committed to diverse professional interests and involvements. Currently, the staff includes five counseling psychologists, three clinical psychologists, and two doctoral-level counselors. Psychiatric services are provided at the University Health Service. We consult closely with the psychiatrist, nurse, and psychologist who work there.

Our staff is experienced in both brief and long-term therapy, and we strive to model integrative eclecticism and the application of the practitioner-scholar model to a practice setting. No single theoretical orientation characterizes us; we strive to be open to a variety of approaches. We also value expertise in the provision of therapy services to special populations. To read descriptions of our training staff members' theoretical orientations, clinical interests, and supervision styles, click here.

Advanced Practicum Training

counselor and client

We offer an advanced practicum for counseling and clinical psychology graduate students in their third year of graduate training or beyond. This involves supervised training in individual counseling and psychotherapy. In addition, you will learn how to conduct intakes.

We have a richly varied client population and trainees sometimes request particular types of therapy clients of special interest to them, e.g., clients from dysfunctional families; clients with diverse cultural backgrounds; clients experiencing eating disorders, interpersonal difficulties, loss, etc. Trainees are expected to complete 50 client contact hours per semester for both the fall and spring semesters. In return, trainees receive 1 hour per week of individual supervision from a senior staff member. To look at a typical weekly schedule for an advanced practicum student, click here.

Interested students may inquire about the availability of this experience in one of three ways. You may talk with the Practicum Coordinator about your practicum and supervision interests and discuss the staff members that might best meet your needs. Also, you may approach individual senior staff members to talk with them about their styles of supervision, orientation, and client population interests. Finally, you may wish to read descriptions of our senior staff supervision styles, click here.

Please remember that while a staff member can indicate a willingness to work with you, she/he cannot promise the assignment. Assignments have to be coordinated by the Training Director and Practicum Coordinator, taking all requests and supervisor availability into account. All interested candidates are required to complete an Advanced Practicum Application Form. You may download an application by clicking here. We accept applications in the Spring Semester for the following academic year (fall and spring semester). The deadline for submission is the third Monday of April.

Submitting a request does not guarantee that the Counseling Center will be able to provide you a practicum placement. However, you will notified of the Counseling Center's Training Staff decision no later then the end of the spring semester. We will not be able to inform you of your supervisor until the fall semester. Orientation training for the advanced practicum begins the week before classes start in the fall semester.

Please contact the Practicum Coordinator with any questions.

Don Mullison, Ph.D.
Practicum Coordinator
618-453-5371

LD/ADHD Assessment Practicum

The advanced practicum in LD/ADHD assessment at the Counseling Center is a 12-month clinical experience focusing on the assessment of learning disabilities (LD) and ADHD. This practicum is recommended for third or fourth year graduate students who have already completed the majority of their coursework, and is appropriate for graduate students in clinical and counseling psychology.

Although this practicum will focus specifically on LD/ADHD assessment, the program has been developed to provide supportive, applied training in the assessment process, including issues/topics such as: intellectual and achievement testing; clinical interviewing; multicultural issues; psychometric issues; and the ethical practice of assessment and testing.

Qualifications that are required to enroll in this practicum include: familiarity with and previous hands-on practice using the WAIS-III, at least one graduate-level course on intellectual assessment, interest in learning about the assessment of LD and ADHD, good interpersonal skills, and the ability to represent the agency in a responsible and professional manner. Additional qualifications that are preferred are: familiarity and hands-on practice with the Woodcock-Johnson III and the Wechsler Memory Scales-III, coursework in personality assessment, knowledge of various LD and ADHD issues, ability to structure workload and time, attention to detail, flexibility, and commitment to providing students with the highest quality assessment services.

For further information, please contact the Assessment Coordinator:

William R. Todd, Ph.D.
Assessment Coordinator
618-453-5371

Click here for more information about the Counseling Center's LD/ADHD Assessment Program.

Second Year Practicum Training

The Counseling Center and the Counseling Psychology Program within the Psychology Department have a linkage agreement that the Counseling Center will provide personal / emotional practicum training to all second year graduate students. The second year practicum students are expected to complete 20 client contact hours per semester for both the fall and spring semesters. In return, trainees receive 1 hour per week of individual supervision from a pre-doctoral intern or a senior staff member.

Second year practicum students will see clients in interview rooms that are equipped with cameras so that all of your clinical work can be taped or observed for supervision purposes. In addition to interview rooms, the practicum office is equipped with computers for scheduling and clinical paperwork and television monitors enabling you to review your own work.

Graduate Assistant: LD/ADHD Assessment

The Graduate Assistantship in LD/ADHD assessment at the Counseling Center is a 12-month half-time clinical and administrative position, beginning on July 1 of each year and continuing through June 30 of the following year. The person in this position provides psychoeducational assessment services to clients presenting with LD and/or ADHD concerns, and acts as an administrative and research assistant to the Assessment Coordinator. The Graduate Assistant's specific duties include: provision of psychoeducational assessments (including test administration, test scoring, test interpretation, integrative report writing, etc.); co-facilitation of an ADHD support group; database management; coordination of client, clinician, and supervisor testing schedules; research activities; various clerical activities (e.g., filing, copying, etc.) as needed; and other duties as assigned.

Qualifications that are required to apply for this position are: 3rd or 4th year graduate student in a degree program in a related field of psychology; familiarity with and previous hands-on practice using the WAIS-III; completion of graduate-level coursework on intellectual assessment; knowledge of Microsoft Word; strong abilities to organize, multitask, and attend to detail; strong verbal and written communication skills; strong interpersonal skills; strong sense of personal responsibility and professional ethics. Additional qualifications that are preferred are: graduate-level coursework in personality assessment; familiarity with and previous hands-on experience with the Woodcock-Johnson III and/or the Wechsler Memory Scales-III; familiarity and experience with SPSS for windows statistical software; knowledge and/or experience working with LD/ADHD college students.

For further information about this Graduate Assistantship, please contact:

William R. Todd, Ph.D.
Assessment Coordinator
Counseling Center, MC 4715
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL 62901
(618) 453-5371

Click here for more information about the Counseling Center's LD/ADHD Assessment Program.

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