By Kristy Volmert | Staff Writer
Each year, the Counseling Center offers internships for graduate students who are working on their doctorate of psychology. The internship is accredited by the American Psychology Association, bringing a unique opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience as well as contribute to the diversity of support the Counseling Center offers for students.
According to the APA, “This accreditation assures that the program provides high-quality training that prepares graduates to deliver psychological services ethically and successfully.”
Dr. Ed Rogers, training director and senior psychologist, said that the expertise that these interns bring to the table each year benefits both Baylor students and Counseling Center staff in unique ways.
“We get people who have a very high level of education and formation already, who come here and serve our students for a full year,” Rogers said. “They bring expertise from various different graduate programs, but they also learn from us and how we approach psychology, particularly in working with college students.”
The internship allows degree candidates to complete their fifth year of doctoral education, its clinical experience serving as the capstone of their professional training, Rogers said. Interns will work for one full calendar year.
“This is a very hands-on, practical experience,” Rogers said. “It’s like a residency in medicine — by the time you get to this year, you’ve already completed most of your academic requirements, but now you’re getting intensive, real-world experience.”
According to Rogers, most interns come from different universities all around the country. Dr. Stephen Case, staff psychologist, said the Counseling Center trains many other graduate students through similar programs as well.
“In addition to our doctoral internship, we also have a graduate training program that offers training to Baylor [psychology doctorate] students as well as students in professional counseling, marriage and family therapy and social work to be trained as clinicians in a university counseling setting,” Case said.
Rogers said the training environment is a place for top-level trainees from across the country to come get hands-on, real-world experience.
He wrote in a letter to prospective applicants that one of the main focuses for interns within their training is the formation of relational models between themselves and their clients.
“We believe that clinical interventions are centered in relationships,” he wrote. “By integrating the self of the therapist with our interventions, we help trainees learn how self-reflection and self-awareness make them better practitioners.”
This competitive, reputable internship provides very rewarding experiences to interns by immersing them in an ideal training environment, Case said.
“Our internship program is sought after by doctoral intern applicants because it provides powerful experiences in helping therapists grow both professionally and personally,” he said.
One especially unique aspect of this program is the integration of spiritual support that interns learn to provide for students through professional practices, Case said.
Case said that they are one of very few counseling center internships that emphasize training in working with “client faith and spirituality.” Case also said that the counseling staff trains interns to work with clients with very specific needs or traumatic experiences.
Trained in alignment with Baylor’s mission, interns learn how to deeply understand and approach common challenges faced by college students with intentionality and a Christian worldview in mind, Rogers said.
“We are training them to serve students on campus in a very intensive way, with academic excellence and under the Christian worldview,” he said. “It prepares them to be psychologists who provide therapy and mental health services in a unique blend of ways.”
Both Rogers and Case said that they enjoy being able to train these interns.
“As a trainer, there are not many experiences more meaningful than sitting across from an intern when a ‘lightbulb’ moment happens, and they see how much they helped a student heal as a result of their work to grow professionally and personally,” Case said. “Each week, I see students impacted positively because we attract such quality doctoral interns to work here.”
