Doctoral Internship in Health Service Psychology

The Counseling Center's activities are usually slower in July and August. As such, they are ideal months to orient new interns and to provide structured, intensive training in important areas such as brief assessment procedures and observation, cross-cultural counseling issues, consultation theory and skills, crisis intervention, and agency research and evaluation. The interns are introduced to all Counseling Center staff through formal presentations and informal social gatherings. They also learn about campus offices and personnel including the Behavioral Health Service (psychiatric services housed in the University Health Center), University Career Center, The Department of Resident Life, etc.

By August, experiences training in clinical service delivery increase to include brief assessment procedures, emergency coverage, and individual counseling.

Direct Clinical Service Activities

Individual Counseling (9-12 hrs/week)

Interns carry an individual caseload of 9-12 clients per week. Care is taken to balance caseloads with a range of presenting concerns, from developmental problems to more severe psychopathology, clients with academic/career concerns, and a variety of identity-related concerns. We focus on short-term therapy training, but interns can take on 2 long-term cases each year.

Brief Assessments (3 hrs/week)

Each intern conducts 3 brief assessments per week. This activity provides experience in brief assessment and disposition decision-making (internal referral to various treatment modalities or off-campus referral). It may also involve short-term treatment intervention, psychiatric consultation, and crisis intervention.

Urgent Services (2-3 hrs/week)

Each intern provides 2-3 hours of “Counselor on Duty” coverage during our business hours during which they see drop-in clients who are presenting with urgent concerns. Consultation is always available to support interns when responding to clients in crisis.

Group Counseling (1.5-3 hrs/week)

Interns co-lead a weekly, 1.5-hour process-oriented therapy group starting in the Fall and running through the Spring semester. They may have the opportunity to co-lead a second structured or theme-oriented group during the Spring semester. Most groups are co-led with a senior staff psychologist.

Psychoeducational workshop (1 hr/week)

Each intern will spend 1 hour a week facilitating a CBT-based 3-part workshop series that teaches coping skills and strategies for addressing anxiety (Anxiety Toolbox) or depression (Getting Unstuck).

Assessment (varies)

Each intern will conduct 3 assessment batteries during the year that include 2 ADHD and 1 career assessment. Interns write formal assessment reports for the ADHD assessments and provide feedback to clients about their evaluations while under the supervision of our assessment coordinator.

Supervision of a Practicum Student (1 hr/week)

Interns typically provide supervision to one beginning practicum trainee each semester during the academic year.

Outreach and Consultation Activities (varies)

Interns provide several outreach presentations during the training year. This typically includes a variety of psycho-educational presentations for individual courses, student organizations, or groups of faculty/staff. Interns also are assigned to present a wellness topic from the Counseling Center’s online wellness workshop series. In addition, interns respond to consultation phone calls received from parents, faculty, and staff during the hours in which they are a “Counselor on Duty” (see above).

Our relationship with the Department of Resident Life also provides the opportunity for a consultation experience. Each intern, along with a senior staff supervisor, provides consultation to a community of residence halls. This may involve a variety of activities including Resident Assistant training, emergency mental health back-up, outreach programming, needs assessment, and/or organizational development.

Interns may elect to participate in other consultation and outreach contracts depending on time and interest.

Division Rotation/Placement (2-3 hrs/week)

While the interns’ major involvement will be in the Counseling Service, we are committed to providing a breadth of training experiences. Therefore, interns choose from one of a number of rotation placements. Each rotation includes engaging in service activities (e.g. clinical work OR outreach programming, consultation, outcome evaluation) as well as training and supervision time with a designated staff member. (Note, availability of some placements can vary year to year).

Choices may include:

• A clinically-focused rotation within the Counseling Service (queer intersections, eating disorders, or assessment)
• A rotation with one of the other divisions of the Counseling Center (Research Unit)
• An outreach/consultation-focused rotation with another campus entity (e.g. Career Center).

Examples of projects and activities that recent interns have engaged in at their Rotation/Placement:

• While on a rotation with the Career Center, an intern developed programming for BIPOC students related to career development, and provided individual career coaching sessions with this population. Another intern developed and conducted workshops for international students.
• While on an Assessment Rotation within the Counseling Service, an intern conducted ADHD assessment batteries and drafted integrated reports based on the results, which was shared with assessment clients.
• While on the Eating Disorders rotation within the Counseling Service, interns have co-facilitated the My Body My Self Support Group and/or seen individual clients with body image concerns. They also created an outreach project related to raising awareness about eating disorders.

Supervision

The hallmark of the internship is the intensive, varied, and comprehensive supervision model. A primary goal is to expose interns to a range of quality supervisors who vary in training, demographics, style, and orientation. Typically, the intern will have one primary supervisor who will supervise them over the course of the year, and one secondary supervisor who will change at mid-year. This arrangement allows for continuity and breadth of experience. Supervision involves audiotape and videotape review, occasional direct observation, and co-leading conjoint or group work.

Individual Supervision (2 hrs/week)

Interns receive two hours per week of individual case supervision (including intake and assessment supervision) from two different licensed senior staff psychologists. One of these assignments typically changes for the second semester. Assignments are made by the Training Director on the basis of intern needs, goals, personal preferences, and staff availability during the Fall semester. In the Spring, interns' preferences for supervisors are given primary consideration and negotiated for them where possible.

Group Counseling Supervision (30 minutes/week)

The senior staff co-leader of the intern's therapy group provides supervision over the course of the year. If an intern chooses to run a second group in their second semester (usually a theme-oriented or structured group), they will have an additional 30 minutes of supervision for that group, most often with a different group supervisor.

Supervision of Practicum Supervision (Sup of Sup, 90 minutes/week)    

Interns who supervise practicum students receive 1.5 hours of group supervision per week provided by a senior staff psychologist. This includes group discussion, review of video sessions, and one live observation each semester.

Outreach/Consultation Supervision (one hour a month, or as needed)    

Each intern is assigned to a senior staff consultation supervisor for the year who also serves as a consultation partner for the Resident Life contract. Additional consultation supervision may be provided by the chair of the Consultation & Outreach Committee.

Case Conference (2 hours/week)    

Interns participate in 2 weekly case conferences: intern case conference and senior staff case conference. Intern case conference (1 hour per week) provides interns the opportunity to formally and informally present case material and to discuss case management with each other and a senior staff case consultant. Each intern is also assigned to one of the two senior staff case conference groups (1 hour per week) where formal case presentations are made by participants to each other and, often, an outside case consultant (usually a counseling psychologist or clinical psychologist from the campus or Washington, D.C. area).

Other Training Activities

Intern Seminar (1.5 hrs, every other week)    

During this year-long seminar, clinical, consultation, and professional/administrative topics are presented and/or discussed by interns, participating staff, and invited guests. Through this seminar, a variety of topics are presented by members of the Counseling Center staff and other professionals who have expertise in areas such as eating disorder treatment, trauma, genograms, licensure, and other professional development issues. A majority of the sessions focus on multicultural topics such as working with specific student poulations (Latinx, trans, LGB+, international, undocumented, etc.) Each intern is responsible for developing and presenting a seminar on a topic of their choice during the Spring semester.

Multicultural Lab (1.5 hrs, every other week, alternating with Intern Seminar)    

During this year-long seminar, interns meet with two senior staff co-facilitators to explore and develop self-awareness of their identities. Interns interview each other (with the help of the facilitators) regarding their daily lived experience of a particular facet of their identity, and typically have the opportunity to present 4 times in their internship year. A few key objectives include:

• Gaining a more in-depth and more complete understanding of how we live our daily lives as a member of several of our identity groups
• Increasing awareness of the role of power and privilege in our lives, as well as of the biases we carry.
  Improving our ability to interview others to pursue deeper understanding of their identities and experiences.
• Building multicultural knowledge and skills to increase our understanding of culturally different individuals.
• Developing awareness of our developmental needs, strengths and areas for improvement as we strive to become more multiculturally competent psychologists.

Staff Development(12-24 hrs a year)    

Interns and senior staff attend 2 to 4 staff professional development sessions each semester. In-house or off-campus experts present didactic and experiential training material in a variety of staff-selected areas. Topics from the recent past include psychopharmacology, supervision, cultural awareness, treatment of trauma, gender identity, and legal/ethical dilemmas in counseling and consultation.

Administration

• Staff Meetings (weekly)
  Interns participate in all Counseling Service staff meetings and Center-wide staff meetings (several times per year)
• Meetings with the Training Director (weekly)
  The cohort of interns meets weekly with the Training Director to discuss expectations, questions and concerns, process group dynamics, and discuss professional development issues throughout the year.
• Committee Meetings (variable)
  If time permits, interns are encouraged to serve on at least one Counseling Service Committee (Research, Consultation & Outreach, Direct Service, or Training). Participation typically spans the year.

Professional Activities

Research and Development Meetings (approximately 1 hour a month)

Interns are expected to attend as many of the weekly lunchtime Research and Development meetings as possible, during which time campus members (faculty, staff, academic administrators, and department chairs) present on a variety of psychological and administrative topics of interest to various segments of the College Park community. Interns will also each present their research at one of these meetings.

Research (4 hours per week)

Interns are granted one-half day per week (which may be completed off-site) for dissertation research, program development activities, and other scholarly pursuits, such as their "small r" research project.

• This "small r" project is designed to enable interns to collaborate with each other to complete a piece of research usually based on agency data during their internship year. Typically interns will present their “small r” project results for the Counseling Center staff as well as in a poster at a professional conference (Big 10 Counseling Centers Conference or APA Convention).
• Our internship program places considerable emphasis on dissertation completion. We would like you to take full advantage of the internship experience, which will be more likely accomplished when your final dissertation oral defense is completed at or before the end of your internship.

Examples of recent “small r” research projects:

• Class of 2024
  Burrows, S. G., Yang, N., Lim, S., Pulice-Farrow, L, Wang, Y.-W., & Abebe, I. (2024, February). How college students’ race impacted experiences of distress following the COVID-19 pandemic [Poster presentation]. Big Ten Counseling Centers Conference, University Park, PA, United States.
• Class of 2023
  Goldbach, C., Aggarwal, A., Said, I. A., & Washington, D. (2023, March). The Impact of COVID-19 on depression, anxiety, and distress for LGBTQ+ BIPOC college students [Poster presentation]. University of Maryland Counseling Center Research & Development Meeting [virtual], United States.
• Class of 2022
  Chickerella, R., Tekeste, M., Paralkar, U., Yee, S., & Wang, Y.-W. (2022, February). The synergistic effect of family distress and substance use on mental health outcomes among sexual minority BIPOC college students [Poster presentation]. Big Ten Counseling Centers Annual Conference [virtual], United States.
• Class of 2021
  Zounlome, N. O. O., Arévalo Avalos, M. R., McNeil, V. A., Vernay, C. N., Wang, Y-W. (2021) Racial Stress, Racial Identity, & Psychosocial Outcomes Among Black University Students.
• Class of 2020
  David, J., Keum, B., King, J., Kline, K. (2020, February). Unwanted sexual experiences among university students: Relations to student distress, service utilization, and counseling dropout.
• Class of 2019
  Polihronakis, C. J., Chadwick, C., Li, X., Welch, J., & Wang, Y.-W. (2019, February). The role of client-therapist racial-ethnic match in short-term therapy treatment outcomes. Poster presented at the Big Ten Counseling Centers Conference, New Brunswick, NJ.
• Class of 2018
  Drinane, J. M., Winderman, K., Roberts, T., Freeman, V. F., & Wang, Y.-W (2018, February). Invisible identities in psychotherapy: Sexual identity based disparities in outcome. Poster presented at Big 10 Counseling Centers Conference, College Park, MD.
• Class of 2017
  Gale, M. M., Franco, M., Hutman, H., & Reese, E. (2017, February). Sociocultural factors and referral outcome: An exploratory investigation. Presented at the Big 10 Counseling Centers Conference. Urbana-Champaign, IL.
• Class of 2016
  Choi, N., Ege, E., Ikizler, A., & Giordano, N. G. (2016, February). The impact of client and counseling center variables on early termination for sexual minority clients. Poster presented at the Big Ten Counseling Centers Conference, West Lafayette, Indiana.
• Class of 2015
  Kivlighan, M., Jung, A., Berkowitz, A., & Hammer, J. (2015, February). The differential engagement of diverse clients by therapists: A multi-level analysis of therapist effects. Poster presented at the Big Ten Counseling Centers Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska.
• Class of 2014
  Tian, L., McClain, S., Moore, M., & Lloyd, H. (2014, February). The impact of ethnic identity and self-compassion on acculturation stress in Asian international students. Poster Presented at the Big Ten Counseling Centers Conference, Columbus, Ohio.
• Class of 2013
  Lewis, J. A., Rao, M., Raque-Bogdan, T. L., & Lee, S. (2013, August). Examining the influence of ethnic identity and meaning in life on career decision-making self-efficacy. Poster presented at the 121st Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Honolulu, Hawaii.
• Class of 2012
  Green, C., Merson, E., Chiao, H., and Seo, H. (2012, August). Suicidal ideation among college students: Stressors and stress-related growth. Poster presented at the 120th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Orlando, Florida.

The online version of the APPIC Application for Psychology Internship (APPI). It should include the following:

• Letter of interest.
• Current resume/vita.
• Three letters of recommendation from the following:
  • Major academic advisor and/or dissertation supervisor;
  • Two practicum supervisors familiar with the candidate's applied performance.
• APPIC Academic Program's Verification of Internship Eligibility and Readiness Form.
• Official transcript of graduate credits.

Selection of interns is made by the Training Committee comprised of the Director of Training, several Counseling Service staff members, and commonly one intern. After the application deadline date, committee members review and independently rate applicants on the selection criteria. Applicants who remain under consideration following this process are selected and contacted around mid-December for a telephone interview. Telephone interviews are conducted in December and early January. Following the interviews, top-rated applicants are selected and ranked based on their initial ratings and telephone interview. Applicants who are no longer under consideration will be notified by e-mail at least 10 days prior to the Phase I Rank Order List submission date.

This internship 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. Refer to Match Policies on the APPIC website, www.appic.org.

The University of Maryland Counseling Center's notification procedure follows the match program guidelines established by the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC). The APPIC Match will be conducted in two phases, with each phase involving the submission of Rank Order Lists by programs and applicants to determine the placement of applicants into positions. Phase I will involve all participating applicants and training sites. Phase II will begin immediately at the conclusion of Phase I with the goal of placing applicants who did not match in Phase I.

Official Match Dates as well as more specific and additional information concerning the Match can be found on the APPIC website or APPIC MATCH-NEWS.

1. GOAL #1 – Research: To foster interns’ knowledge, skills, and competence sufficient to produce new knowledge, to critically evaluate and use existing knowledge to solve problems, and to disseminate research.
2. GOAL #2 – Ethical and legal standards: To foster interns’ knowledge and understanding of applicable ethical and legal guidelines and statutes and foster their skill in responding ethically and legally in increasingly complex situations with a greater degree of independence.
3. GOAL #3 – Individual and cultural diversity: To foster interns’ ability to conduct all professional activities with sensitivity to human diversity, including the ability to deliver high-quality services to an increasingly diverse population.
4. GOAL #4 – Professional values, attitudes, and behaviors: To foster interns’ ability to respond professionally in increasingly complex situations with a greater degree of independence.
5. GOAL #5 – Communication and interpersonal skills: To foster interns’ competence in all forms of communication required by their professional roles.
6. GOAL #6 – Assessment: Foster interns’ competence in conducting psychological and career assessments.
7. GOAL #7 – Intervention
   1. Objective 7a – Individual Therapy: To foster opportunities for developing skills in the provision of individual emotional and career counseling and psychotherapy. 
   2. Objective 7b – Group Therapy: To foster opportunities for developing skills in the provision of group counseling and psychotherapy.
8. GOAL #8 – Supervision: To foster interns’ development of skills in the provision of clinical supervision.
9. GOAL #9 – Consultation and interprofessional/interdisciplinary skills: To foster interns’ development of skills in the provision of outreach and consultation to other mental health professionals and to other campus stakeholders (faculty, staff, parents, campus entities, etc.)

Our internship training program is committed to providing the best possible training experience for our interns to become generalist psychologists prepared to work with a diverse public. Training involves a variety of experiences including direct service activities, training seminars, research, and professional development sessions. We consider evaluation and feedback critical to interns' overall development. Our apprentice method of training is focused on guiding interns through their development toward greater levels of independence and autonomy as scientist-practitioners. We are focused on identifying and enhancing strengths, as well as identifying and remediating areas of further growth and skill development.

The Training Director schedules several meetings with members of the supervisory staff over the course of the internship year. Individual meetings with interns are also held at various points during the internship. Formal feedback meetings with interns and their supervisors are held twice a year, at the mid-year and at the end of the year. 

Intern evaluation is conducted via our written evaluation that reviews performance of each intern at mid-year and end of year. Items in the evaluation reflect the 9 profession-wide competency areas in Health Service Psychology, as well as additional detailed written feedback regarding the intern’s progress. Interns must meet the Minimum Level of Achievement (MLA) in the 9 profession-wide competency areas by the end of internship year to successfully complete the program (defined as a “5” on a scale of 1 to 7, with “5” being “competency for entry-level practice”). 

The evaluation of interns at mid-year and end of year is sent to the Director of Clinical Training at the intern's academic institution.

By the end of the internship year, interns will have:

• Received an average final rating of 5 or higher (“competency for entry-level practice” or higher) on the 9 profession-wide competency categories 
• Successfully completed 500 hours of direct service and 2000 overall internship hours 
• Successfully completed the Small r Project (with resulting poster presentation at a conference and presentation to staff) as well as a research presentation to staff on their dissertation
• Conducted at least four outreach presentations, a wellness series workshop, and provided a Residence Life consultative liaison relationship
• Successfully completed three assessment batteries (two ADHD and one career) and resulting integrated reports for the two ADHD assessments
• Completed several other administrative tasks (record of activity hours and clients seen, evaluations of all supervisors and of the program overall, etc.)

Thank you for your interest in the University of Maryland Counseling Center's APA-accredited internship in Health Service Psychology. As an agency, we see our doctoral internship as central to the vitality and quality of our organization, and we are pleased to have you consider our program. You will find a description of the program and other important information on these pages.

Our internship is designed to provide training in functional skill areas relevant to a university counseling center setting including individual and group counseling/psychotherapy, outreach and consultation, supervision, assessment, and research. In accordance with APA accreditation and specialty guidelines, we have designed an array of training opportunities in each of these functional areas. At the heart of our training program is an intensive, varied, comprehensive supervision model which allows each intern contact with a wide range of licensed psychologist supervisors who vary in training, demographics, style, and orientation.

We welcome your interest in our internship program and hope that these materials are useful to you. Please note that we follow all notification guidelines established by APPIC (Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers). All of the required application materials are included in APPI Online. No additional materials are required. If you have any questions or need additional information, please feel free to call or e-mail me.

Sincerely,

Maria Luz Berbery, Ph.D
Training Director
(301) 405-6060
mberbery@umd.edu

The University of Maryland, College Park, actively subscribes to a policy of equal employment opportunity, and will not discriminate against any employee or applicant because of race, age, gender, color, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, national origin, or political affiliation.

The Agency

The University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) is a comprehensive, land grant institution, which ranks high among research institutions across the country in size, scope, and quality of graduate and undergraduate education. According to the university website (https://www.irpa.umd.edu/) in the Fall of 2022, the university had over 30,000 undergraduate students and over 10,000 graduate students for a total of over 40,000 students. The university offers over 104 Bachelor's programs, 115 Masters' programs and 84 Doctoral programs. UMD offers rich diversity in its student body, faculty and staff, and educational opportunities.

The campus is nestled within the Baltimore-Washington corridor--a 40 mile stretch of land considered by many to be one of the richest concentrations of resources and intellectual talent in the world today. The campus location allows for easy access to the many attractions of the area: scholarly (e.g., Library of Congress, National Archives, National Institute of Mental Health, Maryland Science Center in Baltimore); historic (e.g., Holocaust Museum, White House, U. S. Capitol, Mount Vernon, Annapolis); cultural (e.g., Kennedy Center, Gala Hispanic Theater, Smithsonian Museums such as the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Museum of the American Indian); and recreational (e.g., the National Mall, professional and collegiate athletics, the National Arboretum, Baltimore's Inner Harbor). In addition, the campus is an easy commute to the Atlantic Ocean, the Shenandoah Mountains, Chesapeake Bay, and the cultural hubs of New York City, Philadelphia, and Richmond.

The Counseling Center

The Counseling Center is the largest multi-purpose mental health facility in the University community. As such, we work with a highly diverse clientele (students, faculty, staff, administrators, and community residents) on a wide range of problems (academic, career, mental health, organizational) in varied capacities (remedial, consultative, preventive, and training). The Counseling Center is directly responsible to the Vice President for Student Affairs along with such offices as the Student Health Center, Department of Resident Life, the Student Union, and Career Center and is highly committed to active involvement in the Division of Student Affairs. In addition, we maintain close ties to the academic departments of Counseling Psychology and Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education.

The Counseling Center is housed in the Shoemaker Building.

The Counseling Center is large and multifaceted. It is composed of two divisions, with a total combined permanent professional staff of 53 Permanent Professional Staff. The two Center divisions are:

• Counseling Service
• Research Unit

Specialists within each division provide both breadth and depth in service delivery and training. In addition, many of the staff hold academic rank and teach in the graduate departments of Counseling Psychology or Counseling, Higher Education and Special Education.

The Counseling Service

The Counseling Service, home of the Internship Program, is the largest division of the Counseling Center consisting of 32 professional staff and 4 doctoral interns. The Counseling Service staff reflects a diversity of training (17 counseling psychologists, 1 clinical psychologist, 8 social workers and 6 licensed professional counselors) as well as theoretical orientation (e.g., psychodynamic, humanistic-experiential, cognitive-behavioral, relational-cultural, etc.). Members of the permanent staff are licensed or pursuing licensure in the state of Maryland (as well as neighboring states). The permanent staff is supplemented by approximately 6 clinical consultants from the Washington, D.C. area who are invited on a rotating basis to provide case consultation in case references. In addition to the doctoral interns, approximately 20 practicum students and 2-3 externs receive training in the Counseling Service each year.

The Counseling Service also houses a number of committees, each headed by a staff member who reports to and works with the Associate Director. The committees are:

• Consultation & Outreach
• Direct Service
• Research
• Staff Development
• Training

Background

The University of Maryland Counseling Center internship has a long and respected tradition of excellence. Established in 1969, the intern training program received full APA accreditation in 1985. This Center's excellence is founded upon and nurtured by the uniformly held belief that the training of emerging psychologists is one of the most important and valued activities we perform. As an agency and as individual supervisors, we see the Internship Program as central to the vitality and quality of our organization, and consequently, we invest much time and emotional energy in providing the highest quality training and supervision possible. In short, we truly enjoy and highly value our interns.

Our internship provides training to individuals pursuing professional career positions in college or university settings, primarily counseling centers, academic posts or a combination of both. As such, we provide experience and supervision in the job functions of individual and group counseling, consultation, supervision, research, administration, and program development with clientele who are primarily college students, faculty, staff, and administrators of the academic community.

Our program is primarily agency-oriented. In accordance with APA accreditation and specialty guidelines, we have defined a sequence of extensive and intensive professional experiences that are applied to all interns. In addition to these common activities, there is some flexibility for each intern to build in individualized experiences that specifically address his or her needs. By and large, however, our program applies a uniform training model to all interns.

Our program seeks to develop broad-based, generalist-oriented professionals who will be prepared to function in any of the many roles assumed by counseling psychologists in university counseling centers. As such, the training program adheres to a scientist-practitioner philosophy with an apprenticeship-training model. Within this context, each intern has some opportunity to engage in specializing experiences. However, we formally emphasize a generalist orientation.

Although our Internship Program is uniform in structure and format, our appreciation of individual differences and awareness of uniqueness are expressed in important ways. We seek interns who reflect a range of cultural, racial, and demographic differences. We continue to add culturally sensitive individuals to our diverse staff as a way to provide appropriately varied role models. In addition, we strive to enhance in our interns what we hope is an already present, an appreciation for individual differences through formal training and informal weaving of these values into our everyday work life.

Philosophy

The scientist-practitioner training model serves as the over-arching educational philosophy of the Counseling Center and our internship program. We believe that the integration of science and practice is critical to one's identity as a counseling psychologist. Meara et al. (1988) describes the scientist-practitioner model as:

The systematic and thoughtful analysis of human experiences and judicious application of the knowledge and attitudes gained from such analyses. An attitude of scholarly inquiry is critical to all of the activities of those educated in the scientist- practitioner model. (p.368).

Since its inception, the Counseling Center has provided emotional-social and vocational counseling and related services while contributing to the field of counseling psychology through its research and other scholarly pursuits. Although clinical practice in a counseling center setting is the primary focus of the internship program, the integration of science and practice in the training of interns is two-fold: (1) it encourages the integration of empirically based evidence to inform clinical practice; and (2) it facilitates the investigation of new ideas and programs through research involvement. The strongest applicants to our program tend to be those from scientist-practitioner oriented programs where our training approach is consistent with that of the academic program.

The scientist-practitioner philosophy is clearly stated in the overall mission and operation of Maryland's Counseling Center. By way of a scientist-practitioner philosophy, we use an apprenticeship method to accomplish this training. We often refer to the internship as the training ground by which we teach, evaluate, and prepare interns for the role of the professional psychologist. This method of training goes hand and hand with the training philosophy. Our training sequence is developmental and planned, and it builds on the growth of new skills and the refinement of existing skills to satisfactory levels of competency. Interns are supervised in each training activity, with the quality of supervision changing over time from a skill based case management model to a collaborative professional development model.

The professional identity of the vast majority of the core training staff is grounded in a scientist-practitioner perspective. Most staff psychologists hold affiliated academic rank in the Counseling Psychology or Counseling, Higher Education and Special Education programs, where they teach courses, supervise students, and some serve or have served on theses and dissertation committees. The training staff serves as model generalists, where several members are involved in scholarly research and/or contribute to the field through their involvement in professional organizations. The Counseling Service division of the Center, has its own research committee where staff members are engaged in outcome studies of the impact of service activities. In many cases, staff conduct their own research and integrate recent findings and developments in their work in counseling, supervision, consultation and outreach.

The Counseling Center continues to generate quality research and contribute to the field through publications in refereed journals and presentations at professional conferences, serving on editorial review boards or as ad-hoc reviewers for academic journals. The Center's Retention Study Group conducts needs assessments by academic concentration and a study of students' withdrawal behavior annually. The Center is also home to two databanks, the Data Bank for Mental Health Professionals of Color and the Disability Services Directors' Annual Data Bank. In addition, Counseling Center staff consult and serve as a resource to students, faculty and staff on the campus and at institutions of higher education across the country.

Meara, N. M., Schmidt, L. D., Carrington, C. H., Davis, K. L, Dixon, D. N., Fretz, B R., Myers, R. A., Ridley, C. R., & Suinn, R. M. (1988). Training and accreditation in counseling psychology. The Counseling Psychologist, 16, 366-384.

Program Disclosures

As articulated in Standard I.B.2, programs may have “admission and employment policies that directly relate to affiliation or purpose” that may be faith-based or secular in nature. However, such policies and practices must be disclosed to the public. Therefore, programs are asked to respond to the following question:

• Does the program or institution require students, trainees, and/or staff (faculty) to comply with specific policies or practices related to the institution’s affiliation or purpose? Such policies or practices may include, but are not limited to, admissions, hiring, retention policies, and/or requirements for completion that express mission and values. No.

Internship Program Admissions

Briefly describe in narrative form important information to assist potential applicants in assessing their likely fit with your program. This description must be consistent with the program’s policies on intern selection and practicum and academic preparation requirements:

• Our internship program provides training for individuals who are interested in pursuing employment and careers in a college or university setting either as a staff psychologist or a faculty member. While applicants with these interests are the most likely to be successful in our program, we do consider individuals who have other career goals. We train generalist clinicians who are prepared to work with a general college population. To a lesser degree, opportunities to begin or continue developing areas of expertise are provided. Successful applicants are looking for this sort of training, rather than those seeking preparation in a particular clinical specialty. Applicants are enrolled in a doctoral program in counseling psychology or clinical psychology. Applicants from APA-Accredited Programs are strongly preferred. Applicants are in good standing with their academic programs and have obtained formal approval of doctoral dissertation proposal prior to the starting date of the internship, as reported by the applicant and confirmed by the training program's Director of Clinical Training in the APPI-Online. Applicants have completed all required doctoral practica and comprehensive examinations.

Does the program require that applicants have received a minimum number of hours of the following at time of application? If Yes, indicate how many.

• Total Direct Contact Intervention Hours: Yes, 500 hours.
• Total Direct Contact Assessment Hours: No.

Describe any other required minimum criteria used to screen applicants:

• We also require applicants to have completed at least 50 intervention hours in a college or university counseling center.

Financial and Other Benefit Support for Upcoming Training Year

*Interns accrue 22 days of annual leave and 3 personal leave days in the course of the internship year. In order to ensure that interns complete the required 2,000 hours of experience, including 500 hours of direct service, a proportion of these days will be taken at specified times of the internship year, and extended periods of vacation (more than a few days off) are discouraged. Interns are not paid for leave that remains at the end of the internship year.

*Requests for Family Medical Leave or leave due to a serious illness are reviewed on an individual basis in collaboration with University Human Resources. Under the FMLA, medical requires certification from a Health Care Provider.

Other Benefits

Interns are provided limited professional leave to attend conferences and may use annual leave for job interviews and meetings with faculty at their home institutions.

Interns have access to a parking space and are responsible for parking fees.

Initial Post-Internship Positions

(Provide an Aggregated Tally for the Preceding 3 Cohorts)

Internship Cohort Statistics (2020-2023)

Note:  Each individual represented in this table should be counted only one time. For former trainees working in more than one setting, select the setting that represents their primary position.

All of our Counseling Service staff psychologists are closely involved in the doctoral internship training provided at our center. We ensure that our primary and secondary supervisors have been licensed for at least 2 years to provide the best training experience for interns, and to ensure they can later be licensed in any state where they seek licensure. To be eligible to be a primary supervisor for interns, a supervisor must be licensed for 3 years. To be eligible to be a secondary supervisor for interns, a supervisor must be licensed for 2 years. Unlicensed staff, or those that have been licensed for less than 2 years, may provide supervision for group therapy, outreach and consultation, rotation.

Allison Asarch
Psy.D. (2015) Clinical Psychology, Roosevelt University
Staff Psychologist
Interests: Developmental and identity-related concerns, family-of-origin concerns, eating and body image concerns, perfectionism, group therapy, social justice and empowerment, outreach programming, training and supervision. Socializing and laughter, games of all kinds, yoga, tennis, traveling.

Maria Luz Berbery
Ph.D. (2013) Counseling Psychology, University of Maryland
Training Director, Staff Psychologist
Interests: Multicultural counseling and identity-related concerns (race, ethnicity, gender, LGBT issues, etc), Latinx students' mental health, family and relational concerns, trauma and growth.

Shealyn J. Blanchard
Ph.D. (2018), Counseling Psychology, Western Michigan University
Staff Psychologist and Externship Coordinator
Interests: Social Justice/multiculturalism, anxiety, adjustment concerns, grief/loss, graduate student concerns, relationship difficulties, identity development, students of color, outreach/consultation. Family/friends, poetry, music, sports, museums, and exploring new foods.

Yi-Jiun Lin
Ph.D. (2008) Counseling Psychology, University of Missouri, Columbia
Interim Assistant Director
Interests: Multicultural issues; international student outreach; gender issues; eating disorders; grief issues; Chinese calligraphy; cooking; yoga; music; traveling; art appreciation.

Grace-Ellen Mahoney
Ph.D. (2022) Counseling Psychology, University of Georgia
Staff Psychologist, Assessment Supervisor
Interests: Family of origin, substance use, identity development, grief and loss, ADHD, perfectionism, group psychotherapy, and culturally responsive mental health services. Reading, hiking, spending time with family and friends, traveling, and animal rescue.

Erica Merson
Ph.D.(2012) Counseling Psychology, University of Maryland
Staff Psychologist
Interests: multicultural counseling, psychology of women and girls, body-image eating disorders, child and adolescent therapy, fitness, triathlon, and cross-fit training.

Pepper E. Phillips
Ph.D. (1990) Counseling Psychology, Indiana State University
Staff Psychologist, Assistant Professor of Education
Interests: Gay and lesbian issues, group therapy, women's issues, survivors of incest, and supervision.

Theodore Pickett, Jr.
Ph.D. (2006) Counseling Psychology, University of Iowa
Associate Director
Interests: Training and supervision, cross-cultural and multicultural issues, survivors of incest, grief counseling, and ethics.

Any questions regarding the licensure of the Counseling Service staff can be directed to:

Board of Examiners of Psychologists
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
201 West Preston Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
Website: The Board of Examiners of Psychologists
Office Phone: (410) 767-6500 or 1-877-463-3464

Training Staff Summary Data

The University of Maryland Counseling Center Doctoral Internship Program in Health Service Psychology is accredited by the American Psychological Association. The accreditation process promotes consistent quality and excellence in education and training in health service psychology.

Any questions or concerns regarding guidelines, policy, procedures or accreditation standards should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation (CoA). 

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 First Street, N. E.
Washington, D. C. 20002
Website: http://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation/
Office Phone: (202) 336-5979
Office Fax: (202) 336-5978

The University of Maryland Counseling Center is accredited by the International Association of Counseling Services, Incorporated.

International Association of Counseling Services, Inc. 
PO Box 9184, Alexandria, VA 22304
Website: http://www.iacsinc.org/
Office Phone: (703) 823-9840
E-mail: info@iacsinc.org