Counseling Training

The Wellness Center’s training program provides training in psychotherapy for Chicago-area graduate students.

Each year, the Wellness Center accepts four students from Chicago-area graduate programs in psychology and social work for a comprehensive training program in psychotherapy.

About the Wellness Center

Dominican’s Wellness Center provides comprehensive health and counseling services to approximately 3,500 undergraduate and graduate students. A multidisciplinary staff of nursing and mental health professionals works collaboratively to promote overall mental and physical wellness to the campus community.

About the Training Program

Counseling trainees play an integral role in the Wellness Center’s goal of providing quality care to Dominican students. They contribute to the team by providing clinical services to students and by playing an active role in campus outreach. Counseling trainees are expected to work collaboratively as paraprofessionals in a team environment.

Trainee responsibilities include:

• Maintain a caseload of individual counseling clients
• Assist students with referrals for services in the community as needed
• Co-facilitate at least one psychotherapy, psychoeducational or support group
• Participate in outreach programming throughout the academic year

Training Schedule

The training year at the Wellness Center begins in mid-August and concludes in mid-May. Trainees are required to:

• Be on-site for a minimum of 24 hours per week
• Participate in Group Supervision and Staff Meeting every Wednesday
• Maintain a consistent schedule during business hours (Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
• Work occasional evening hours

Supervision

Clinical supervision is a collaborative and dynamic process. Areas of development include biopsychosocial assessment, therapeutic engagement skills and multicultural competence.

• Each trainee meets once a week for an hour with a licensed staff therapist for supervision. The trainee and supervisor establish goals at the beginning of training and refine or revise them as needed throughout the year.
• Audio and video recordings help trainees develop as clinicians and provide quality care to clients.
• Trainees meet weekly with counseling staff for Group Supervision, giving them the opportunity to consult with the group on current cases.
• In Group Supervision, each trainee makes at least one presentation each semester on a clinical area of interest to them.
• Group Supervision also serves as an opportunity to get support from one another and identify positive ways to work and grow together.

Training Philosophy

The Wellness Center’s philosophy of training hinges on a few core assumptions:

• Training is developmental. Clinical competency emerges from the integration of observation, knowledge and experience with thoughtful supervision and self-reflection.
• Development as a mental health professional occurs within a relational context. We seek to foster an environment of understanding, curiosity, collaboration, positive regard and authenticity.
• Training is a complex, multicultural encounter. The cultural variables and contexts of supervisors, trainees and clients influence one another and are considered valuable resources.

Program Goals

Through the course of the training program, students will:

• Develop a complex understanding of the self as a clinician, a cultural being and an instrument of change
• Hone the capacity to be firmly grounded and genuinely available in the moment during clinical encounters
• Develop the capacity to conceptualize, understand and accept the client—and oneself—from a biopsychosocial perspective
• Identify dynamic processes of the therapeutic relationship and recognize ones that either facilitate or hamper the conditions leading to positive change
• Learn and implement intentional interventions based on thorough assessment of the client and a complex understanding of cultural contexts
• Integrate knowledge, experience and skills toward positive clinical outcomes for clients

Application Requirements

The training program accepts students from Chicago-area graduate programs in psychology and social work who are seeking a therapy practicum for master’s or doctoral work or a second-year field placement in social work. In evaluating candidates, we look for students with the following qualities:

• Strong commitment to both personal and professional development
• Willingness to develop cultural competence as a clinician
• Curiosity, flexibility and openness to learning about self and others
• Desire to receive and provide constructive feedback
• Capacity to accept mistakes and the courage to address them
• A focused interest in developing skills as an individual therapist and a group facilitator
• An interest in college health
• Ability and interest in working collaboratively within a multidisciplinary team
• Positive self-care strategies
• Constructive communication skills
• Effective organizational and time-management strategies
• An interest in health promotion and some ability/comfort with presenting to groups

How to Apply

To apply to the program, please submit the following documents to mpurcell@dom.edu by March 1:

• A letter of interest including one paragraph describing your ideal training environment
• CV/resume
• Two letters of recommendation (from those familiar with your clinical or academic work)

Application Timeline

For doctoral students, our timeline roughly corresponds with ACEPT. We will not make an offer to a student from a participating ACEPT site prior to Match day.