Graduate Clinical Training Program
Welcome and thank you for your interest in the Clinical Training Program at Emerson Wellness Center’s Counseling Services. After browsing the information below, please feel free to contact us at counselingtraining [at] emerson.edu (counselingtraining[at]emerson[dot]edu) with any questions about our program or application process.
Overview of the Graduate Clinical Training Program
Each year, Counseling Services offers advanced training opportunities in college mental health. Our primary focus is providing triage and intake assessment along with brief individual and group psychotherapy for a creative and passionate student population. Trainees also have flexibility to see a few students longer-term over the course of the academic year. We offer a unique balance of exposure to a high volume of clients with a detailed focus on one’s own development as a clinician. Through intensive supervision, the use of process recordings and videotaping, and a variety of opportunities to present and discuss one’s clinical work, trainees leave Counseling Services with increased experience, competence, and comfort conducting psychotherapy and crisis management with a young adult population.
Philosophy and Goals
Graduate Clinical Training Philosophy
Counseling Services is dedicated to the process of training students through the use of a trusting supervisory relationship. We encourage trainees to develop their own individual styles of counseling, with a solid foundation of experience and education to support their own individual professional growth. Supervision is a highly valued and essential component of our training program. Through dialogue and self-reflection, the focus of supervision is not only trainees’ clinical work, but also the professional and personal development of the therapist-in-training.
Graduate Clinical Training Program Goals
The training at Counseling Services is designed to be a practical, pragmatic training for graduate students in the core functions of a counselor, social worker, or psychologist in a college counseling center. Trainees have the opportunity to participate in a full range of activities engaged in by Counseling Services staff, including individual and group psychotherapy, crisis intervention and risk assessment, outreach program development/presentation, consultation, and case management. The development of the trainee’s identity as a counselor, social worker or psychologist is an important part of the training experience. Aspects of that identity that are stressed include ethical awareness, appreciation of group and individual differences, multicultural awareness, and development of one's personal style as a professional.
All aspects of the training program are designed to facilitate the goals of the training year. Through in-service trainings, the trainee's knowledge base is broadened in specific topical and theoretical areas relating to brief treatment in a college setting. This may include education about eating disorders, self-injury, LGBTQ theory and practice, DBT, CBT, or other modalities. Through the case conference and clinical team meetings, trainees refine their skills in succinctly presenting complex cases. In group supervision, trainees practice personal reflection, learn to be effective peer supervisors, and develop as group members.
Program Details
Supervision
Trainees are assigned a primary and secondary supervisor for the training year. Both supervisors are licensed and provide consistent, scheduled hourly individual supervision each week. In addition, each trainee receives an hour of group supervision every week. Although supervision time is scheduled, the entire Counseling Services staff are available and responsive to trainee needs, and informal consultation with any clinician is welcomed and encouraged.
Advanced Practicum
Counseling Services offers a variety of unpaid training opportunities to advanced practicum level students. We typically have two positions available each academic year, beginning in late August and ending in mid-May. Students in psychology must be in their second year or above of a doctoral program in clinical or counseling psychology by Fall 2024. Social work and MA students must be in their second year of their programs. Students may elect to be on site 24 hours/3 days per week (800 hours) or 32 hours/4 days per week (960 hours). Wednesdays are required so that trainees can attend clinical team meetings and other training activities. Applicants must have at least one year of supervised clinical experience conducting individual therapy with an adolescent or adult population.
Application
To apply please email a resume, cover letter, 3 letters of recommendation, and transcript (unofficial is accepted) to counselingtraining [at] emerson.edu (counselingtraining[at]emerson[dot]edu) The last day applications will be accepted is January 5th, 2024.
Post-Graduate Fellowship
The post-graduate position is a full-time, 12-month placement. This position is funded with full benefits. More information and a full position description are available on the job posting web page and on the Post-Graduate Fellowship page. Please feel free to contact counselingtraining [at] emerson.edu (counselingtraining[at]emerson[dot]edu) for more information.
Emerson Wellness Center offers a twelve-month, full-time fellowship for post-graduate therapists who are interested in advanced training in a college mental health setting. Fellows can expect to have an intensive, well-supported experience working with a diverse population of young adults who manifest the full spectrum of psychological and psychiatric problems. The position will provide post-graduate clinical hours and supervision for licensure needed in Massachusetts. The fellowship aims to provide future therapists with advanced clinical skills and expertise in college mental health.
Program Philosophy and Description of Setting
This fellowship program provides an advanced training experience focused on deepening one’s clinical skills as well as the development of expertise in the challenges prevalent in college mental health today. We are a mid-size, highly utilized counseling service on a campus of approximately 3,800 undergraduate and 625 graduate students. Our students are diverse and talented; they are deeply dedicated to their work in communication and the arts, and tend to be psychologically minded and open to psychotherapy.
In this setting, fellows are actively engaged in the varied roles and functions of our work, which includes evaluation and treatment of both undergraduate and graduate students; crisis and emergency response; group therapy; consultation; and outreach programming. Fellows may also have the opportunity to provide supervision to practicum trainees depending on interest and availability.
Program Components
Fellows will provide triage and intake assessment, individual psychotherapy, and crisis intervention for undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in communication and the arts. Fellows will participate in all aspects of Emerson Wellness Center’s efforts to support the developmental and psychological growth of students, including the ancillary and consultative work of Emerson Wellness Center across campus.
Regular training experiences include weekly individual and group supervision (3 hours), weekly clinical team meeting, and peer supervision. During the first two weeks of the fellowship, fellows will have concentrated orientation and training in the more unique aspects of college mental health work.
Fellows gain extensive experience in the evaluation and treatment of individual clients. Counseling Services primarily works within a brief treatment model, but fellows have the opportunity to work with several clients for longer-term treatment. Fellows have the opportunity to co-lead groups and participate in a limited capacity in the on-call rotation, where they provide back-up response to psychiatric emergencies and crises among the student population. Fellows also have opportunities to develop consultation/liaison relationships with one or more college departments or organizations and participate in psycho-educational programs, training, and consultation to various campus groups throughout the year.
Counseling Services clinicians utilize a wide range of evidence-based intervention approaches including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), mindfulness-based interventions, and psychodynamic and relational approaches tailored to the wide array of presenting problems that college students face. The successful post-graduate candidate will have the opportunity to participate in all facets of our multidisciplinary setting and contribute to a dynamic, collaborative team.
Fellowship Schedule
This is a full-time, 12-month position. A work week of 36.25 hours (Monday through Friday, 8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with one hour per day allotted for lunch) is required, with the expectation that some additional time outside of these hours will be needed occasionally for outreach. The position runs from mid-August 2024 to mid-August 2025. Along with legal holidays, post-graduate fellows receive approximately one week of vacation time in December, one week during Emerson’s spring break in March, and two weeks in the summer.
Stipend
The salary for the 12-month fellowship is $43,000 and includes a full benefits package.
Application Process
We accept one post-graduate fellow per year. All applications must be submitted online. To apply for a post-graduate fellowship at Emerson Wellness Center, please submit an application through this Emerson College Human Resources page. The posting title is labeled Post-Graduate Fellow.
- Please be sure to submit the following:
- Cover letter (email counselingtraining [at] emerson.edu (counselingtraining[at]emerson[dot]edu))
- Curriculum vitae
- Three letters of recommendation from clinical supervisors
- Recent graduate transcript
We are committed to strengthening and expanding culturally competent clinical and programming services in a number of areas, including, but not limited to, working with communities of color, LGBTQIA, and first-generation students.
Thank you for your interest in Emerson Wellness Center’s Counseling Services! For any further questions, please email counselingtraining [at] emerson.edu (counselingtraining[at]emerson[dot]edu).