Counseling Center Earns Accreditation for Internship Program

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 19, 2015) — The doctoral psychology internship program of the University of Kentucky Counseling Center: Consultation and Psychological Services (UKCC) has received accreditation from the American Psychological Association. 

Diane Sobel, the Counseling Center’s assistant director and the director of its training programs “gets huge credit for moving our program application through the APA accreditation process, which is rigorous, said the center's director, Mary Bolin. "This accreditation puts us in the company of our best benchmarks and professional colleagues nationwide.” 

The APA accreditation is the culmination of the development of the program and self-study process that began with the planning and recruiting of the first internship class in spring 2012.  The center has graduated six interns in three classes, and the interns have gone on to post-doctoral fellowships or full-time positions in clinical settings and as members of faculty throughout the country. 

In addition to the four full-time doctoral interns, the center also houses a robust practicum program for UK graduate students (earlier in their training than interns) from the Counseling Psychology and Clinical Psychology programs. The UKCC has 12 trainees this year.

The internship includes a combination of experiential learning through provision of services as well as training through both seminars and supervision of clinical work. Interns provide the same psychological services as staff, including individual and group therapy, LD and AD/HD assessment, crisis intervention, workshops and outreach program, supervision of practicum students, and under supervision of the psychology staff serve as liaisons with departments on campus

Interns at the UKCC complete their final phase of professional training before receiving their doctorate, having gone through a competitive national matching system to determine their placement at UK.  While interns are providing supervised psychological services to UK students, they are receiving training and are developing in the following areas: individual therapy, crisis intervention, group therapy, consultation, providing clinical supervision, psychological assessment (primarily for ADHD and LD), program evaluation, outreach, multicultural competence and integrating research into practice. 

Having an internship at UK is positive for the institution and the Commonwealth in many ways.  It brings highly trained and diverse individuals from across the nation to UK and to the region.  It also keeps center staff current on best practices and innovation in training and service delivery, and it allows staff an opportunity to train the next generation of professional psychologists. 

“The Counseling Center staff are extremely excited that the internship program has received accreditation from the American Psychological Association. We love having the opportunity to provide a high quality training experience to interns in their last phase of training and to prepare the next generation of psychologists to provide high quality services to clients in need of their assistance,” Sobel said.

MEDIA CONTACT: Gail Hairston, 859-257-3302, gail.hairston@uky.edu