The Counseling and Testing Center (CTC) is a full-service university counseling center that provides a wide variety of services to a diverse student body, making it an ideal setting for the practical training of psychologists. Moreover, because our training experiences are varied, the program prepares interns for employment in a variety of settings. Interns spend about 20 hours each week in direct service, which includes individual personal, career and educational counseling, process and psycho-educational groups, intakes, assessment, biofeedback, and psycho-educational workshops/outreach. Currently we provide both short term and longer-term therapy. Interns receive 6-8 hours of supervision and training each week. In addition, they provide supervision for practicum counselors. Assessment activities include LD/ADHD assessments, testing related to diagnosis, and integrated report writing. Opportunity also exists for interns to choose an area of focus. Past areas of focus have included cultural diversity, gender issues, administration, training, group work and learning disability evaluation. Interns participate in a research group and may have the option of conducting research. At times, interns have published or presented with CTC staff.
The clients of the Counseling and Testing Center are representative of the University of Akron student body and present with a wide variety of concerns, ranging from developmental issues to more severe psychopathology. Recent client demographic data found that 30% of our clients identified as racial/ethnic minorities and another 7% were international students. Thirty-five percent identified as LGBQIA+ and nearly 6% identified as transgender or self-identified gender. Over 27% were first generation college students.
The CTC is known for its interest in diversity and social justice. Our stated mission is to “promote student learning, success and retention through excellence in comprehensive culturally competent psychological services.” We have a small cohesive staff of seven full-time licensed psychologists. We are highly invested in training and interns are integrated with our staff in a collegial manner. All of our full-time staff members participate in training and are available to supervise. Two of our full-time psychologists are African-American and one has an international background. Interns can request to work with a specific staff member for supervision. Although we consider ourselves to be generalists who operate from an integrated and multicultural framework, we do have expertise in a variety of therapy approaches including ACT, CBT, DBT, emotion focused therapies, positive psychology and trauma work.
The CTC recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted training. We consider several factors in our intern search decisions and have never focused exclusively on clinical hours. In addition, although experience in a university setting is appreciated it is not required. We value intern candidates who have a breadth of experiences, an interest in diversity, and a commitment to meeting the needs of a diverse college student population. We also ask that candidates have experience in individual therapy with adolescents or adults. Please contact us if you have any concerns about how your qualifications fit our site or how your training experiences may have been impacted by the pandemic.
Also please visit our website for additional information about each of our staff psychologists, our Center, the University of Akron, and living in Northeast Ohio - a region of urban areas and small communities that offers cultural, educational, and entertainment amenities, recreation in well-developed park systems, and over 3,000,000 residents