The internship at FGCU is located within the University Counseling Center at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida. FGCU has approximately 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students from diverse backgrounds. The client population is an adult population ranging in age from late teens to mid-fifties. Thirty-seven percent of all FGCU students identify as first-generation college students. Client top presenting issues include: anxiety and stress, depression, relationship issues, trauma, self-esteem/confidence, academic progress and career concerns, sleep, eating disorders, emotional dysregulation,social isolation, grief/loss, suicidality, attention/concentration, and sexual abuse/assault.
Our internship is a 2000 hour experience with a requirement of 500 direct hours. Details regarding our program can be found here: https://www.fgcu.edu/counseling-and-psychological-services/doctoralinternship
We had our first cohort of interns in 2013-2014 and are APA accredited. We offer interns a wide range of internship experiences and allow trainees to further gain experience in their interest areas through projects and summer rotations whenever possible. We value and emphasize diversity, social justice, and multiculturalism in all aspects of our Counseling Center and training program. The aim for the doctoral internship is to provide a training experience that produces competent entry level health service psychologists and exposes interns to all of the roles of a counseling center psychologist. Our training program functions in a practitioner-scientist-developmental model which means that we focus on clinically competent practice that is grounded in the science and the evidence based practice of psychology. We adhere to a developmental model of supervision and provide interns increasing levels of autonomy based on their skill level and needs. We also place emphasis on providing a mindful and respectful place for interns to grow professionally.