Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) is a one-year, full time doctoral internship program (2000 hours). The program generally begins around August 1 and ends around July 31. Interns are expected to work 41-43 hours/week during the busiest times of the school year, which occasionally includes after-hours outreach programming. During the summer months the program tends to be much less demanding.
We use a practitioner-apprenticeship training model, which is informed by science. Interns begin training with the understanding that their academic programs have provided the knowledge and basic skills required to practice as junior colleagues. By the end of the internship year, interns are expected to be ready to function as autonomous, entry-level practitioners with an intermediate to advanced level of competency in all 9 Profession-Wide Competencies defined by the American Psychological Association (APA). Through experiential training, intensive supervision, self-reflection, collaboration, and ongoing didactic learning, the program will enhance interns’ ability to independently integrate theory and research into their clinical work. Interns are included in all levels of the training environment, coordinating with senior staff, master’s level interns, psychiatric staff, case managers, and agency directors.
Our program emphasizes mentoring of personal and professional development to prepare successful generalist practitioners in college or university counseling centers or similar Health Service Psychology (HSP) environments (HSPEC, 2013, August 5). We emphasize the whole person in our approach to learning, and we encourage personal growth along the road to professional development. We believe our program is unique in its integration of self-care and commitment to diversity education across all levels of the training experience. Staff is comprised of a multitude of theoretical orientations and multidisciplinary training backgrounds, and as such, interns will have flexible opportunities to learn various approaches to treatment. Additionally, CAPS works closely with departments across campus including the Primary Care Clinic, Office of Student Housing, and Dean of Students Office, allowing interns to gain experience in consultation and collaboration with partners outside of the field of psychology. We also partner with the local VA Internship in our Diversity Seminar to expand the group and provide more robust conversation & exploration.
Strengths of our training program include the ability to gain supervised experience in the provision of supervision throughout the entire training year, the opportunity to provide supervised psychological assessments, and the ability to participate in one of our many minor rotation options for additional training in a chosen area (i.e., eating disorders, suicide prevention, alcohol or drug, trauma, administration, etc.). The training program offers a weekly diversity seminar, which is further supplemented by a department-wide diversity curriculum that all staff participate in. This curriculum involves readings, watching assigned videos, engaging in discussion threads, and participating in learning activities in the monthly diversity-focused staff meeting. Additionally, beginning in fall of 2020 we offer additional training and opportunities for experience in behavioral telehealth. Foundational to the entire program is the belief that competence includes valuing individual & cultural differences, requiring ongoing learning that is both fluid and adaptive. Former interns have described our emphasis on diversity as a strength of the training program. We are eager to welcome interns from across the wide spectrum of human identities.
CAPS is currently fully Accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) until 2025. This status affords interns the full rights and privileges of APA accreditation.
Please visit our website to access our brochure and view a video tour of our facilities: https://health.uark.edu/mental-health/trainingprograms.php. You can also learn more about CAPS by visiting our Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/uofacaps/) or our YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMWaJnHrUMmF_3dKIsAm0eA/featured). Inquiries are welcome and can be directed to the Training Director at ac143@uark.edu.