The overall goal of the internship at UMKC Counseling Services is to prepare competent, culturally sensitive professionals with knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary for successful employment as practicing health service psychologists. Our Developmental-Apprentice-Practitioner (DAP) model emphasizes purposeful, developmental, challenging, hands-on experiences with mentorship and increasing autonomy throughout the year. We view our interns as colleagues and enjoy getting to know them as individuals. We value diversity and incorporate it into all aspects of training. Furthermore, diversity is reflected in the clients seen at our agency with a large non-traditional population of varying racial and ethnic backgrounds, and social identities who are in undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs (e.g., law, medical, dental, pharmacy). While many students do present with developmental concerns, our clients often present with significant mental health issues. Interns engage in the delivery of traditional counseling services in an urban university setting including individual, couple, and group therapy as well as outreach and consultation. In addition, interns participate in year-long seminars and direct experience in multiculturalism and supervision of trainees. Our model allows our interns the flexibility to individualize their experience through special focus rotations each semester; examples include eating disorders, administration, outreach, or special populations. Please visit our website for a complete program description.
The UMKC Counseling Services uses the APPIC Application for Psychology Internship Form. Included should be three letters of reference (must be from individuals with direct knowledge of your academic and clinical performance), and they should use the APPIC Standardized Reference Form.