Counseling services receive
recognition
Psychological group accredits
Purdue internship program
By Lynde Smith
Staff
Writer
The Purdue Counseling and Psychological Services'
pre-doctoral internship program has received accreditation from the
American Psychological Association.
The process to get accredited took four years.
It involved the program doing a self-study and then writing a 300-page
report describing what the Counseling and Psychological Services does,
how it does it and how it proves it does it. The report was then sent
to the American Psychological Association.
The committee on accreditation reviewed the report
and made a decision to grant Purdue a site visit. Members from the committee
came to Purdue for two days to evaluate the program. They then wrote
a report about the visit and the program. When it was decided that the
standards had been met, Purdue was granted accreditation for five years.
Purdue's accreditation is different than others
because the program is a newer one and it received five years of accreditation
right away. Newer programs usually are accredited for only three years,
said Barry Schreier, coordinator of training for Counseling and Psychological
Services.
"It was a pat on the back for (Counseling and Psychological
Services), showing this national accrediting body's confidence in the
level and quality of training that (the services) does," said Schreier.
Neil Gilliland, a pre-doctoral psychological intern,
said, "The accreditation is a positive thing in the sense that it will
provide more of a guarantee that this is a quality program."
"This has been a wonderful experience," Gilliland
said. "I don't have to worry about quality (of the program) because
of the accreditation."
The accreditation puts Purdue on a national level
and has helped to increase the amount of applicants to the internship
program. In the last year the number of applicants, who are from around
the nation and the world, doubled.
The internship is the final stage for doctorate
students who must complete a one-year internship before earning their
degrees. It is the equivalent to a medical residency, Schreier said.
The pre-doctoral internship program gives three
students the chance to have a full-time internship with the Counseling
and Psychological Services. The interns give individual and group therapy
to students, they attend twice-weekly seminars, provide supervision
to students, teach and do liaison training in the residence halls. They
also do learning disability and attention deficit and hyperactivity
assessments.
"They engage in the activities of a practicing
psychologist, but they are in an environment of intensive supervision
and training," said Schreier.
The Counseling and Psychological Services program
was formed in 1991 when the mental health unit of the health center
was merged with the department of psychology's psychological services.
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