The University Counseling Center provides comprehensive mental health services for the student population at Emory. Undergraduates, as well as graduate and professional students, utilize the Center for individual psychotherapy, couples and family therapy, and problem-focused or interpersonal process groups. In addition to direct clinical services, the Counseling Center places a priority on providing consultation, outreach and preventative services for the university community. The Center has a multidisciplinary staff, comprised of licensed psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, and psychiatrists; in addition to psychology predoctoral interns, there are clinical social work interns, and psychology postdoctoral fellows completing their training at the Counseling Center. Along with psychotherapy, staff and interns at the Center provide consultative services, a Stress Management Clinic, psychoeducational workshops, sexual assault response and education services, and crisis intervention. In addition, Center staff train and supervise student volunteers who serve as peer counselors and peer educators. While the Counseling Center is primarily a service-oriented facility, some opportunities to be involved in research are available.

The Center is located on Emory's main campus. Audio-visual equipment is available to enhance supervision of work with clients. Each social work intern has a private office equipped with a personal computer and furnishings. An interactive computing network with Internet access is available to interns, along with access to the University's library and computer resources.

INTERNSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM

Program Structure
The field placement is a twenty hour minimum per week position, which emphasizes an intern’s development over the course of their field placement, and mentoring relationships with senior professionals. Services in the Counseling Center are provided primarily between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. However, staff members and social work interns provide some psychoeducational outreach programs and crisis intervention services which take place during the evening hours.

Supervision
Each intern will have their Primary Supervisor, a licensed clinical social worker. In addition, one hour of weekly individual supervision is provided by a Case Supervisor; case supervision typically focuses on a particular client or type of intervention. An additional 1.5 hours each week is provided by the social work staff for group supervision to enhance learning and professional development and be responsive to client concerns and needs. Social work interns also participate in providing after-hours crisis consultation on a rotation basis. Approximately half of the interns' time is spent in direct clinical, with the other half divided between supervision, seminars, and administrative/case management duties.

Each intern is assigned a Preceptor, a senior staff member who serves as a resource, advocate, and advisor for the intern. The preceptor, who may be a psychologist, clinical social worker, or psychiatrist, is responsible for overseeing the intern's training experiences and progress throughout the internship. It is expected that the preceptor relationship will allow each intern to develop a professional mentoring relationship with a senior staff member with less concern about evaluation.

Seminars
Interns participate in a number of didactic training experiences while at the Counseling Center. The training seminars are designed to enhance and supplement the learning that occurs through supervision and clinical experiences.

Clinical Issues Seminar
The Clinical Issues Seminar meets each week during the academic year for two hours, and explores a broad spectrum of theoretical and applied clinical issues. These include Ethics, Cultural Diversity, Psychopathology and Diagnostics, Short-term Therapy Models, Professional Development Issues, and Clinical Theory and Methods. This seminar combines didactic presentations with case discussions, and the curriculum is flexible in order to reflect the interests and needs of the current intern class.

Group Seminar
A weekly, 1 hour Group Therapy seminar focuses on processes and procedures for conducting therapy and support groups. Stages of group development, theories of group process, and ethical issues in group leadership are explored. In addition, some supervision of intern’s group therapy work is provided in the context of the seminar.

Case Assignment Committee
Interns participate with senior staff each week in this case conference, during which new clients are presented and assigned or recommended for referral. Treatment issues and client dynamics are discussed, along with initial treatment planning recommendations. Interns have the opportunity to choose clients for their caseloads during the Case Assignment Committee meetings, with input from senior staff supervisors.

Direct Service
Each intern is involved in a number of types of direct service during his or her training year, including brief psychotherapy with individuals and couples, group therapy, longer-term therapy, crisis intervention, case management, and diagnostic intake interviews.

Psychotherapy
The Counseling Center provides psychotherapy services to an undergraduate and graduate student population which reflects society's diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, gender, and religion. Clients at the Center present with a wide range of needs and concerns, ranging from developmental or transitional difficulties to serious, chronic psychopathology. Interns gain experience in using a variety of theoretical orientations and interventions to assist clients' growth and remediation. Each intern typically has a caseload of about 8 - 10 clients. In addition to brief therapy clients (typically seen for up to 15 sessions), interns may carry one long-term client for the duration of the internship year. It is also expected that each intern will have the opportunity to co-lead a therapy group during the internship year. Interns are involved in case selection, with input from supervisors. This ensures that each intern’s caseload is appropriately diverse, but also allows interns to focus on developing specialty or interest areas.

Crisis Intervention
Interns participate in the Center’s on-call rotation along with senior staff, to assist students who come into the center in crisis during office hours. During the spring, interns primarily serve as back-up for senior staff, but they are allowed to assume more responsibility as the year progresses and they gain experience. Crisis intervention activities may include case management with agencies on- or off-campus, consulting with parents, faculty members or peers who are concerned about a student on campus (within the limits of confidentiality), or providing debriefing after campus emergencies. In addition, interns participate in providing after-hours emergency coverage on a rotating basis. A senior staff member is always available for consultation during daytime and evening on-call hours.

Elective Training Experiences
Interns may elect to gain experience in several other settings within the University. Electives are typically matched to an individual intern's areas of interest.

Emory University Center for Women
The Emory University Center for Women serves as a resource for the university's female faculty, staff, and students. Working in conjunction with a senior staff member, an intern may elect to provide outreach programming and/or consultation to the staff of the Center. Consultation services include meeting with women through a weekly "drop-in" consultation and referral service which the Center for Women provides.

Faculty Consultation
The consultation program is currently being expanded to provide consultative support to faculty and academic departments. The objective of the Faculty Consultation program is to assist faculty members when they encounter students with personal concerns that impact both the individual student and the academic environment. Interns have the opportunity to assist senior staff in providing outreach programs and on-call assistance to faculty and staff who are concerned about meeting student needs.

Emory HELPLINE
The Emory HELPLINE is a volunteer telephone crisis counseling service, which is administered by the Counseling Center. Interns may choose to assist the senior staff member who directs this program. The intern has the opportunity to develop skills in training and supervising paraprofessionals within a community-based intervention program. Activities may include providing lectures for a peer counseling course, helping with administration of the Helpline, and assisting with clinical supervision of Helpline phone counselors.

International Student Programs Consultation
Interns with an interest in multicultural issues may choose to provide consultation for Emory's Office of International Student and Scholars Programs (ISSP). Possible services to students from other countries include crisis intervention, psychoeducational programs, assisting ISSP program staff with cross-cultural communication skills, and research regarding the needs and concerns of the international population. Supervision is provided by a Counseling Center staff psychologist.

Consultation with the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Life
The Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Life (LGBT) provides programs and services which support the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students, faculty and staff at Emory. Working with a senior staff member, an intern may choose to serve as a liaison/consultant with LGBT office staff. Consultation may include addressing organizational or staffing issues, providing outreach workshops, or assisting with the support groups offered by the LGBT office.

Family Therapy Team
Interns may choose to participate in specialized training and supervision in family and marital therapy. This training takes place at Grady Hospital, an Emory-affiliated public hospital in downtown Atlanta. Participants in the Family Therapy Team participate in live supervision of couples and family therapy, and may have the opportunity provide direct services.

Multicultural Programs and Services Consultation
The Office of Multicultural Programs and Services implements programs which support diversity within the University and address the needs of students of color on the Emory campus. An intern may elect to serve as a consultant to this office for the academic year. Possible consultation services include organizing and facilitating discussion groups, providing outreach training, and assisting with program development and evaluation.

Consultation with Adolescent Program
An Emory youth educational program provides another possible training site for interns. The Hughes Science Initiative program brings gifted African-American high school students to Emory's campus for an intensive summer math and science program. Interns may choose to serve as psychological consultants for this program, providing psychoeducational programs, consultation with program staff, and crisis intervention assistance. Intern consulting services with the adolescent programs are supervised by a Counseling Center psychologist.

Sexual Assault Response and Education Services
This elective is an opportunity to learn about the issue of sexual assault on the college campus. The intern will work with the senior staff coordinator in providing educational outreach to the Emory community to raise awareness of the issue. The educational efforts incorporate premises of risk-reduction, social responsibility, and the inclusion of men in prevention efforts. Interns will gain experience in presenting seminars to students in the dormitories and to Resident Advisors through in-service training, as well as teaching course modules and facilitating classroom discussions on sexual assault. The intern will also have the option of participating in the leadership of the Sexual Assault Student Advisory Board. This group is responsible for planning and participating in Sexual Assault Awareness week at Emory.

For further information about this training opportunity:

All second year MSW students interested in consideration for this internship should have the Director of Field Placement at his/her respective School for Social Work contact the Training Director for the Emory University Counseling Center - Pamela Epps, Ph.D.

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