Training program

Overview of the Counseling, Health, & Wellness Center

The Counseling, Health, and Wellness Center at William Paterson University offers 9-month clinical training opportunities for Doctoral students in psychology and Master’s students in Social Work, Counseling and Psychology.

• Overview of the Counseling, Health, & Wellness Center

  William Paterson University of New Jersey is set on 370 wooded acres in northern New Jersey, and the campus is located just 20 miles west of New York City. The University has over 10,000 students including undergraduate and graduate students from diverse backgrounds.

  The Counseling Center is one part of a larger center that includes Counseling, Health, and Wellness. The mission of the Counseling, Health, & Wellness Center is to provide clinical, educational, and outreach services to William Paterson University students. The Center assists students in achieving success in their academic experience, and their personal and professional goals throughout life, by offering personal counseling and health care services. The Center enhances physical and emotional health, with a focus on education, insight, and empowerment of individuals and the William Paterson University campus community. The Center is staffed by physicians, psychiatrists, advanced nurse practitioners, registered nurses, health educators, psychologists, social workers, and student trainees in these fields.The Center is staffed by physicians, advanced nurse practitioners, registered nurses, a psychologist, social workers, licensed professional counselors and student trainees in these fields.

  The mission of the Counseling component of the Counseling, Health, and Wellness Center is to provide a welcoming environment for William Paterson University students. The Counseling Center staff members facilitate students' personal, social, and intellectual growth, as well as adjustment to and engagement within the university community. Students are assisted with identifying and working through personal barriers, normal developmental issues and stressors, and clinical problems which could impede academic success.

• Activities & Responsibilities

  The training opportunity designed to help trainees obtain the necessary counseling skills to function as competent clinicians, explore their identity as professional clinicians, and learn how a counseling center functions within the larger university setting. A developmental approach is used to assess each trainee's skill level and readiness to complete the different components of the training program.

  Trainees are required to be on site a minimum of 16 hours per week, including Monday afternoon from 12-2:30PM. Sixteen hours per week offers trainees approximately 512 hours practicum experience. Depending on the academic program requirements, the trainee may elect to be on site up to 24 hours per week for a 750-hour practicum experience. About 50-60% of the time will be devoted to direct service activities, 20-30% to training activities (including individual and group supervision), and 10-20% to related administrative activities such as chart-keeping, scheduling, etc.

  Trainees will have the opportunity to gain experience conducting intake interviews, providing therapy services, performing crisis intervention services, and presenting outreach and educational programs to the University community.

  Each trainee will be assigned an individual supervisor, who will provide a minimum of 1-hour per week of supervision. Trainees will also meet weekly with the training coordinator for 1.5 hours of group supervision. Trainees will receive weekly didactic training seminars, attend weekly staff meetings, and have the opportunity to present cases and obtain feedback from our multi-disciplinary staff at case conferences.

  The graduate training program will be nine months in duration. It will begin the last week in August with a 2-day Orientation to the counseling center, and it will end in mid-May. There may be opportunities to extend the practicum beyond the formal mid-May ending date if a trainee needs additional hours to fulfill their academic requirements.