The Counseling Psychology Program at the University of Maryland prepares students for academic, research, and practice careers at the doctoral level. The program is based on the scientist-practitioner model, which emphasizes the value of training in research, practice, and their integration. Students receive rigorous training through a variety of educational modalities, including (a) general psychology courses, (b) small counseling psychology seminars, (c) research, and (d) applied counseling experiences with intensive personalized supervision. Most students graduate in 6 years.
The training program prepares our students for a diversity of career paths. A survey indicated that our recent graduates hold a wide variety of positions, the most common being staff psychologists in university counseling centers and tenure-track faculty members in universities. Graduates of the program are eligible for certification and licensing examinations as psychologists.
Research Training
Counseling psychology students at Maryland receive rigorous research training through completion of required projects (thesis and dissertation), courses on research methods and statistics, and participation in additional research projects. Students who aspire to research-oriented careers find ample opportunities to conduct research, present at professional conferences, and publish their work in scholarly journals. The quality of our research training is evident in the scholarly accomplishments of our graduates, many of whom have gone on to become highly regarded scholars and editors of scholarly journals.
At the heart of our research training is the advisee-advisor relationship. Advisees work closely with their advisor on their thesis and dissertation studies, as well as additional research. Typically, the advisory relationship becomes an important source of professional support for students, including support for developing and pursuing one’s career goals, identifying one’s areas of relative strength and weakness, and navigating the inevitable challenges that arise in a rigorous graduate program. Also, we encourage students to work with other counseling psychology faculty, and many students graduate having conducted research with multiple faculty members.
Practice Training
Our counseling psychology program offers students intensive and high quality training in practice, with a focus on counseling of older adolescents and adults. Much of the training occurs through a series of seminars called didactic practica, each of which focuses on a different practice area (e.g., individual counseling, career counseling, group counseling). The structure of these courses reflects our commitment to the scientist-practitioner model by featuring simultaneous instruction in research, theory, and practice. Most of these didactic practica focus on development of counseling skills; however, we also require students to complete practica in clinical supervision and macro-level social justice interventions. Beyond the required didactic practicum courses, students gain additional experience through externships at sites in the DC-Baltimore region (e.g., university counseling centers, VA medical centers, community health organizations, psychotherapy practices and clinics).
Our students are very successful in securing APA accredited internships, as can be seen in our student outcomes data. Most students complete their internships in university counseling centers; however, a sizable minority of students complete internships in VA hospitals, other hospitals, and community health centers.
