Counseling Center Training Opportunities
The University
Roger Williams University (RWU) is an independent, co-educational, liberal arts institution, accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. RWU has a total enrollment of 4723 students for the Bristol, Rhode Island campus. This population is comprised of 3984 undergraduate, 487 law, and 307 graduate students. There is also a second RWU campus located in the Downtown district of Providence where the University College is located. In Bristol, approximately 75% of the students live in university-owned, -operated, or -affiliated housing. Roger Williams University offers more than 50 majors and 39 minors leading to BA, BS, B.Arch, BFA, AA, an AS undergraduate degrees, and has a student to faculty ratio of 14:1. The schools and colleges on the Bristol campus are comprised of the Division of University Studies; Feinstein School of Humanities, Arts and Education; Feinstein School of Social and Natural Sciences; Gabelli School of Business; Cummings School of Architecture; School of Engineering, Computing and Construction Management; School of Justice Studies; and the School of Law. Students originate from over 41 states with the majority of students hailing from the Northeast region (i.e., New England and Mid-Atlantic states) of the United States. RWU is populated with 98 international students.
The Counseling Center
The Counseling Center offers comprehensive psychological services to the university's full-time undergraduate, graduate, and law school students. Services include individual and group psychotherapy, crisis intervention, and outreach programming. In addition, the Center provides consultation and referral services for administrators, faculty, and staff. In addition to the interns, the Center staff currently consists of 4 psychologists, 1 licensed clinical social worker, 1 post-doctorate fellow, 1 consulting psychiatrist, and 1 secretary. The theoretical orientations and clinical interests of staff members are quite varied. The Center has a highly positive reputation on campus and is highly sought out by students for treatment and consultation. During spring semester 2020, we transitioned to offering our services through a telemental health format due to the pandemic and provided training for all clinical staff and trainees for this form of service delivery.
Training Philosophy and Goals
Counseling Center staff are highly committed to providing an accepting and supportive environment, which is conducive to the professional development of both Post-Doctorate Fellows and Psychology Interns. In the Center's training programs, supervisors emphasize the growth of both professionalism and skills, together with adaptiveness, multicultural learning, and self-reflection. Trainee growth is nurtured through consultation, didactic instruction, experiential learning, mentoring, modeling, and supervision. One goal of the training programs is to shape future Psychologists who are simultaneously specialists and generalists, with versatility extending to a number of client populations and roles. Another goal of the training program is the development of professionalism. Strong emphasis is placed on enhancing the Trainee's sense of ethical responsibility (conformity to professional standards of conduct), social responsibility (sensitivity to the full diversity of human differences), and personal responsibility (awareness of self and impact on others).
Pre-Doctoral Internship
The Counseling Center is one of multiple training sites affiliated with the William James College (WJC) Internship Consortium in Clinical Psychology. This consortium is approved by the American Psychological Association. Our Counseling Center is one of the five founding members of the Consortium. The pre-doctoral internship in clinical psychology is based on a competency model of training in the areas of relationship-building, assessment, intervention, supervision and management, consultation and education, research and evaluation, ethics and professional identity, and cultural competence/diversity. Over a 2-year period, interns spend 25 hours weekly for the Center and 2 hours weekly at a related WJC seminar during the academic year. A total of 2,000 internship hours (in no more than 24 months) is required. All applicants must currently be WJC students who have received approval for their readiness for internship level training. Applicants who have questions about the internship can contact Christopher J. Bailey, Ph.D., Director, at cjbailey@rwu.edu or 401-254-3124.
Internship Activities
Balanced against individual training needs, a number of core activities will typically take up to the majority of the intern's 27 hours weekly time commitment during the academic year. The following are estimated time allotments that may vary according to the interests of the intern and the needs of the Center and the university.
- Individual supervision: 2 hours
- Group supervision: 1 hour
- Staff meetings: 2 hours
- Didactic training seminar: 1 hour
- Case conference: 1 hour
- Intakes and individual therapy: 10-15 hours
- Group therapy: 1 hour
- Crisis hour: 1 hour
- Outreach: 1 hour
- Record-keeping: 1-5 hours
- William James Seminar: 2 hours
A brief therapy model is the generally accepted mode of treatment for individual counseling, although there is a provision for you to gain experience with longer-term clients. Interns are given considerable autonomy and are encouraged to exercise choices both within their prescribed responsibilities (e.g., types of groups, topics for outreach) and in their choice of optional or specialty areas (e.g., eating disorders, student-athletes, Title IX).
Post-Doctoral Fellowship
The Center first began offering a post-doctoral fellowship position in 2002. The Fellow position is designed to prepare individuals for a staff position in a counseling center as well as being a professional Psychologist in any other clinical setting. Fellows will have the opportunity to learn about systemic dynamics often encountered when working in a university setting. Fellows receive advanced training opportunities in core service areas including individual and group psychotherapy, intake and assessment, crisis intervention, outreach programs and workshops, and consultations with administrators, faculty, family members of students, and staff. There are opportunities to develop ongoing, deeper consultative relationships with other departments on campus. A core aspect of the position is to provide effective mentorship to the cohort of Pre-Doctoral Interns. The Center staff strive to create a supportive, collegial environment in which Fellows can further develop and expand their professional identity. Each Fellow is part of the Crisis Team to support walk-in/crisis appointment availability during standard daytime working hours. No evening, university holiday, or weekend on-call coverage is expected. In addition, Fellows, in consultation with the staff, are responsible for coordinating the didactic training seminars. Two hours of individual supervision provided by licensed psychologists occur on a consistent, weekly basis. Sensitivity to individual and cultural differences and investment in DEI is emphasized throughout the fellowship.
Application Procedure and Benefits for Post-Doctoral Fellowship
Four of our last 6 Fellows now occupy positions in university counseling centers, with one in private practice, and another serving as a faculty member.
Applications for the 2023-2024 academic year are now being accepted! The deadline for applying is Friday, March 24, 2023. There are 2 Fellow positions available. We follow the APPIC selection guidelines. If you have any questions about the application process, you are welcome to contact Dr. Christopher Bailey at cjbailey@rwu.edu
The salary has now been increased to $48,300 that includes a $300 stipend for professional development. Health insurance, dental insurance, paid vacation time, free on-campus parking, medical/sick time, and 15 paid holidays are all included. A private office with views of a scenic campus setting next to Mount Hope Bay is a pleasant extra. A significant amount of time is provided to Fellows for job search and licensure exam preparation activities.