Counseling Psychology
I. Nature of Program
Our counseling psychology program is administered collaboratively by the Department of Psychology and the Department of Counseling and Personnel Services. The collaborative program is designed to enable students to become: (a) psychologists who are trained in general psychology as a behavioral science, (b) competent in conducting research on a wide variety of psychological problems, and (c) competent in providing effective counseling. At all levels, our curriculum provides an integration of general psychology, research participation, and counselor training. Candidates should note that there is a strong expectation throughout the program for students to be active in research. Those interested primarily in professional training, as opposed to scientist-practitioner training, may wish to consider professional schools of psychology (PsyD) program. Our program is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA); graduates of the program are eligible for certification and licensing examinations as psychologists.
II. Curriculum and Requirements
Students are expected to enroll full-time for the first three years. Most also carry a 10-20 hour per week assistantship during the 9-month academic year. There are usually no summer courses for our graduate students. Formal coursework usually takes three to four years. Students typically use their fourth year to complete the comprehensive examination, dissertation, and any remaining classes. The internship is usually completed in the fifth or sixth year.
The curriculum provides for a set of courses and experiences oriented toward understanding patterns of human functioning and the development of strategies for fostering human effectiveness. In recognition of the diversity of program members, clients, and styles of effective functioning, the curriculum is arranged for students to develop a variety of competencies in scholarship, teaching, research, and counseling services.
A background in general psychology includes selections from biological, cognitive, social, or industrial/organizational, and individual differences psychology (developmental or personality), as well as history and systems of psychology. The courses in counseling psychology include courses in theories of counseling, career psychology, assessment, research methods, and didactic practica. A sequence of professional issues courses provides coverage of a broad range of topics, including the history and development of counseling, ethics and legal issues, and cultural diversity.
Counseling practica are offered in the program, at the Counseling Center, and sometimes at off-campus agencies. (Please note that student liability insurance is required in all practica, including pre-practicum). Students are required to take Pre-practicum (as a part of Counseling Theories), Basic Practicum, Advanced Practicum, Career Practicum, Consultation Practicum, Supervision Practicum, and Group Practicum. A practicum in family/couples therapy may be substituted for group practicum, with the Program Director’s approval.
Students are also required to take at least one special seminar in counseling psychology. The topic for the special seminar changes from year to year. Recent offerings have included psychodynamic theory, dream interpretation, health psychology, gender issues, domestic abuse, models of psychological well-being, and the therapeutic relationship.
During the first two years, all students who have not completed an approved master’s research thesis must complete a research project to demonstrate their mastery of basic research skills. A previously completed master’s thesis must be reviewed by a committee of three faculty from the Counseling Psychology Program to be approved for research competence. Approximately 60% of the empirical master’s theses completed elsewhere have been approved in the past.
Students take comprehensive exams after completing coursework and required research competence project. The comprehensives are typically taken at the beginning of the 7th semester in the program, at least one full year before the internship begins. The comprehensives, as described later in this handbook, provide for the major assessment of students' acquisition of the scientific and professional bases of counseling psychology, as well as the integration of these bases.
After the sixth semester, students are generally eligible to take comprehensive exams if they have been able to complete the standard course schedule and the required research competence project. This examination may be deferred to complete any previously postponed course work or to take additional electives. However, in no case may the comprehensives be postponed beyond the ninth semester in the program. Moreover, comprehensives must be taken before internships are begun. The comprehensives, as described in the program handbook, provide for the major assessment of students' acquisition of the scientific and professional domains of counseling psychology as well as the integration of these bases. Students typically use their fourth year to complete the comprehensive examination and dissertation and do their internship in their fifth year.
Length of time to complete the program varies depending on whether a student enters the program with a bachelor's or master's degree, but usually takes about 5 or 6 years including pre-doctoral internship.
III. Sample Curriculum
1. For students entering without a master’s degree:
| Fall Counseling Theories and Strategies (3)a Core Psychology (3) Statistics (3-4) Professional Issues I (1)b Total 10-11 hrs |
Spring Basic Counseling Practicum (3) Research in Counseling Psychology I (3)c Statistics (3-4) Professional Issues I (1) Total 10-11 hrs. |
| Fall Assessment I (3) Advanced Counseling Practicum (3) Professional Issues II/III (1) Core Psychology (3) OR M.A. Thesis/Research Competence (3) Total 10 hrs |
Spring Assessment II (3) Career Counseling Practicum(3) Professional Issues II/III (1) Core Psychology (3) OR M.A. Thesis/Research Competence (3) Total 10 hrs |
| Fall Core Psychology (3) Group Practicum (3) Core Psychology (3) Professional Issues II/III (1) Externship (optional) Total 10 hrs |
Spring Counseling Seminar (3) Research in Counseling Psychology II (3)d Consultation Practicum (3) Professional Issues II/III (1) Externship (optional) Total 10 hrs |
| Fall Supervision Practicum (3)f Core (3) Independent Study (3) Internship Credit (1)g Total 10 hrs |
Spring Supervision Practicum (3)f Candidacy Tuition (6)h Internship Credit (1) Total 10 hrs |
| Fall Candidacy tuition(6) |
Spring Candidacy tuition(6) |
aNumber of credit hours listed in parentheses to the left of each course
bStudents register for Professional Issues each semester for three years, but meet only in the fall semester.
c Students must take Research I unless they have had a comparable course as certified by the course instructor.
d A completed research competence project is a prerequisite to taking this course. Oral(s) must be scheduled prior
to February 20 of the semester when Research II is taken.
e The comprehensive exam must be taken and passed a full year before the start of the internship
f Supervision Practicum is taken either Fall or Spring of the fourth year.
g Students register for 1 internship credit per semester under the CAPS program director. These credits can be taken prior to the internship but students must be registered for at least one credit their final semester.
h After advancing to candidacy, students must be continuously enrolled and pay candidacy tuition until graduation.
IV. Core course options in basic areas of psychology
To meet the categories of core courses in the accreditation criteria of the American Psychological Association and licensing and credentialing agencies, the following courses are acceptable:
- Individual Differences: PSYC 611 (Developmental) or 612 (Personality)
- Biological Bases of Behavior: PSYC 605 (Sensory and Perceptual Processes) or PSYC 606 (Human Biopsychology)
- Cognitive Affective Bases of Behavior: PSYC 607 (Learning and Cognition)
- Social Bases of Behavior: PSYC 604 (Social)
- History and Systems: PSYC 610
Students must take 3 of the 5 core courses in the UMCP Department of Psychology. Courses in the two remaining areas may be taken in other departments (e.g., EDCP).
V. Preregistration
This time period each semester provides for selection of courses for the following semester. Though it is not mandatory that students enroll during the preregistration period, doing so increases the likelihood of students having their first choices for enrollment. Since both core courses in psychology and practica have limited enrollments, the program directors send out questionnaires immediately prior to preregistration to obtain students' first choices for the coming year. Students will be assigned to courses on the basis of both seniority in the program and available openings. Students are informed early in the preregistration period of those courses to which they can be guaranteed entry.
VI. Internship and Dissertation
Following the completion of comprehensive exams and course work, students may proceed either to an internship or to the dissertation, or to a combination of the two. An internship is typically completed on a full-time one-year basis accumulating a minimum of 2000 hours of experience. The internship must be in a service agency with an organized training program providing supervision by psychologists. At the time the student is eligible for applying for internships, consultation with both an advisor and a program co-director assists the student in identifying qualified internship agencies appropriate to student interests. For students in the program in the past five years, about 60% completed internships in counseling centers, 20% in Veteran’s Administration hospitals, and the remainder in community mental health centers and general hospitals.
The dissertation represents the student’s major research contribution during the graduate program. It must be a piece of original research pertinent to counseling psychology. Topics of dissertations recently completed in the program include process and outcomes of counseling in diverse settings, personal and career adjustment of high achieving women, racial and cultural issues in therapy supervision. Students are urged to review faculty research interests described in subsequent sections and choose research problems for which knowledgeable faculty advisors are available. A doctoral degree (Ph.D.) is awarded only upon completion of all of the program requirements including the dissertation and internship.
VII. Evaluation of Students’ Achievement of Program Objectives
Students’ progress is evaluated yearly with written reports, copies of which are provided to students. During the first three years, the primary evaluation is in terms of the satisfactory completion of courses and didactic practica, each of which is separately evaluated by the course instructor. Students who complete their courses on schedule with grades of “B” or better in graded courses (where grades lower than “B” are re-taken) and a Satisfactory in all didactic practica are considered in good standing.
By March 1 of their fourth semester, to remain in good standing, students must have either a committee-approved research competence proposal, if they entered without a thesis, or a committee-approved plan for demonstrating research competence, if they are submitting a thesis completed in another program or at another institution. If the proposal has not been approved, or a research competence plan is not in place, students will not be permitted to pre-register for didactic practica for the following semester. Also, Research II, which is offered in the Spring of the third year, cannot be taken until research competence is demonstrated. Delaying practica or Research II results in the completion of course work taking four rather than three years. Also, if the student does not demonstrate research competence in a reasonable amount of time according to program requirements, the Counseling Psychology faculty will meet to determine whether the student should be terminated from the program.
Satisfactory completion of the comprehensives, along with the satisfactory completion of the four required didactic practica, at least a “B” average in all required course work, and demonstration of research competence are the basis for the final pre-internship evaluation of a student. Final evaluation of students is based on completion of an internship and a dissertation. The internship supervisor(s) or training director provides evaluations at the midpoint and at the completion of the internship. The student’s dissertation committee evaluates the student’s dissertation.
VIII. Qualifications of Applicants and Placements of Graduates
We accept a maximum of 10 new students each year from over 200 applicants in order to maintain our small student-faculty ratio. This ratio allows for high quality supervision of both research and professional training. Candidates are selected to reflect a balance with respect to gender, age, cultural, educational, and geographic background. At present we have 27 women and 14 men in the program, 12 of these students are of African American, Latina/Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander American, and/or Native American (ALANA) heritage or are international students. The present age range is from 22 to 40 years. Students need not necessarily have an undergraduate degree in psychology, although students need to have had courses in general psychology, introductory statistics, and at least three other psychology courses (at least 15 hours). Courses in English composition are also helpful.
More than 90% of all students who were in or have entered the program in recent years have completed or are currently completing their doctoral studies. Our most recent Ph.D.s have taken positions in the following types of settings: academic departments, university counseling centers, hospitals, community mental health centers, and private practice.
IX. Aspirational Multicultural Statement
The Counseling Psychology Program at the University of Maryland is committed to creating a multicultural training environment, which is broadly defined as a place where individuals from various cultures and opinions are respected, and the unique gifts of individuals are applied to train exceptional counseling psychologists. We recognize the changing demographics in the United States and the need for both relevant research and mental health services to address the concerns of people around the world. Thus, we strive to create a training environment that promotes multicultural self-awareness, knowledge, skills, and experiences that enable our graduates to develop and share knowledge regarding multicultural issues as well as to provide culturally sensitive services to a variety of individuals in our society and abroad.
Diversity of Faculty and Student Body
Our view of diversity includes (but is not limited to) the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious orientation, age, and socioeconomic status. We acknowledge that such diversity alone does not facilitate multiculturalism. However, we believe that a multicultural training environment includes individuals from demographic groups that historically have been underrepresented in counseling psychology training programs and/or marginalized in society. We welcome a diverse student body and faculty (including affiliate and adjunct faculty).
Student Recruitment and Selection
We are committed to actively recruiting students representing visible racial and ethnic groups that historically have been underrepresented in psychology training programs and/or marginalized in our society. Our selection process reflects this commitment and strives to select exceptional students using evaluative criteria that are relevant for predicting success in graduate school and beyond.
Retention and Graduation
We understand that recruitment and admissions efforts will be compromised by inattention to retention issues. Thus, our program seeks to develop a welcoming environment that embraces differences among individuals and puts these differences to work to improve our understanding of multicultural issues, particularly those related to psychological research and practice. Furthermore, we are committed to retaining the students with whom we work and facilitating their graduation from our program in a timely manner. Advisors are viewed as critical in assisting students to achieve academic and vocational success as well as to welcome new professionals to counseling psychology.
Research
In our program, research related to multicultural issues is respected and encouraged. Several faculty are recognized nationally for their work in related areas, and students often complete theses and dissertations addressing critical questions related to multiculturalism. Faculty and students contribute to advancing knowledge through publication and presentation of their scholarly work.
Climate
Our program strives to promote open discourse on all issues, including those related to multiculturalism. Diversity of opinion is embraced, and discussions regarding multiculturalism are encouraged. People representing marginalized groups are present and represented in leadership positions in our program. Other aspects of our program reflect our commitment to multiculturalism (e.g., written materials, physical environment).
X. Description of Faculty Interests
The full-time counseling psychology faculty are from the Psychology Department (PSYC) and the Department of Counseling and Personnel Services (CAPS). The codirectors are Clara E. Hill from PSYC and Robert W. Lent from CAPS. PSYC full-time faculty include: Charles J. Gelso, Clara E. Hill, Karen O’Brien, and Ty Tashiro. CAPS full-time faculty include: Ruth E. Fassinger, Mary Ann Hoffman, Dennis Kivlighan, and Robert Lent. The staff is further augmented by teaching and supervisory services of part-time or affiliated faculty from the University’s Counseling Center. Vivian S. Boyd, David Petersen, Pepper E. Phillips, and Kathy P. Zamostny. Adjunct faculty from the local area include Jean Carter, David Fago, Suzie Friedman, Ellen Lent, Georgia Royalty, Damon Silvers, Sharon Spiegel, Barbara Thompson, and Steven Van Wagoner.
Regarding theoretical orientation of the faculty, we represent a broad range of approaches including dynamic, cognitive and behavioral, humanistic, multicultural, and developmental. None of us consider ourselves to be orthodox proponents of any one approach, and, in fact, we have a strong emphasis on training students in several major theoretical orientations.
Faculty in the Department of Psychology
Charles J. Gelso (Professor) received his M.S. in 1964 from Florida State University and his Ph.D. in 1970 from Ohio State University. His interests include the client-therapist relationship and its effect on therapy process and outcome, the causes and effects of therapist emotional factors (countertransference) during counseling, and the research environment in graduate education. He is a past editor of the Journal of Counseling Psychology, and current Editor of Psychotherapy, co-author of Counseling Psychology (2001, 2nd ed., with Bruce Fretz) and The Psychotherapy Relationship (1998, with Jeff Hayes), and maintains a part-time practice of psychotherapy and career counseling.
Clara E. Hill (Professor and Co-Director, Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program) received her PH.D. in 1974 from Southern Illinois University. Her current areas of interest are process and outcome studies of counseling and psychotherapy, working with dreams in therapy, identification and training of counseling skills. She is a licensed psychologist in Maryland, Past President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, past editor of the Journal of Counseling Psychology, and current editor of Psychotherapy Research. Recent books include Helping Skills (2004), and Dream Work in Therapy (2004).
Karen M. O’Brien (Associate Professor) received her doctorate from Loyola University Chicago in 1993. Her research interests include investing the career and life development of women and minorities with special attention to the influence of psychodynamic (e.g., attachment) and social-cognitive (e.g., self-efficacy) variables. She is also interested in research related to adoptive families and domestic violence. She is the associate editor of the Journal of Counseling Psychology. She is a licensed psychologist in Maryland and maintains a small private practice in psychotherapy.
Ty Tashiro (Assistant Professor) received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2004. His program of research is focused on enhancing interpersonal problem-solving by applying laboratory findings from social psychology to relational problems commonly dealt with in clinical settings. One line of research uses affect and social cognition findings to examine how negative emotion may activate maladaptive cognitive and behavioral patterns, whereas positive emotion may foster insight into interpersonal problems by enhancing creativity. A second line of research, based on self-affirmation theory, investigates the possibility that emotional distress experienced following relationship breakups or divorce provides opportunities for personal growth that can enhance future relationships. The third area of research observes how friends talk to each other about problems in their other interpersonal relationships and what types of friends provide advice that is actually helpful. His teaching interests include courses on research methods, the development of psychological strengths, and close relationships.
Faculty in the College of Education
Ruth E. Fassinger (Associate Professor) received her Ph.D. in 1987 from Ohio State University and then worked in counseling centers at the University of California/Santa Barbara and Arizona State University. Current research and teaching interests include gender issues in development, particularly women’s career development and achievement; gay/lesbian identity development; feminist therapy and science; and history of psychology. She is also an affiliate faculty member with the Women’s Studies Program at UMCP. She is a licensed psychologist in the State of Maryland and maintains a part-time practice of psychotherapy and consultation regarding issues of gender and sexuality.
Mary Ann Hoffman (Professor) received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1975. Her current research interests are in the areas of psychosocial issues related to health and wellness, the application of social psychological principles to the counseling process, and the supervision and training of counseling psychologists. She is an associate editor of The Counseling Psychologist and author of Counseling Clients with HIV Disease: Assessment Intervention and Prevention. She is licensed as a psychologist in the District of Columbia and Maryland and is listed in the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. She also maintains a part-time private practice in consultation and psychotherapy.
Dennis M. Kivlighan, Jr. (Professor) received his Ph.D. in 1982 from Virginia Commonwealth University. His current research interests are the therapeutic processes and outcome of group therapy conducted with low-achieving minority students, therapist reflection and self-awareness and their effects on counselor training and client change, clinical and training applications of educational psychology constructs (e.g., achievement of goals, goal setting, expert-novice research). Dr. Kivlighan is co-author (with Heppner and Wampold) of Research Design in Counseling (2nd ed.), editor of Group Dynamics; Theory Research and Practice, and editorial board member for both the Journal of Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy Research. He is a Fellow of Division 17 of APA and a licensed psychologist in Missouri.
Robert W. Lent (Professor and Co-Director, Counseling Psychology Doctoral Program) received his Ph.D. in 1979 from The Ohio State University. His research interests include the application of social-cognitive theory to career development, academic achievement, counselor supervision, well-being, and the psychosocial adjustment process. He is co-editor of the Handbook of Counseling Psychology.
Emeritus Faculty
Janice M. Birk (Professor Emeritus) received her Ph.D. in 1970 from the University of Missouri. Her current interests are in the training and supervision of counseling psychologists, gender-related issues in counseling, and rural mental health issues and practice. She is Past President of the Division of Counseling Psychology (Div. 17) of APA. She is licensed as a psychologist in Maryland and the District of Columbia, and is listed in the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. She also maintains a part-time practice of psychotherapy.
Bruce R. Fretz (Professor Emeritus) received his PH.D. from The Ohio State University in 1965. His current areas of research are focused on professional issues in psychology and retirement and aging. He holds the ABEPP diploma in Counseling Psychology and is a licensed psychologist in the state of Maryland. He is past President of the Division of Counseling Psychology (Div. 17) and former director of the Counseling Psychology doctoral program.
Part-time and Affiliated Faculty
Vivian Boyd (Associate Professor) received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park. Since 1989, she has been the Director of the University Counseling Center. Her professional and research interests include: retention of college students, vocational identity development of college students, administrative aspects of the delivery of mental health services. She is licensed as a psychologist in Maryland and the District of Columbia. She has maintained a national Data Bank for minority health professionals employed in university/college counseling centers since 1976.
David A. Petersen (Assistant Professor) received his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Maryland in 1998. He is a staff counselor at the University of Maryland Counseling Center, where he coordinates the externship program. His professional research interests include training and supervision, group therapy, and the counseling process. His current research examines factors associated with impasses between clients and therapists.
Pepper E. Phillips (Assistant Professor) received her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University. She has a 75% time appointment in the University of Maryland Counseling Center, and a 25% appointment in the Department of Counseling and Personnel Services where she is affiliated with the Counseling Psychology Program. Her professional and research interests include group, gay and lesbian issues, and clinical training and supervision. She is a licensed psychologist in the state of Maryland.
Kathy P. Zamostny (Assistant Professor) received her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. She is a staff psychologist at the University of Maryland Counseling Center. Her professional interests include training and supervision of interns and practicum students, the convergence of psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral approaches to therapy, and adult children from dysfunctional families. Her research interests include interpersonal influence in the therapy relationship and factors affecting healthy and dysfunctional development of the self. She is licensed as a psychologist in Maryland. She maintains a part-time practice of psychotherapy.