Internships and Training Opportunities

Read about our Application Procedure

UMSL's Counseling Services (CS) offers graduate trainees an opportunity to participate in a variety of professional activities in the stimulating atmosphere of an urban university. The University of Missouri-St. Louis is the second-largest campus of the University of Missouri System, with over 12,000 students. The campus’ attractive modern brick buildings are set on the site of a former country club.

Part-time internships or practica are offered for graduate students in counseling, psychology, or social work. The training program's goal is to provide an intensive and diverse clinical experience consistent with the individual student's training needs, interests, and level of expertise.  Graduate training is a major priority of our staff and there is a strong commitment to on-site supervision and professional education. Graduate interns are viewed as colleagues and are encouraged to be actively involved with the staff and with the development of new programs and workshops.

Range of Clinical Experience

Interns have the opportunity to become involved in a number of programs that CS offers to UMSL students, faculty, and staff. Included among these are individual counseling, outreach, and workshops. The workshop and outreach offerings vary in response to the needs of our client population and the professional development interests of the interns and staff.

The clients who use our services reflect the greatly varied population of St. Louis itself. Although some UMSL students fit the profile of the traditional college student, the mean age of our clients is 27. Cultural backgrounds, intellectual assets, and psychological strengths also tend to vary greatly. Clients’ concerns range from developmental issues to situational crises, to more serious psychological disorders. This diversity contributes to a broad training experience and a stimulating professional environment.

The Staff

CS staff is composed of 5 full-time professionals and 1-3 graduate interns. The professional staff members are trained in a variety of treatment approaches and theoretical orientations including humanistic/existential, psychodynamic/interpersonal, feminist/multicultural, cognitive-behavioral, process-experiential/emotion-focused, systems/family of origin, and dialectical behavior therapy.

Specifics of the Training Program

A training experience at CS requires a commitment of 20 hours per week for the full academic year (from late August through mid-May). Activities usually involve some combination of the following:

Direct Service

• Intake and Individual Counseling: Interns receive training and experience completing initial assessment interviews. Opportunities exist for brief, time-limited counseling, along with longer-term counseling when needed to address client concerns. Interns usually see 8-11 individual clients per week.

• Outreach: Interns will be asked to participate in a wide range of campus outreach. Activities may include tabling in various campus locations, assisting with presentations or workshops, and participating in campus-wide mental health initiatives such as National Depression Screening Day.

Supervision

• Individual Supervision: Each intern has an individual supervisor who is a member of the professional staff. Weekly one-hour supervision meetings focus on the development of interns’ counseling skills and treatment planning for individual clients. Digital videos of client sessions are used to enhance supervision.

• Group Supervision: The interns meet as a group with the Training Director on a weekly basis (1.5 hours). These meetings focus on specific training needs and issues and provide a forum for case discussions of various clients.

Internship and Practicum Application Procedure

Eligibility 
Applicants may be candidates for the M.Ed., MA, M.S.W., Ed.D, Psy.D., or Ph.D. in programs of clinical psychology, counseling, or clinical social work. Practicum applicants should preferably have completed courses in the theories of counseling or psychotherapy, ethics, and basic counseling or psychotherapy skills. Internship applicants should have completed their practicum courses and other relevant academic coursework.

Please submit:

1. A letter of interest containing information about what makes you interested in being a counselor and what interests you in our practicum opportunity.
2. A curriculum vita, listing relevant educational, work, or volunteer experiences and graduate courses completed.
3. Email contact information for two persons familiar with your professional and/or academic performance. They will be contacted to provide an assessment of your skills and potential suitability for the position.

Send to: Karen Munkel, LCSW, at munkelk@umsl.edu 

Please be advised of the following:

• We reserve the right to review applications, conduct interviews, and make offers prior to the application deadline. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply early for full consideration.
• After your materials are received, you will be contacted once your application is complete. After our initial review of applications, in-person interviews will be conducted. You will be contacted if selected for an in-person interview.
• The internship lasts for two semesters, starting in August 2024 and concluding in May 2025. We DO NOT offer one-semester or summer practicum positions.
• The position offers a $1000 stipend, with the first $500 paid after completion of the first semester and the remaining $500 being paid at the end of the second semester.
• You can learn more about our center on our website.