Counseling Psychology

Doctoral Degree Program

Opportunities for graduate students

At the University of North Texas, our focus in the doctoral counseling psychology program is to develop well-rounded professional psychologists in an inclusive and student-oriented community. To that end, we provide opportunities for you to cultivate a deep understanding of scientific methodology; build competencies in numerous areas including psychological assessment, self-awareness and multicultural counseling; and gain experience in the profession.

The Doctor of Philosophy degree in Counseling Psychology prepares you for work as an independent professional in research, academic or applied settings.

Our faculty members are active researchers who offer you a variety of experiences, using a number of different perspectives. Their expertise ranges from psychotherapy to eating disorders and body image.We also support the UNT Psychology Clinic and UNT Counseling and Testing Services, which serve as training resources for the program. Our program has about 50 students and admits approximately eight students annually. At this time, we have a larger percentage of women than men. The students are diverse in age, backgrounds and interests. Most facilities on campus, including the Department of Psychology, are accessible to students with disabilities.

The counseling psychology program is accredited by the American Psychological Association's Commission on Accreditation (750 First Street NE,Washington, D.C. 20002-4242, 202-336-5979). This accreditation means the program has met or exceeded the organization's requirements for academic excellence.

We provide data concerning applicants, admitted students, internship acceptance rates, program completion time, licensure, student attrition rates and financial cost in response to directives from the APA Office of of Program Consultation and Accreditation. The information

Philosophy and objectives

We train professional psychologists within the broad context of the scientist-practitioner model. This training occurs through structured requirements such as courses, practica and research, as well as through the multitude of informal learning opportunities that take place while working side by side with faculty and peers.

The model focuses on the application of the scientific principles of psychology and the perspectives, values and emphases of counseling psychology to:

• aid individuals to identify and resolve more typical difficulties in life and/or promote growth to enhance their sense of self, relationships, work satisfaction, performance or general well-being
• effectively serve as psychotherapeutic agents for persons with severe problems in personal adjustment, distressing psychological symptoms and/or mental illness
• increase understanding and appreciation of individual and cultural diversity and their fundamental relevance to the science and practice of psychology
• provide instruction in the range of scientific and practice activities within counseling psychology and the symbiotic relationship between them
• train counseling psychologists as scientists, with the expertise that allows them to make independent contributions to the scientific community and think as scientist-practitioners no matter what the roles or settings of their career paths

Training emphasizes acquisition of counseling skills through exposure to specific educational experiences according to the positive developmental perspective held by the faculty.The program's approach rests on a scientific framework that stresses commitment to empirical, objective and typically nomothetic evaluations of theory and technique without devaluing the uniqueness of individuals, their experiences or perspectives.

Admission requirements

Applying to the doctoral counseling psychology program is a multistep process. You will need to meet one of the following criteria:

• 3.0 GPA overall on the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree
• 3.5 GPA on the last 60 hours of the B.A. or B.S.
• 3.5 GPA in undergraduate psychology course work
• 3.5 GPA on a completed master's degree (exclusive of practicum and thesis)
• completed doctoral degree in another field
• first or second author on an article in a peer-reviewed scientific or professional journal

In addition you must meet the admission requirements of the Toulouse Graduate School as well as a specific set of departmental requirements. The graduate school requirements are outlined at tsgs.unt.edu or catalog.unt.edu. The departmental requirements include:

• a goals statement that describes how you can enrich the diversity of the program
• a resume
• three letters of recommendation (submitted at www.psyc.unt.edu)
• GRE verbal and quantitative scores

Admission to the doctoral program is not determined by one criterion or quantitative measure of achievement.Motivation, aptitude, self-awareness and interpersonal poise are highly valued, as are skills in communication, research methods and professional/scientific writing. The admission committee's goal is to make an optimal match between your qualifications and goals and the training program's resources and objectives. Detailed departmental admission requirements and an application are available from the graduate coordinator or at www.psyc.unt.edu.

Degree requirements

The degree requires a minimum of 107 semester hours beyond the bachelor's degree and a one-year supervised internship. The required course work includes:

• 20 semester hours of general core psychology courses
• 40 semester hours of counseling core courses
• 18 semester hours of research core
• 17 semester hours of practicum training
• 12 semester hours within a chosen elective cluster (i.e., child and family therapy, mental health and aging, or sport psychology)

You also will need to have a reading knowledge of a foreign language or have demonstrated competence in a research tool subject that has been approved by the Department of Psychology and the Graduate Council. If you are a full-time student, you can complete the program in five years.Most students take about six years.

You can earn a master's degree en route to the Ph.D. if you have a bachelor's degree. If you already have a master's degree, you may receive transfer credit subject to approval by the counseling program. The maximum amount of transfer credit for appropriate master's work is 30 hours. You may transfer a maximum of 12 hours of post-master's (doctoral) degree work, subject to approval by the counseling program.

General core studies

You are required to demonstrate competency (grade of B or better) in 20 hours of core psychology course work:

• PSYC 5060 History and Systems
• PSYC 5090 Social Psychology
• PSYC 5640 Cognitive and Affective Bases of Behavior
• PSYC 5700 Quantitative Methods I
• PSYC 5710 Quantitative Methods II
• PSYC 5790 Physiological Psychology

Elective cluster

You can select an elective cluster of 12 to 17 hours in marriage and family, aging or sport psychology. You may design other elective clusters with approval of the counseling committee.

Counseling concentration

The counseling concentration core consists of 58 semester hours of course work in assessment, ethics, group work, human development, multicultural issues, personality, psychopathology, psychotherapy, and vocational and career counseling.

The goal is to train psychologists in traditional hallmarks of counseling psychology. An emphasis is placed on developmental and intervention issues as they relate to normal and atypical or disordered behavior.

Counseling practicum

The applied training experience in counseling psychology begins in the first semester and may continue throughout your on-campus work. The bulk of applied training occurs at the UNT Psychology Clinic and the UNT Counseling and Testing Services.

The UNT Psychology Clinic practicum team is composed of first-, second- and third-year students and the supervising psychologist. In the second and third year of the required practicum sequence, students divide their training between the Psychology Clinic and the Counseling and Testing Services.

Research

During your first year, you will choose a research advisor and begin to formulate a thesis research project to complete during your second year. As a third-year counseling student, you will take on increasing responsibility in research projects that will culminate in the completion of your dissertation. The dissertation is a rigorous demonstration of your understanding of the scientific base of psychological work and your ability to integrate concepts into a system from which assumptions and hypotheses can be tested and interpreted.

Internship

A full-time, calendar year internship is required. Internships are independent of academic training programs. Although the counseling faculty offers guidance and assistance, you are responsible for applying for and gaining acceptance to an internship.

Foreign language

Beyond the 111 hours required for the degree, you must satisfy the graduate school requirement of a reading knowledge of a foreign language or have demonstrated competence in a research tool subject that has been approved by the Department of Psychology and the Graduate Council.

Evaluation of knowledge and skills

Throughout training, the counseling program faculty members will assess your progress. Evaluation focuses on development of general knowledge in psychology and the specialty area of counseling psychology, competence in the delivery of applied services, skill in scientific investigation, and appropriate interpersonal and ethical functioning. If you do not demonstrate satisfactory and continuous progress in these areas, you may be terminated from the counseling psychology program.

Facilities

The UNT Psychology Clinic is used for pre-practicum training and assessment classes. The clinic includes psychotherapy and assessment rooms and rooms with one-way mirrors for live observation of individual and group sessions. Extensive digital recording capabilities are available for supervision of training.

The UNT Counseling and Testing Services, which provides students a variety of counseling services and testing opportunities, is an additional training resource for the counseling psychology program.

Financial assistance

You may apply for departmentally funded teaching assistantships, fellowships and part-time clinical externships during your doctoral studies. The Department of Psychology seeks to provide at least partial support for most doctoral students for at least two years. Additionally, competitive scholarships are available from the Toulouse Graduate School and other sources.

Student body and program statistics

The rate of attrition from the Ph.D. program in counseling psychology is low. At this time, the program has a larger percentage of women than men. Its students are diverse in age, backgrounds and interests. Most facilities on campus, including the Department of Psychology, are accessible to students with disabilities.

The Ph.D. program has about 50 students and admits approximately eight students annually. The internship placement rate at APA-accredited sites has been about 85 percent over the past six years.

UNT's doctoral counseling psychology program provides data concerning applicants, admitted students, internship acceptance rates, program completion time, licensure, student attrition rates and financial cost in response to directives from the APA Office of Accreditation. The information is available at www.psyc.unt.edu/gradcounselingdoct.shtml.