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Welcome!

               Thank you for your interest in Radford University's Doctor of Psychology Program.  We hope the material on the various pages helps you get a sense of us and what we have to offer.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Program Director, Dr. James Werth, Jr., at the following address:

Department of Psychology
Radford University
Box 6946
Radford, VA 24142
(540) 831-6817
psyd@radford.edu or jwerth@radford.edu

Program Overview

Radford University offers a Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) in Counseling Psychology with a focus on rural mental health and additional emphases on cultural diversity, social justice, and evidence-based practice in psychology. The Psy.D. degree in Counseling Psychology is designed for persons interested in careers as psychologists in mental health settings and institutions where clinical supervision and the direct application of counseling, therapy, and psychological assessment are required. The program follows the practitioner-scholar model with an emphasis on clinical training and the application of research to practice. Students will complete a 1,800-2,000 hour internship approved by the program faculty. Applicants must have completed a Master’s degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education, in a human services field, where they provided face-to-face counseling services for at least a total of 60 hours, working with multiple clients, under the supervision of an appropriately credentialed professional (except under unusual circumstances), by August of the year in which they wish to enroll in the Psy.D. Program.

The Program's first cohort of students started in the Fall of 2008. The program is not yet accredited by the American Psychological Association; however, we expect to apply for accreditation during the 2011-2012 academic year, when the first students go on internship.

The Program is listed in the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards / National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology Doctoral Programs Meeting Designation Criteria (see www.nationalregister.org/desig_about.html for information about the Designation program). The Program’s listing can be found at www.nationalregister.org/desig_VA#radford. Please see the Accreditation page for more information on the importance of being a Designated Program.

Many potential applicants are, understandably, interested in what sort of financial package we offer students. We anticipate that all admitted students will receive graduate assistantships and will not have to pay tuition while they are enrolled full-time in classes on campus, maintain good academic standing, and receive positive assistantship evaluations.

 

Training developments

There are several recent developments related to training that will have a positive impact on the opportunities we can offer our students. Some of these are summarized below.

We collaborated with our colleagues in the School Psychology Ed.S. Program to establish the Center for Assessment and Psychological Services (CAPS) in the Department. CAPS became operational in the late spring of 2010 so this is the first full year of receiving referrals and seeing clients. Currently a School Psychology student and two Psy.D. students are seeing individuals for assessment, primarily referred by the University’s Disability Resource Office but we have also started receiving referrals from the community and from other clinics and professionals. We have also started providing counseling services at CAPS. Both assessment and counseling services are offered based on a sliding scale, which is consistent with our social justice emphasis.

We have established an arrangement with the Mental Health Association of the New River Valley where we are placing our first year practicum students in their sites, including a newly established location in an underserved rural county (Pulaski County) that may become a multidisciplinary training site. More information about this partnership is on the Program Emphases page, in the Social Justice section.

The Virginia Board of Psychology has proposed changes to the regulations pertaining to licensure that will allow practicum training that meets certain requirements to count toward licensure. Our practica will meet the proposed requirements and we project that students will earn more than the 1500 required hours. Therefore, we anticipate that our students will be able to become licensed in Virginia immediately upon graduation (after passing the national licensing exam) instead of having to work for a year to earn the 1500 hours.

Counseling PSYCHOLOGY Program Web Pages

Accreditation

Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data

Program Documents

Program Emphases

Goals

 Curriculum

Practicum / Internship

FAQs

Admissions

Faculty

Students

Alumni

Events

Links

Contact Us

 

Some comments about accreditation

As we discuss in both the Accreditation page and the first section of the FAQs page, the Radford University Psy.D. Program is not yet accredited by the American Psychological Association. If you have questions about the accreditation process for doctoral programs in psychology, you can contact the APA via the following means:

American Psychological Association
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation / Commission on Accreditation
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
Phone: 202-336-5979
TDD/TTY: 202-336-6123
Fax: 202-336-5978
E-mail: apaaccred@apa.org
Internet Webpage: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation/



Last Updated 10/16/2012

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