Practicum counselors spend approximately 8-12 hours per week providing psychotherapy and other clinical services to OSU students. Besides individual therapy, practicum counselors may also engage in group therapy, triage/walk-in consultations, or Mental Health Promotion (MHP) activities if recommended by Practicum Coordinator, Group Coordinator, Assistant Director of Mental Health Promotion, and Individual Supervisor. OSU CAPS operates under a brief therapy model, and practicum counselors are guided and supported as they enhance their therapy skills within this model.
Practicum counselors have the opportunity to conduct intakes and individual therapy. Practicum counselors are expected to provide a minimum of 8 hours per week to individual counseling sessions. Practicum counselor may have opportunity to co-facilitate a therapy group or a support group. Evidence of group counseling training is required to co-facilitate groups. Process observation is possible without group training prior to start of practicum year.
As developmentally prepared practicum counselors may participate in the triage and/or on-call system through observations and supervised practice. During the on-call shift, OSU students with urgent concerns can be seen immediately for an initial assessment and/or crisis intervention. On-call duties also could require the therapist to respond to phone calls from faculty, staff, students, or parents requesting mental health consultation.
Practicum counselors may participate in campus mental health promotion/prevention activities 1 hour per week. A portion of this time is dedicated to building relationships with key campus stakeholders in conjunction with a CAPS senior staff who is already facilitating work in a particular area.