Graduate Studies
Counseling Program Mission Statement
The Notre Dame doctoral program in Counseling Psychology is built upon a scientist-practitioner ("Boulder") model of training. The program emphasizes understanding childhood and adult problems in their multicultural, systemic, and developmental contexts. It also emphasizes the empirically supported assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of clinical disorders, recognizing that there are also developmentally-based adaptive processes as well as major or minor deviations from adaptive development. The Program seeks to create innovative links between scientific inquiries and practical knowledge to address the needs of individuals, families, groups and communities in our rapidly changing society.
The Program trains academically-oriented psychologists who appreciate how science and practice inform one another and how both are indispensable to the advancement of our discipline. It provides students with the foundation necessary to assess psychological disorders and impediments to positive adaptation and the skills to develop and assess the efficacy of interventions to enhance the adaptation and development of people in a variety of settings from infancy to old age. It includes training in traditional assessment of psychopathology and vulnerability as well as strength and resiliency. In addition, the training provides skill in the rigorous development of research paradigms through the application of clinical research methods and advanced statistical methods, and in the thoughtful dissemination of research findings to the broader psychological and lay communities. In short, the Notre Dame program in Counseling Psychology prepares psychologists whose professional influence is rooted in the broad integration of science and practice. We anticipate that graduates of the Counseling Program will contribute to the discipline and to society in such leadership roles as researchers, teachers, supervisors, administrators, and policy makers.
Training in Research
The Program draws on the research strengths of the Department of Psychology in order to provide students with experiences in a broad range of methodological approaches and statistical procedures necessary for studying children, adolescents, and adults in multiple settings. Working closely with a faculty advisor, students complete a minimum of three research projects and are encouraged to develop areas of research beyond their specialization by collaborating with other students and faculty. Students are also encouraged to disseminate their research findings in professional and community settings and are supported fully in their efforts to publish, lecture, and teach.
Training in Practice
Counseling experiences are available through the University Counseling Center and through various community agencies, including Madison Center, the Juvenile Justice Center, and Michiana Employee Assistance Program. Students' second year training experiences at the University Counseling Center focus on such issues as social relations, alcohol abuse, family conflict, and performance enhancement. Under extensive professional supervision, students treat clients suffering from depression, anxiety, and other psychological problems. During subsequent years, students train at community agencies that afford opportunities for clinical assessment, access to diverse clinical populations, and the chance to address a wide range of psychological problems. In both the campus counseling center and the community, students may assist in the development and evaluation of outreach and prevention programs.
Integration of Science and Practice
Students learn to balance both science and practice dimensions of their training and to see concrete instances of how science and practice are mutually informative. Over the course of their training, students begin to develop a professional identity that represents their own individual synthesis of the scientist and practitioner roles. Although the basic doctoral program can be completed in five years, students who wish to gain more expertise in specific science or practice areas may undertake an additional year of preparation.
The Program aspires to train competent scientist-practitioners whose research and practice meet the highest ethical standards of integrity and compassion. It strives to educate professionals whose leadership on the local and national scenes advances research, practice, and public policy in the service of the common good.