Service Activities

Interns at MU SCS engage in a variety of service experiences [primarily in-person and/or through on-site remote Telebehavioral Health (TBH)] including assessment, triage, and direct clinical service; emergency, crisis, and on-call service; consultation, outreach, and programming; supervision and possibly teaching.

Direct Clinical Services

Initial Consultation, Triage, and Referral

  • Interns provide a brief, in-person, assessment and diagnosis which results in case assignment or referral.
  • Triage decisions are based upon the client's presenting problem(s), goals, and needs as well as available center, campus, and community resources in a rural environment.

Specialized Assessments

  • Substance use assessment and intervention
    • Interns are trained to conduct mandated substance use assessments/interventions, utilizing the BASICS model and a harm reduction framework.
    • Based on therapist recommendations, follow up sessions are scheduled as needed.
  • Attention problem screenings
    • Interns are trained to conduct brief interviews, assessing for history of attention problems and screening for symptoms of ADHD. SCS does not conduct formal ADHD assessments, but they do provide a provisional screening for attention problems.

Individual Therapy

  • Individual counseling sessions comprise the core of interns' clinical work. 
  • In accordance with Ohio and university policies, MU SCS provides services primarily on site and based on client needs through TBH.
  • MU SCS operates under a time attendant model. Generally, SCS clients are seen every other week. Interns typically work with clients for a semester or less, with many clients requiring only three to eight sessions.
  • Interns may elect to work with a limited number of clients on a more extended basis, for training and ethical reasons.
  • The initial consultation and counseling sessions one through three are covered by the student health fee.  Additional sessions are $25.00 each; fee reductions/waivers are available for qualifying students.
  • Typical client presenting concerns include: adjustment to college, anxiety and panic; depression and other mood concerns; interpersonal difficulties and coping with family conflict; individuation; substance use; trauma and violence; attention problems, academic distress, and career indecision; body image and eating disorders; suicidal ideation and self-injury; multicultural issues including identity, oppression, and marginalization.

Group Therapy

  • Interns typically co-facilitate one group in the fall semester with a senior staff member. Interns have the opportunity to create and/or co-facilitate a relevant second group for spring semester, based on the needs of SCS. Interns may co-facilitate spring semester groups with another intern or trainee, or senior staff member.
  • Typical groups may include:
    • Understanding Self and Others, Family Of Origin, BeYOUtiful Beings (body image), Co-Ed Graduate Students, DARE (Depression and Anxiety Recovery Group), Diamond DBT, Coping Skills Group, Transformations (substance abuse), Circle of Hope (sexual assault survivors), Taking ACTion, Art Therapy, Grief Group, and Students of Color Support Group.
  • Other groups that run according to interest and clinical demand include:
    • Women and Relationships, Gender Identity, LGBQIA+, Women of Color, Illness Management and Recovery, Social Rolls (Social and communication skills through game play), International Student Support Group, and Men's Group.

Couples Therapy and Family Consultation

  • While couples occasionally present for couples therapy, clinicians or individual clients may request that partners come for several sessions as an adjunct to the client's ongoing individual therapy. To be seen for ongoing couples therapy, both members of the couple must be full-time Oxford campus students.
  • Family consultation most often occurs as part of emergency interventions, or as part of initial consultation. Family consultation may also occur as a planned adjunct to individual therapy. Therapy with children is not part of the training program at the SCS. 

On-Call, Crisis, and Emergency Services

  • Interns provide crisis and emergency services for walk-in clients as needed. 
  • Interns (with back up support from their supervisor) participate in the center's on-call emergency response rotation, attending to after-hours two nonconsecutive weeks per semester. 
  • During their on-call week, interns must remain within commuting range of Oxford (60 minutes or less) at all times.

Formal Integrated Assessment

  • Each intern is required to complete one assessment battery involving the following: administration and scoring of four different measures, interpretation and integrative report writing, and providing feedback to testing client(s).
  • Assessments include: WASI-II (Weschler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence), MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory), YSQ-L3 (Young Schema Questionnaire), and SII (Strong Interest Inventory).

Other Service Activities

Consultation, Outreach, and Programming

  • Interns serve as formal consultation liaisons to teams with the Office of Residence Life.
  • Informal consultation typically involves responding to phone calls from concerned faculty and staff, or family and friends of struggling students regarding how best to help or get help for them, or where/how to refer them for specialized care.
  • Interns participate in MU SCS's outreach and programming efforts both by responding to requests, and by developing and promoting programs related to their particular interests.
  • Interns are a core part of training Residence Life Staff during Orientation and providing Summer Orientation programming to parents.
  • Requests for outreach presentations and programming are typically received from residence halls, university groups, student groups, undergraduate classes, and faculty.

Supervision of Trainees by the Interns

  • Interns supervise one advanced doctoral level trainee during fall semester.
  • This typically involves case supervision of a Clinical Psychology doctoral student, in conjunction with a licensed psychologist, who retains umbrella responsibility for the supervision and consults weekly with the intern. 
  • Interns providing supervision also receive consultation and oversight through Group Supervision of Supervision.

Optional Teaching Opportunities

  • During the spring semester, interns may have the opportunity to teach or co-teach one of several courses:
    • EDL 100: Career Development and the College Student
    • EDT 110: Study Strategies for College Success
    • EDL 660: Critical Thinking and Writing (graduate level)
  • The opportunity to teach is determined by course availability and the clinical needs of MU SCS.
  • Teaching is likely to require additional preparation hours outside of the internship contract. Interns are not compensated for these additional hours.
  • Interns who choose to teach in spring semester are not eligible to co-facilitate a second therapy group that semester.