Student's Employment in Service Delivery Settings

The following information is provided to guide students' choice when they feel that they have to seek off-campus funding for the doctoral studies. Students are strongly encouraged to consult with their advisors or other relevant faculty when considering the possibility of off-campus employment. Relevant excerpts from the American Psychological Association's guidelines for providing psychological services are followed by the Program's guidelines for Counseling Psychology doctoral students' off-campus employment in service delivery settings.

APA Guidelines for Providing Psychological Services

The information below is from the General Guidelines for Providers of Psychological Services (APA, 1987) and the Specialty Guidelines for the Delivery of Services by Counseling Psychologists (APA, 1981). The faculty recommend that students read both documents.

The term, provider of counseling psychological services, subsumes two categories: (a) Professional counseling psychologists and (b) Other persons who provide counseling psychological services under the supervision of a professional counseling psychologist (APA, 1981, pp. 653-654).

"Professional counseling psychologists have a doctoral degree from a regionally accredited university or professional school providing an organized, sequential counseling psychology program in an appropriate academic department in a university or college, or in an appropriate department or unit of a professional school.  Only counseling psychologists, that is, those who meet the appropriate education and training requirements, have the minimum professional qualifications to provide unsupervised counseling psychological services" (APA, 1981, pp. 653-654; APA, 1987).

Specialty Guideline 1.2 "Providers of counseling psychological services who do not meet the requirements for the professional counseling psychologist are supervised directly by a professional counseling psychologist who assumes professional responsibility and accountability for the services provided. The level and extent of supervision may vary from task to task so long as the supervising psychologist retains a sufficiently close supervisory relationship to meet this Guideline. Special proficiency training or supervision may be provided by a professional psychologist of another specialty or by a professional from another discipline whose competence in the given area has been demonstrated by previous training and experience" (APA, 1981, p. 655).

Psychological Service Unit "is a unit that provides predominately psychological services and is composed of one or more professional psychologists and support staff" (APA, 1987, p. 713).

Guidelines for Students' Employment

The State of Indiana licenses both doctoral level psychologists and master?s level practitioners from a variety of counseling programs, under the title, Mental Health Counselor, when applicants meet the stated requirements. In addition, Psychology is a profession that is distinct from Mental Health Counseling, Professional Counseling, School Counseling, Social Work, and other human service delivery professions. In accord with APA's General Guidelines for Providers of Psychological Services (APA, 1987), Specialty Guidelines for the Delivery of Services (APA, 1981), and Specialty guidelines for the Delivery of Services by Counseling Psychologists (APA, 1981), the faculty has adopted the following principles to guide students who seek off-campus employment in order to obtain income needed for tuition and support during graduate training.

Students should be aware that assistantships and fellowships pay tuition and are preferred employment. In addition, faculty discourage work beyond 20 hours per week.  Also, clinical experience accrued in employment settings is likely not to increase the student's competitiveness for a college counseling center internship and may not be useful for obtaining an APA accredited internship in any setting.

1. The program faculty must authorize the employment, in writing, prior to the student's accepting a position.
   
2.  A student's entire non-academic responsibilities must not exceed the time equivalent of a .50 graduate assistant appointment. There may be exceptions to this limitation only during time periods that the student is not expected to be engaged in academic responsibilities such as course work.
   
3. Students work schedule must be sufficiently flexible to allow the student to make classes, research team meetings, and informal program activities (e.g., town meetings) at their scheduled time. To reiterate, the program and its activities are the student?s primary work setting and primary responsibility.
   
4. Graduate students in the program are not to engage in providing unsupervised counseling psychological services for a fee under any circumstance.
   
5. Students who wish to be employed in a mental health setting must inform the Training Director and advisor of their intent. Prior to accepting a position and engaging in that employment, the student must provide written documentation of (a) suitable supervisory arrangements that are commensurate with the employer's policies for that position and (b) the site's classification as a mental health or other professional service unit (versus a psychological service unit.) Note: If the site employs even one (1) psychologist, the site is a psychological service unit; and the student must be meet the conditions below.
   
6. Students who wish to be employed in a psychological service unit must inform the Training Director and advisor of their intent. Prior to accepting a position or engaging in that employment / practice, the student must provide written documentation of supervision by a licensed psychologist that meets the requirements specified in APA's General Guideline and Specialty Guidelines for Counseling Psychologists. Notes: (a) If the site employs even one (1) psychologist, the site is a psychological service unit, (b) the student may list this experience on his or her vita under employment (for income) but cannot count any supervised hours for program credit, and (c) internship sites may not count these hours in considering students for a position.
   
7. Even when engaging in approved employment, students may not use their affiliation with Purdue University, the College of Education, the Department of Educational Studies, the program area of Counseling & Development, or the Counseling Psychology doctoral program as any kind of "professional credential," either explicitly or implicitly, unless so authorized by the written consent of the Counseling Psychology faculty. Prior to accepting a position or engaging in employment / practice, the student must ensure that the program has written documentation that both the student and the employer are aware of and will adhere to this criterion.