The main goal of our Counseling Psychology Program is to train health service professional psychologists within a scientist-practitioner model that attends to individual and cultural diversity and the importance of micro and macro social contexts. The specific aims of our CP program are for students to:
Aim 1: develop a professional identity as a culturally-competent health service counseling psychologist.
Aim 2: demonstrate clinical competencies for ethical interventions and culturally-sensitive evidence based psychological practice.
Aim 3: engage in original and empirical investigations of psychological phenomena and apply current scientific knowledge and methods to professional practice.
Aim 4: be sensitive and responsive to the complexity and intersectional nature of individual and cultural diversity, understanding how they affect psychological well-being and clinical practice, and working toward diversity, inclusion, and social justice.
Aim 5: develop knowledge in the foundational areas of general psychology and in counseling psychology theory, research, and practice.
Counseling Psychology has also been unique in applied psychology because of its strong interest in the preventive aspects of mental health and the greater concern of the Counseling Psychologist with the nonpathological aspects of a client's condition (e.g., Counseling Psychology's emphasis on the client's strengths and the procedures that might be used to help the client recognize and optimize them; its attention to basic interpersonal processes). The faculty of the Counseling Psychology Program at the University of North Texas has maintained these emphases while recognizing that Counseling Psychologists today must also be able to assess, diagnose, and treat individuals who have more severe problems in functioning and/or meet criteria for a variety of psychiatric diagnoses. When working with these individuals, however, we assess how individual and cultural diversity, strengths, and developmental issues may affect their presentation, counseling process, etc.
The Ph.D. degree in counseling psychology requires a minimum of 113 semester hours beyond the bachelor's degree, including a one-year supervised internship. Students who are able to devote themselves full time to their studies may complete the program in five years. Most students take about six years.
GENERAL CORE STUDIES
Doctoral students are required to demonstrate competency (grade of B or better) in all course work:
- PSYC 5060 History and Systems
- PSYC 5090 Social Psychology
- PSYC 5640 Cognitive and Affective Bases of Behavior
- PSYC 5700 Quantitative Methods I (including a lab)
- PSYC 5710 Quantitative Methods II (including a lab)
- PSYC 6030 Biological Bases of Behavior