are available.  These year-long, 20 hour per week graduate assistantship include a $20,000 stipend.  Doctoral-level students in the Counseling Education and Clinical Health Psychology programs are eligible to apply for the assistantship.  Assistantships begin in fall semester and conclude at the end of the following spring semester.  There is an option for a renewal for a second year, dependent upon curricular needs of the graduate student, program approval, and satisfactory performance of assistantship responsibilities.

The focus of the assistantship will primarily be on clinical activities designed to meet or exceed the graduate program requirements for supervised clinical hours.   Additional time can be spent on activities tailored to the individual student interests.  Examples of additional assistantship activities/roles are outreach programs, multicultural presentations, treatment team committee work (e.g. Healthy Eating, Mental Health Promotion, and Relationship Health Committees), research collaboration including outcome and evaluation projects, and administration.  The clinical activities can include intake, individual, group, and couples counseling, and structured workshops addressing clinical topics such as assertiveness, relationship building, stress management, body image issues. 

Eligibility

Students will be in good standing in either the Ph.D. program in Clinical or Counseling Psychology at UNC Charlotte.  Students will have completed courses in basic counseling/clinical theory and techniques, ethics, and personality or abnormal psychology.  It is also desirable that students have completed courses in multicultural counseling, research design and methods, and group therapy. 

How to Apply

Students will complete the application for the Graduate Assistantship position.   Selected applicants will be interviewed following submission of their applications.  The Assistantship is a two-semester (fall and spring) appointment will be open every year.  Students who are in the GA position can reapply following their initial placement.  Maximum placement in the position is two academic years. 

Applications are due in February for placement in fall of the same year.  Students will submit a completed application form, a short vita, and one reference from a faculty member or current supervisor who is familiar with the student's clinical experiences. 

Submit the application materials to Terri Rhodes, Ph. D., Training Director, Counseling Center, University of North Carolina Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28223-0001.

The application materials will be reviewed and selected applicants will be contacted for two 30 minute interviews, one with the Training Director and one with another senior staff member. 

Graduate Assistantship Activities and Expectations

The graduate assistantship position at the Counseling Center is a 20 hour per week experience that can include the following activities:

• One or two intake sessions per week.

• Five to ten individual or couples sessions per week.

• Co-leadership of a weekly, structured group.

• One hour of individual face-to-face supervision per week.

• One hour of weekly group supervision

• One hour and a half hour weekly staff professional development seminar

• Two to four programs or projects per semester in a chosen area of health psychology such as stress management, eating disorders, suicide prevention, substance abuse concerns, or relationship violence issues.

• Outreach presentations offered in collaboration with Counseling Center staff and Health Educators from the Student Health Center. 

Policy on using counseling services at the Counseling Center and concurrent or subsequent graduate assistantship placement

Participation in counseling concurrent with the GA placement at the Counseling Center is not permitted due to the dual role relationships that would result.  We have a strong belief in the need for clarity of roles, and we maintain our ethical responsibility to avoid dual role conflicts that may impede the training process and experience.    However, counseling at the Center prior to a GA placement is permitted.  If students receive counseling at the Counseling Center prior to their assistantship, they will be precluded from having their counselor as their supervisor in any capacity during the assistantship experience.