Clinical Training Opportunities

Thank you for your interest in our training programs at the Metropolitan State University of Denver Counseling Center. I hope you find the information on our website useful as you consider your future goals and determine whether training with us will help further you on your path.

Our diverse team has long been committed to training and consider our programs as essential to our mission of service and our identities as counseling center psychologists. We passionately believe that our community offers an exceptional opportunity for growth, self-discovery, and making a meaningful impact on the lives of others.

Many who have graduated from our training programs have gone on to a variety of careers as counseling center postdocs, staff psychologists, academic faculty, and private practitioners. We are inspired by the opportunity to contribute to the development of our future colleagues but also value learning from our trainees and being re-energized by the enthusiasm they bring to our center.

We currently offer an Advanced Doctoral Practicum Program for graduate students enrolled in doctoral programs in counseling or clinical psychology. Please click on the links below for more information and feel free to contact me via email ([email protected]) or phone (303.615.9988) if you have questions about our program.

Warm regards,

Andrew Sia, Ph.D.
Associate Director of Training

Our vision for training is to develop health service providers with the competencies necessary to deliver effective mental health services that are responsive to individual and societal needs. The foundation for training rests on a Practitioner-Scholar model that emphasizes the value of both science and practice and the application of scholarly knowledge into practice to achieve desired outcomes.

Theory, research, and best standards of practice are integrated and employed to help trainees develop as strong generalist practitioners who are inherently sensitive to and appreciative of individual differences and cultures within a diverse society, skilled in self-reflection, and open to life-long learning.

Learning is viewed as:

• Sequential, cumulative, and developmental
• Relational and reciprocal
• Enhanced through hands-on, personalized experience and reflective analysis
• Promoted through connection and collaboration with colleagues, mentors, and professional role models

Our approach to training integrates these tenets and is trans-theoretical, multi-cultural, and process oriented. Growth comes by attending to the process of trainees’ work and actively recognizing and respecting their personhood. We are invested in helping trainees find their own path as a professional and helping them to explore: “Who am I as a therapist?” and “How am I therapeutic?”.

In the end, we believe this training philosophy is synergetic with the MSU Denver mission to “provide high-quality, accessible, enriching education that prepares students for successful careers and lifelong learning in a multicultural, global, and technological society” and fulfilling this mission by “working in partnership with the community at large and fostering an atmosphere of scholarly inquiry, creative activity, and mutual respect within a diverse campus community.”