Serving Students, Serving Communities: Mutually Beneficial Partnerships Between Accredited Training Programs and Community Colleges

This roundtable outlines an existing partnership between an APA accredited Counseling Psychology training program and a local community college to provide mental health services to an under-served student population while simultaneously providing valuable practicum experience for advanced doctoral students. Among non-traditional students, financial difficulties and a changing job market have compelled adults to seek new degrees or additional training. This increase in student population implies an increase in the number of individuals who suffer from mental health issues. The Community College Task Force survey (ACCA, 2013) of one hundred and ninety-eight schools explored concerns related to these services, and found that nearly a quarter of community or two-year colleges report that they do not provide any on-site services and instead rely on telephone counseling or referrals to outside agencies. Three-quarters of these institutions provide some counseling, but with several caveats: individuals who provide mental health counseling do so as one of many competing duties; most counseling occurs in offices used for other purposes; and only 44% of counselors reported that they were capable of meeting the needs of walk-in and crisis clients. This is especially troubling given that two-thirds of surveyed counselors report encountering increasing severity of concerns among their students. The Indiana University Counseling Psychology program and Ivy Tech community college are meeting this need by administering a structured practicum experience for advanced doctoral students under the supervision of a licensed psychologist. The partnership provides obvious benefits to Ivy Tech by supplying otherwise cost-prohibitive services, while the doctoral students in training benefit from the opportunities to gain experience in working with a diverse college population. We propose that the creation of similar partnerships between other counseling programs and their local community colleges is consistent with the values of Division 17 and presents a unique opportunity for the specialty. American College Counseling Association. (2013). Community colleges: Keeping pace with a changing America and playing a significant role in higher education. (2013). Retrieved September 18th, 2013, from http://www.collegecounseling.org/2013-community-college-task-force-survey-result