Maine Perspective Front Page
Three Ph.D. Interns Join Counseling Center Staff
Three new members of the University community this academic year are participating in the Counseling Center's Internship Program, which celebrates its 21st anniversary this semester.
The two doctoral students are Annie Bernier from the University of Laval and Elizabeth Burns from the University of Nebraska. Anne Bizub is gaining clinical training after receiving her Ph.D. from Duquesne University last year. Annually, more than 50 Ph.D. applicants, each with up to six years of graduate training, vie for the three clinical internships at UMaine's Counseling Center, one of 125 counseling center internship sites at colleges and universities throughout the country.
In the year-long clinical internships, doctoral students receive intensive professional training in consultation, prevention, emergency services, and individual and group work. In addition, they participate in various counseling programs and provide direct service to undergraduate and graduate students. In this practitioner-apprenticeship training model, the doctoral students work directly with the Counseling Center's six senior staff members.
"We are a training program outside academics that blends professional training with direct service to campus," says Alan Butler, training director and a member of the Counseling Center staff for 30 years. "The internship program raises the national and international visibility of the University."
The Counseling Center was established in 1969 and began its internship program a decade later. The Counseling Center Internship Program was the 10th in the nation to be accredited by the American Psychological Association.
As a full-service facility, the Counseling Center offers students in the University community consultation and prevention programming, as well as direct intervention. As a result of its holistic approach to helping students fulfill their potential, the Center contributes to a sense of community.
UMaine's Counseling Center Internship Program has more than 65 alumni from 40 states and Canada. Alumni include 14 former interns who received their Ph.D.s from their respective institutions and remained in Maine to pursue professional counseling careers in industry, private practice and community health settings, and on college campuses. On staff this year:
Annie Bernier of Quebec City is pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Laval. Her focus is on understanding how personality features of counselor and client affect the therapeutic relationship in individual counseling. She plans to do clinical work while teaching and researching the therapeutic process.
Elizabeth Burns of Colorado Springs has concentrated on personality disorders and interpersonal theory in her doctoral work at the University of Nebraska. She plans to pursue her interests in assessment, consultation, therapy, and supervision of clinical students and interns.
Anne Bizub of Tenafly, N.J., earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Duquesne. Her focus is on eating disorders, neuropsychology, couples/groups and more recently, health psychology. She plans to go into clinical practice and teach.