Internships and Practicums

During the second year of the Master of Rehabilitation Counseling Program, you’ll complete two six-month internships—from September through February, and from March through August. These hands-on experiences let you participate in a range of activities for clients with disabilities, including counseling, case studies, contacts with community social agencies, and vocational training and placement.

The first internship includes an in-depth practicum that includes supervised individual interviewing and counseling, participation in case conferences and client staffing, an introduction to case-management techniques, and the evaluation of vocational potential.

Internships are available in a variety of settings, including our own departmental programs, services on or near the UT Southwestern campus, and facilities in the broader community. We’ll assign you to internships based on your preferences and site availability. We’re continually exploring new internship sites to enrich your experience in this field. Here’s a closer look at our current opportunities.

Departmental Sites

Developmental Neuropsychology Service

School of Health Professions, Third Floor
Supervisor: Cheryl Silver, Ph.D.

This internship involves outpatient assessment and evaluation of children and adolescents with documented or suspected brain injury or dysfunction, including learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. These younger clients are typically referred by parents, physicians, psychologists, and schools.

You’ll also perform some assessment and evaluation of adults with suspected learning disabilities and ADHD. The test battery involves assessment of IQ, academic achievement, neuropsychological functions, such as memory and executive functioning, and behavioral concerns. You may also be exposed to issues involving forensic testimony and clinical research.

As an intern, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Conduct IQ and achievement testing
  • Administer and score various neuropsychological tests
  • Write reports in collaboration with your supervisor
  • Gain additional assessment experience at an affiliated clinical site

Psychosocial Groups with an Emphasis in Recovery Rehabilitation

PSA-Personal/Social Adjustment Supervisors: Mary Turner, Ph.D., and Robert Drake, LPC, CRC

PSA provides a psychosocial group experience that helps individuals retain gainful employment in the most independent setting possible. The group attempts to help participants eliminate behaviors that have proven detrimental or self-sabotaging, and strengthen success-oriented behaviors. Participants, referred primarily by the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) and the Veterans Administration, have mixed and complex psychiatric disabilities.

This internship will expose you to highly focused group process and skills teaching using cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and other counseling methods. You’ll be onsite 20 hours a week, with slight variation based on clinical demand. Interns primarily work from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. In addition, you’ll be required to participate in case conferences, team meetings, and other sessions as scheduled.

As an intern, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Conduct group orientation and screening
  • Co-facilitate and eventually lead group sessions
  • Participate in team meetings to discuss an individual’s progress
  • Participate in daily team updates and planning sessions
  • Prepare monthly progress reviews and reports
  • Participate in case management

Supported Employment/Placement Services

School of Health Professions, Third Floor
Supervisor: Pauline Weatherford, M.S.

Supported Employment/Placement Services gives you the opportunity to help people with significant disabilities achieve their individualized employment goals. We provide our clients, most of whom are referred by the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, with assistance and support in finding and retaining competitive employment.

As an intern, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Participate in the discovery process (collecting information about the client through interviews and observations of abilities in multiple settings, on multiple occasions)
  • Participate in the team process in developing and implementing a client-driven employment-support plan
  • Participate in the development of employer relationships and placement
  • Participate in on-site direct job coaching and employer support of placed clients
  • Assist in completing required progress reports and documentation
  • Participate in case management
  • Participate in providing direct employment related services, including employment searches, applications, interviews, and workplace accommodation

UT Southwestern and Community Sites

Children’s Psychiatry Consultation/Liaison Service

Children’s Medical Center, Dallas
Supervisor: Crista Wetherington, Ph.D.

As an intern, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Intervene with children and adolescents with chronic and acute medical conditions and their families
  • Conduct diagnostic interviews as a member of the multidisciplinary consultation/liaison team
  • Conduct assessments, including pre-transplant, International Adoption Medicine developmental assessment, and cognitive and academic testing for children with sickle cell disease
  • Attend weekly consult round case discussions and consult grand rounds with outside presenters
  • Participate in teaching, group supervision, and individual supervision
  • Work with a variety of populations, including children and adolescents

Pate Rehabilitation Brinlee Creek

Anna, TX 75409
Supervisor: Amy Gorham, M.S., LPC-S

A post acute brain injury rehab facility, where the focus of the integrated team is on the patient and their family. The goal is to reduce, to the greatest extent possible, the degree of the impact of injury.

As an intern you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Work with and observe patients in areas of cognitive rehabilitation
  • Adjustment counseling groups
  • Vocational exploration and placement post injury

Prima A.D.D. Corporation

Dallas
Supervisor: Robin Binnig, Ph.D.

Prima A.D.D. Corp. is a clinical psychology practice for children age six and up, and adults of all ages, that provides psychological evaluation; counseling for individuals, couples, families and groups; coaching; and skills training classes. As a community rehabilitation provider (CRP) for the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, Prima A.D.D. also provides vocational rehabilitation services, including vocational evaluation, rehabilitation counseling, personal-social adjustment training, and vocational adjustment training. Their approach to rehabilitation counseling psychology incorporates humanistic philosophy, positive psychology, and reality therapy.

As an intern, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Conduct psychological and vocational assessments
  • Facilitate personal-social adjustment training and skills training, including life skills classes and stress-management training
  • Participate in follow-up and consultation services, including testing feedback and readiness assessments for personal-social adjustment training
  • Participate in weekly group supervision meetings with the clinical staff

The Surgery Clinic

Aston Center Bariatric Surgery Outpatient Clinic, Dallas
Supervisor: Martin Deschner, Ph.D.

Before performing lap band or gastric bypass surgery, this outpatient surgery clinic refers its patients for pre-surgical behavioral medicine evaluations to screen for psychosocial appropriateness.

As an intern, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Interview patients
  • Administer and score tests
  • Write interpretive reports
  • Be involved in individual therapy and educational groups

Dr. Matthew Housson and Associates

Dallas, TX
Supervisor: Matthew Housson, Ph.D.

Dr. Matthew Housson and Associates is a private practice comprised of a group of clinical psychologists and counselors who specialize in the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with various learning, academic, attention, and behavioral difficulties. This internship includes social skills group therapy experience and assessment and evaluation of children and adolescents with documented learning disabilities and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Some assessment and evaluation of adults, limited to suspected learning disabilities and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, is also included.

As an intern, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Co-facilitate social skills play groups with an experienced Master’s level therapist.
  • Train to provide behavioral interventions, and help facilitate positive behaviors.
  • Train to administer, score, and interpret IQ, achievement, and attention measures. 
  • Collaborate in report-writing with a supervisor. 

Eugene McDermott Center for Pain Management

Outpatient Building
Judy Mullican, M.S., LPC, LPC-S, NCC

Treatment is interdisciplinary and aimed at alleviating pain, but equally focused on improving our patient’s physical functioning and resulting psychological distress. Interdisciplinary Pain Management involves treatment by a team including physicians, behavioral medicine specialists, physical therapists, nurses, and care coordinators. The team works together to provide a variety of interventions and strategies to manage pain and to improve quality of life.

As an intern, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Observe and participate in interdisciplinary physician team conferences where physician evaluations, rehab counseling evaluations and physical therapy evaluations are presented and a treatment plan is developed.
  • Provide individual CBT-based pain management psychotherapy.
  • Observe and conduct Group Education as part of the interdisciplinary program.
  • Ongoing consultation with treatment team.
  • Observe and obtain introduction to biofeedback in the treatment of chronic pain.

Dallas Metrocare Services

Dallas, Texas
Gilbert Melchor, M.S., LPC-S and John Lurkins, LCSW

Dallas Metrocare provides services to individuals with mental illness, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and their families. Metrocare provides psychiatric evaluation, rehabilitation services, medication monitoring, and supportive counseling to up 50,000 individuals in Dallas County.

As an intern, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Participate in treatment team meetings
  • Interact with assigned consumers, document behavioral interventions, and works cooperatively with other team members to provide services, which ameliorate symptoms of mental illness for consumers assigned to the team.
  • Interacts with the consumer’s family members and other providers in the community as appropriate to ensure that the consumer’s needs are being met.
  • Perform functional assessments of consumer strengths, needs, and resources to determine appropriate teaching/learning expectations and to analyze mastery of skills.

UT Southwestern Assessment and Counseling Service

Parkland 8, North Psychiatric Inpatient Unit
Supervisor: Wendy Ringe, Ph.D.

The service provides assessment, diagnostics, and consultation for psychiatric disorders. Many of these patients have concurrent medical problems and/or difficult social and economic circumstances that complicate their psychological functioning.

As an intern, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Observe or participate in assessment, including conducting diagnostic interviews, personality testing, and neuropsychological testing; writing reports; and providing feedback to patients, referring physicians, and the treatment team
  • Attend weekly meetings and conferences where you’ll present evaluation results and participate in treatment planning
  • Consult regularly with the treatment team
  • Observe and participate in ongoing consultations by residents, attending psychiatrists, and social workers
  • Participate in inpatient group therapy
  • Provide individualized skills training to assigned patients

UT Southwestern Neuropsychology Clinic

Neuropsychology Outpatient Service, Bass Center 
Supervisors: Laura Lacritz, Ph.D., and Laurie Rilling, Ph.D.

The Neuropsychology Clinic provides neuropyschological assessment to outpatients with a variety of brain-related disorders, serving a population from diverse socioeconomic groups.

As an intern, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Observe, administer, and score tests
  • Document clinical observations
  • Participate in clinical interviewing and report writing
  • Participate in case reviews and feedback sessions with patients

Zale Lipshy Inpatient Psychiatry

4th Floor Zale Lipshy University Hospital
Supervisor: Karen Brewer-Mixon, Ph.D.

As an intern, you’ll have the opportunity to:

  • Participate in psychological evaluations, including administering and scoring objective and subjective tests, writing reports, and providing feedback to patients
  • Participate in neuropsychological evaluation, including conducting screening and more detailed evaluations, writing reports, and providing feedback to patients
  • Co-lead group psychotherapy
  • Conduct individual psychotherapy
  • Conduct family psychotherapy
  • Participate in daily team update meetings