The Setting

RIT is respected as a world leader in career-oriented and professional education. RIT is renowned for its academic programs, Applied Science and Technology, Business, Computing and Information Sciences, Engineering, Imaging Arts and Sciences, Liberal Arts, and Science, and is home to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, the largest technological college for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. The Institute currently enrolls approximately 15,000 students, and houses approximately 6,600 students in traditional residence halls, on-campus apartments, and our nearby Inn and Conference Center. Rochester Institute of Technology is a large, private university located in Rochester, New York. Rochester’s reputation as an active and inventive community is supported by extensive cultural and intellectual opportunities. Rochester was ranked 10th best place to live in America among large cities in the Northeast in recent Money magazine and 9th in Essence magazine’s Top Ten Cities for Black Families. Rochester’s location in upstate New York is in close proximity to the scenic Finger Lakes Region.

RIT Counseling Center

Services. During a typical year, staff at the Counseling Center provide individual, couples, group, and career counseling to approximately 950 students. The Counseling Center also provides crisis intervention services, stress-management programs, career assessment, outreach programs, and consultation about behavior issues for students, faculty, staff and parents.

Client population. The RIT Counseling Center serves a diverse client population including international students. The gender composition includes 55% males and 45% females. About two thirds of the clients are under the age of 21. Hearing status of clients includes 84% hearing, 10% deaf, and 6% hard of hearing. The racial/ethnic background of clients consists of approximately 11% Asian/Pacific Islander, 5% African-American, 4% Hispanic, 1% Native American, 76% Caucasian, and 2% other. Seven percent of clients are international students.

Clinical presentations . The range of problems for which students seek help is broad and also reflects university that has a fast paced quarter system and a diverse student body. Problems may include developmental issues such as developing a sense of identity, establishing a career path, forming and maintaining intimate relationships, and making the transition to adulthood. Since the university is career focused, the presenting problems also involve career and academic concerns. In addition, many clients request help for more severe problems. Like other universities, students at RIT have demonstrated an increase in the number of serious and complicated problems. These problems include personality disorders, depression, alcohol and drug abuse, eating disorders, psychotic processes, and suicide attempts. The Counseling Center has a crisis service and students are seen at times of urgent needs such as having suicidal thoughts, after the death of a significant other, in the case of rape or assault, and other emergencies. These contacts may be brief, or the student may begin counseling after the emergency visit.

Staff. The RIT Counseling Center has two psychologists, two social workers and seven counselors on staff and values the diverse contributions of individual professions. (Click here for staff info)

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Training at RIT Counseling Center

The RIT Counseling Center has been an educationally rich training site for both doctoral and master’s level interns and practicum students, given the wide variety of services offered here.

Philosophy. The primary goal of the RIT Training Program is the preparation of students as generalists for the practice of professional psychology, social work, and counseling. Values inherent in the training process and espoused by the training staff include the dignity and respect for the person, individual autonomy, and personal responsibility. The Training Program also acknowledges the importance of sensitivity to and appreciation of cultural and individual diversity and offers specific training to assist students in effectively working in multicultural and pluralistic environments. Further, collaboration with others in the center and across campus is viewed as paramount.

The model adhered to is developmental in nature with staff recognizing that trainees enter the program at various levels of skill and experience. The staff is committed to helping trainees to become more skilled and autonomous in their professional functioning by assessing the level of their experience, by affording them opportunities for learning that are consonant with that level, and by assisting them through supervision, apprenticeship, teaching and mentoring. The staff further believes that science and scholarship inform competent practice and seek to integrate this into the work of the Center and the Training Program.

Training experiences . Adhering to a developmental training model, trainees usually begin their experiences with shadowing and observing their supervisors and other counselor staff, and gradually take on independent responsibilities as deemed appropriate to the trainee’s level of training and professional development. These responsibilities primarily include conducting intakes, individual counseling, group therapy, crisis intervention, case management and record keeping. Depending upon the individual interests of trainees, there are opportunities to gain exposure to career counseling/testing, co-teaching a career class, and participating in outreach programs, and providing psychoeducational programs. Trainees are encouraged to talk to their supervisors about their individual professional interests and how they might be included in their training experience. Some trainees have chosen their masters’ thesis topic based on the work they do at the Counseling Center and have collected their research data here.

Supervision . Trainees have formal access to staff with various areas of expertise via supervision, co-facilitating presentations, staff meetings, clinical consultation meetings, and process observing groups. Individual supervision is provided by staff members who are licensed or certified in their professional disciplines. Supervision is provided at least one hour or more weekly depending on the number of hours the trainees spends at the Center. Further, the RIT Counseling Center is an interactive environment in which doors are usually open when counselors are not in session and counselors frequently consult with each other about clinical issues as they occur.

Supervisors adhere to a developmental model and focus the work on the supervisee’s training needs. Supervisors strive for an open and safe supervision environment, and welcome honest feedback from supervisees. Supervision incorporates listening to tapes of trainees counseling sessions which allows for richer understanding of the trainees work and for providing more direct feedback.

Evaluation and feedback. Ongoing evaluation of trainees occurs through review of tapes and written work, evaluative feedback from clients, self evaluations, and review of direct service data. Formal written evaluations are done at mid-year and the end of the year; copies of evaluations are kept both by the trainee and by the supervisor. In addition, the trainee’s supervisor communicates with academic departments, as appropriate, regarding the work of the trainees. Trainees complete evaluations of supervisors each semester and of the training program at the end of the year.

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Past Trainees

2009-2010

• Jennifer L. Storch, MD - Intern, St. John Fisher

2008-2009

• Sara K. Treadwell, Intern, Roberts Wesleyan College

2007-2008

• Christopher Adams, Doctoral Intern, University at Buffalo
• Brittany M. Fucci, Intern, St. John Fisher

2006-2007

• Nicole Borrelli - Intern, St. John Fisher
• Christina Launer - Intern, St. John Fisher

2005-2006

• Amber Chan - Intern, St. John Fisher
• Sara Goodnow - Intern, SUNY Brockport
• Paul Randazzese - Intern, SUNY Brockport

2003-2004

• Margie Martino - Intern, SUNY Brockport
• Courtney Perry - Practicum Student, University of Rochester
• Jessica Spector - Practicum Student, University of Rochester

2002-2003

• Pamela Spallaci - Intern, SUNY Brockport

1999-2000

• Renee Giancaterin - Intern, Roberts Wesleyan College

1998-1999

• Annie O’Reilly - Intern, SUNY Brockport
• Lori Mascaro - Intern, Roberts Wesleyan College

All correspondence regarding the psychology training program should be addressed to:

Raquel Bateman, PhD, Training Coordinator

Counseling Center

114 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester , NY 14623-5608
585-475-2261

Email:  rabycc@rit.edu 

or

John Weas, Assistant to the Vice President, Student Affairs;

      Director, Counseling Center
114 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester , NY 14623-5608
585-475-2261
email:  john.weas@rit.edu

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