Counseling Psychology PsyD programs

1376655984087 Welcome!Thank you for your interest in Radford University's Doctor of Psychology Program. We hope the material on the various pages helps you get a sense of us and what we have to offer. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Program Director, Dr. Sarah Hastings, at the following address:

Program Overview

Radford University offers an APA-accredited Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) in Counseling Psychology with a focus on rural mental health and additional emphases on cultural diversity, social justice, and evidence-based practice in psychology. The Psy.D. degree in Counseling Psychology is designed for persons interested in careers as psychologists in mental health settings and institutions where clinical supervision and the direct application of counseling, therapy, and psychological assessment are required. The program follows the practitioner-scholar model with an emphasis on clinical training and the application of research to practice. Students will complete a 2, 000 hour internship approved by the program faculty. Applicants must have completed a Master’s degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education, in a human services field, where they provided face-to-face counseling services by August of the year in which they wish to enroll in the Psy.D. program.

The program was accredited by the American Psychological Association as of June 21, 2012. The next site visit will take place in 2016.

The Program is listed in the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards / National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology Doctoral Programs Meeting Designation Criteria (see for information about the Designation program). The Program’s listing can be found at .

Many potential applicants are, understandably, interested in what sort of financial package we offer students. In the past, all admitted students received graduate assistantships and tuition remission provided they were enrolled full-time in classes on campus, maintained good academic standing, and received positive assistantship evaluations.

STUDENT AND FACULTY ENGAGEMENT

Graduate, Dr. Erica Whiting, has accepted a position with the NRV Community Services Board as REACH Project Manager. She will be working to expand crisis services for youth in Southwest Virginia.

Savannah Lebaree was selected as a Division 35 Campus representative.

Drs. Hastings and Cohn presented research at the Annual American Psychological Association Convention on Social Development and Relationship Enhancement in a symposium titled Positive Psychology on the College Campus. The symposium brings together authors of chapters comprising a book by that same title slated for release by Oxford University Press in Spring 2015.

Four members of the second year cohort presented at APA in August on the topic of instrument development for cyber-bullying.

Dominique Boone received an Outstanding Student Award from the Department of Psychology in May 2014.

100% of those students applying for internship received internships! Students will be spending the academic year at the following internship sites: (1) the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center, (2) the E. Tennessee/SW VA Consortium, Stone Mountain Health Services (FQHC), (3) the Federal Correctional Complex-Petersburg, VA (4) the E. Tennessee/SW VA Consortium, New River Valley Community Services Board (CSB), and (5) Virginia Tech's Cook Counseling Center.

Nine students and four faculty members in the Psy.D. program presented their research at the International Counseling Psychology Conference in Atlanta, GA in March 2014. Topics presented by these participants included working with breast cancer patients, integrated care, self-compassion and health, drug and alcohol use among rural vs. urban adolescents, and veterans services. CHBS Dean, Katherine Hawkins, arranged for the RU College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences to serve as a Bronze level sponsor for the event.

Psy.D. student, Sarah Lyall, served on a panel that addressed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding fibromyalgia patients’ needs in March 2014. Her discussion is posted on the FDA website.

Dr. Sarah Hastings presented a workshop on The Role of Positive Relationships on Patient Care in an Integrated Setting to the pre-doctoral interns and psychologists at the E. Tennessee/SE VA Consortium in March 2014.

Three Psy.D. students, Jennifer Glass, Jackie Mullins, and Stirling Barfield, were recipients of the Eleanor E. Kemp Award, presented by the RU Gender Studies Center. Ms. Glass and Ms. Mullins presented their dissertation research at the Gender Studies Symposium held in conjunction with the Undergraduate/Graduate Forum in April 2014.

Two students, Jennifer Stroup and Jennifer Glass, along with Psy.D. faculty member, Dr. Tracy Cohn, published an article, The Adjustment to U.S. Rural College Campuses for Bisexual Students in Comparison to Gay and Lesbian Students: An Exploratory Study, in the Journal of Bisexuality, in January, 2014.

Graduating Psy.D. student, Dominique Boone, has accepted a position as a Staff Psychologist in the Counseling Center at Virginia Military Institute.

Graduating Psy.D. student, Dominique Boone’s research was accepted for publication in the journal Prevention in Counseling Psychology: Theory, Research, Practice, and Training. Faculty coauthors include Drs. Cohn, Hastings, and Steele.

Dr. Cohn is coauthor on the following book chapter: Curtin, L., Cohn, T. J., & Belhumer, J. (in press, 2015). Suicidal Behavior in the Rural Population. In D. A. Lamix & N. J. Kaslo (Eds.), Suicide: Epidemiology, Role of Psychological Disorders and Challenges of Intervention, Nova Science Publishers.

Jennifer Glass, a doctoral candidate in Radford University's Department of Psychology, is the lead author of an article in the April 2013 issue of Prevention in Counseling Psychology, a peer-reviewed publication of the Society for Counseling Psychology. Written with psychology faculty members Sarah Hastings, Tracy Cohn and Thomas Pierce, Glass's article is titled, "The Role of the Family in Enhancing Positive Development in Rural LGB Youth."