Click above file to download CPTP Manual
Click above file to download CPTP Manual
**"Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
Accreditation by the American Psychological Association Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation American Psychological Association
750 First St., NE Washington, DC 20002-4242 Phone: (800) 374-2721; (202) 336-5500
Dear Student:
This is a manual of policies and procedures of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Clinical Psychology Training Program (CPTP). It has been developed to guide you through the process of training in our program. All CPTP students must read it and become familiar with its contents, as it contains information that is crucial to your progress and success in the program. Although you will have ample guidance and mentoring from faculty, this manual is a resource that you should refer to often during your training. It is your responsibility to know the information contained herein.
In addition to this manual, you are referred to the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx). With your matriculation in the program, you begin the transition to becoming a professional psychologist. As such, it is incumbent upon you to have knowledge of the field’s ethical principles and to abide by them in all your professional activities.
The Clinical Psychology Training Program (CPTP) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is accredited by the American Psychological Association. The program exists within the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It is one of the oldest clinical training programs in the country, having had continuous accreditation since 1948. In 2012 the program was re-accredited through 2019. The program's historical roots and orientation to training through the years have been described in numerous professional articles (Cole & Magnussen, 1966; DiLillo & McChargue, 2007; Hansen, Nelson, DiLillo, & Hope, 2014; Hargrove, 1991; Hargrove & Howe, 1981; Hargrove & Spaulding, 1988; Hope, Hansen, & Cole, 1994; Howe, 1974; Howe & Niemeyer, 1979; Jones & Levine, 1963; Rivers, 1992; Rivers & Cole,
1976).
Historically, the University of Nebraska's Clinical Psychology Training Program was described as a community-clinical program. This description represents a fundamental alignment with clinical psychology’s focus on understanding the troubled person while recognizing the importance of the community context on the lives of individuals, and the necessity for intervention at both the individual and community level. Our students are confronted (through therapy and assessment) with individuals who have problems coping with life. Our students also become involved with the social institutions and agencies that have a significant effect on these people, through practicum placement consultation, supervision, teaching, and/or program development. The program emphasizes research training, both applied and basic, that involves both clinical and community agencies or resources.
To accomplish our goal of training within this perspective, we emphasize individually supervised involvement by students in both research and professional activities. Formal courses and seminars supplement the student's research and professional development. This approach requires a one-on-one relationship between faculty and students. We also believe clinical psychologists must have their roots firmly established in the general principles of psychological science. Scientific competence requires progressively developed, hands-on research experience. Clinical competence requires intensive clinical training that emphasizes the flexibility to adapt to changes in the profession and the ability to promote a continuously changing profession. A program oriented toward technological skills, survey knowledge of general psychology, limited professional exposure, or cursory training in research methodology cannot hope to produce students who can cope with the social and individual demands of psychology today and in the future. We expect students to develop the skills necessary to become leaders and innovators in an ever-changing profession.
CPTP follows the Boulder Model of clinical training and places responsibility for both research and professional training primarily within the doctoral program of studies. The certification and assurance of competencies in both areas remains a core responsibility of the faculty. The epistemological suppositions of understanding behavior within a multicultural social system, measurement principles, and conceptual and scientific views of aberrant human conditions are incorporated into this process. Consequently, both professional and research training are continuous processes within the program that are supervised and monitored by the faculty. Neither professional training nor research training is secondary or adjunctive to the other; rather both are interrelated and integrated and equal values of training. We believe a therapist should also be a scholar and vice versa.
The Department of Psychology, including CPTP, follows a Junior Colleague training model. Graduate students are encouraged to become involved in the ongoing development of the program and students are viewed as colleagues in a common endeavor with the faculty. The Graduate Student Association (GSA) in the Department serves as a forum for student participation. Students elect peers to serve as voting members in Department faculty meetings, Department Committees, and the Clinical Faculty meetings. Department and CPTP policies are significantly influenced by student participation. Students are also involved in the overall evaluation of the program. Graduate students are expected to collaborate with faculty on research rather than being research assistants apprenticed to individual faculty.
We take pride in the collegiality among the students themselves and between students and faculty. The strength of this program has been the common pride in professional development among students and faculty, and the rapport and sense of relatedness that we share. We also take pride in our commitment to recruit and train a diverse student body. We believe that experiences with diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds and traditions are essential for clinical psychologists, and that the survival of psychology as a professional and scientific community depends on diverse representation among its membership. It is important to us that this atmosphere continues to be a significant characteristic of the Clinical Psychology Training Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Consistent with the mission of graduating scientist-practitioners, CPTP has the following overarching aims:
The Clinical Faculty are listed below. For additional information, including links to faculty lab webpages, please visit the CPTP webpage: https://clinicalpsychology.unl.edu/people/clinical-faculty/
Arthur “Trey” Andrews, Ph.D., Associate Professor Co-Director, Minority Health Disparities Initiative
Aron Keith Barbey, PhD, Mildred Francis Thompson University Professor & Director, Center for Brain, Biology & Behavior
Rebecca Brock, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Kathy Chiou, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
David DiLillo, Ph.D., Willa Cather Professor Department Chair
David J. Hansen, Ph.D., Professor Director, Law-Psychology Program
Debra A. Hope, Ph.D., Aaron Douglas Professor Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of Graduate Studies
Tierney Lorenz, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Dennis McChargue, Ph.D., Professor Director, Clinical Psychology Training Program
Timothy D. Nelson, Ph.D., Professor Associate Director, Clinical Psychology Training Program Associate Director, Rural Drug Addiction Research Center
Mario Scalora, Ph.D., Professor Director, University of Nebraska Public Policy Center
William D. Spaulding, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus
Peter Meidlinger, Ph.D. Director, Psychological Consultation Center