Psychology

Scientist-Practitioner Advocate Training Model

Our faculty share a commitment to sound, ethical, and multiculturally competent research and clinical practice, and the integration of the two. We also believe psychologists need competencies to intervene at systemic levels to address oppressive contextual factors that also contribute to the lived experiences of our research participants and clients. 

Consistent with calls for counseling psychologists to incorporate new roles beyond scientist and practitioner1, in 2007 we adopted a scientist-practitioner-advocate-training model (see Mallinckrodt, Miles, & Levy, 2014) that integrates the role of social justice advocate. 

Graduates of our program are competent and ethical researchers, consumers of research, and individual and group therapists. They use highly developed research skills to enhance the effectiveness of their practice and use their clinical skills to inform the research questions. The integration of the advocate role means our graduates study the impacts of social context and systemic inequity, and use research to raise critical consciousness, inform policy, and advocate for systemic change. The integration of advocacy and practice means graduates examine the impact of inequity on the lived experiences and presenting concerns of their clients, they work outside the therapy room to advocate for clients and the communities with whom they work, and they aim to empower clients and community groups to advocate for themselves. 

At the core of this model are feminist, multicultural, and social justice principles2 of equity, sharing power, giving voice, raising consciousness, and cultural humility.3 We take an intersectional perspective4 that examines the ways in which different forms of power, privilege, and oppression collide to uniquely impact individuals based on their social locations. 

In July 2009, the APA Commission on Accreditation reviewed our training model and accredited for seven years, making us the first counseling psychology program accredited under this model. We were re-accredited by the APA Commission on Accreditation in the summer 2016 for another seven years. 

The figure below depicts how we conceptualize our model. For an in-depth description of the UT Counseling Psychology program’s scientist-practitioner-advocate training model, please see: 

Mallinckrodt, B., Miles, J. R., & Levy, J. J. (2014). The Scientist-Practitioner-Advocate Model: Addressing contemporary training needs for social justice advocacy. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 8, 303-311. https://doi.org/10.1037/tep0000045. 

Social Justice Practicum

While we infuse a social justice lens in all aspects of our training, the capstone experience in our training model is our two-semester Social Justice Practicum (SJP). In this didactic practicum, students develop knowledge and skills related to intersectionality, activism, social movements, needs assessment, participatory action research, program development, consciousness-raising, and advocating to policy makers for systemic change. They also continue to develop self-awareness related to their own positionality as it relates to their developing identity as a social justice advocate.

The SJP provides students with an opportunity to develop a relationship with individuals or an agency in the community working to address social injustice. Students work with this agency over the course of the academic year to collaboratively conduct a needs assessment, develop a systemic intervention that addresses one or more of the identified needs, to implement and evaluate the intervention, and to develop the resources and tools for the work to continue after the student has completed the SJP. Our students have worked in the community on a wide range of social justice issues including immigrant and refugee issues, domestic violence, sexual assault, cultural competence in policing, health inequity, drug courts, comprehensive sex education, sexual and gender minority mental health care, and veteran’s issues. Our program has ongoing relationships with community agencies that work on these issues, but students often also find agencies working on other issues about which they are passionate. 

For more information on the SJP, see:

1For example:

  • Hage, S. M., Miles, J. R., Lewis, J. A., Grzanka, P. R., & Goodman, L. A. (2020). The social justice practicum in psychology training. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 14(2). 156-166. https://doi.org/10.1037/tep0000299  
  • Fassinger, R. E., & O’Brien, K. M. (2000). Career counseling with college women: A scientist-practitioner-advocate model of intervention. In D. A. Luzzo (Ed.), Career counseling of college students: An empirical guide to strategies that work (pp. 253-266). Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
  • Fouad, N. A., Gerstein, L. H., & Toporek, R. L. (2006). Social justice and counseling psychology in context. In R. L. Toporek, L. H. Gerstein, N. A. Fouad, G. Roysircar, & T. Israel (Eds.), Handbook for social justice in counseling psychology (pp. 1-16). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Vera, E.M., & Speight, S. L. (2003). Multicultural competence, social justice, and counseling psychology: Expanding our roles. The Counseling Psychologist, 31(3), 253-272. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000003031003001. 
  • Toporek, R. L., & McNally, C. J. (2006). Social justice training in counseling psychology: Needs and innovations. In R. L. Toporek, L. H. Gerstein, N. A. Fouad, G. Roysircar, & T. Israel (Eds.), Handbook for social justice in counseling psychology: Leadership, vision, and action (pp. 37-43). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

2Goodman, L. A., Liang, B., Helms, J. E., Latta, R. E., Sparks, E., & Weintraub, S. R. (2004). Training counseling psychologists as social justice agents: Feminist and multicultural principles in action. The Counseling Psychologist, 32(6), 793–837. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000004268802. 

3Davis, D. E., DeBlaere, C., Owen, J., Hook, J. N., Rivera, D. P., Choe, E., . . . Placeres, V. (2018). The multicultural orientation framework: A narrative review. Psychotherapy, 55(1), 89-100. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000160. 

4For example:

  • Cole, E. R. (2009). Intersectionality and research in psychology. American Psychologist, 64, 170-180. https://doi/org/10.1037/a0014564. 
  • Moradi, B., & Grzanka, P. R. (2017). Using intersectionality responsibly: Toward critical epistemology, structural analysis, and social justice activism. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 64, 500-513. doi:10.1037/cou0000203