Clinical training is an integral part of our clinical science program and is attained through a combination of resources on campus and in the Los Angeles community. In conjunction with coursework on cognitive, personality, and behavioral assessment, first year students do an assessment placement chosen from diverse settings including community mental health centers, psychiatric hospitals, schools or prisons. Our diprac (didactic-practicum) model of training for second and third year students provides an integrated educational and application model with in-depth supervised clinical experience. We offer year-long dipracs on the following populations: adults; older adults; and children, couples and families. External clinical placements may be arranged during a student's fourth or fifth year, depending on the student's specific interests and training needs. Such placements have included the Alzheimer Disease Research Center, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, outreach parenting programs, and Cedars Sinai Medical Center.

Students complete an APA-approved year-long clinical internship prior to being awarded the Ph.D. in clinical science. They typically complete this internship during the sixth year of training but it could be done during the fifth or seventh years. USC students have done well in the nationwide match process for highly regarded, fully funded internships.

Psychology Services Center

The clinical sciences program established the Psychology Services Center (PSC) to provide high quality and low-cost outpatient services to the greater Los Angeles community as well as to the USC community. The Tingstad Older Adult Counseling Center, housed within the PSC, provides services for problems related to aging.

The PSC is committed to providing cutting-edge, empirically supported services, often involves a team approach, and regularly sponsors educational programs with nationally and internationally prominent experts in the field of clinical science. The PSC serves as a training clinic for doctoral students in the clinical science program, which means that services typically are provided through a team approach in which students work closely with a supervisor who is a Ph.D. psychologist—either a faculty member in our program or a clinical associate. Ph.D. psychologists who hold positions in our teaching, clinical, or research faculty and clinical associates also provide services at the PSC.

The PSC provides a wide-range of assessment and therapeutic services, for example:

• Psychological assessment for children with emotional and educational problems;
• Psychological assessment for adults with a wide variety of emotional, cognitive, or educational concerns, including older adults who have concerns about cognitive, memory, neurological, emotional or social functioning;
• Individual therapy to address a variety of emotional problems (for example, anxiety and depression) as well as to cope with complicated life circumstances (bereavement, divorce, and other life stresses);
• Group therapy to address social anxiety;
• Caregiver support groups for spouses, adult children, or other caregivers of people with cognitive decline or dementia;
• Couples therapy for conflict, mistrust, and problems in communication;
• Parenting and family therapy to foster family and individual adjustment throughout the family life cycle and with particular focus on children’s behavioral, emotional and school problems.

The PSC is committed to providing services to traditionally underserved and special populations including ethnic and cultural minorities, gay and lesbian people, older adults, individuals with physical illness, and children and families with a history of violence.

Intake sessions are scheduled following an initial phone call to the PSC or following a walk-in inquiry. Most services are provided at the PSC but home visits and school visits are quite common. Fees for individual and group therapy provided by trainees are determined on sliding fee scale ranging from $5 to $50. Fees for couple and family therapy provided by trainees typically are $10-$50 per session. Reduced fees are available when needed and we are committed to serving clients at all levels of the economic spectrum.

PSC hours: The PSC offers appointments Monday through Friday, 9AM-5PM or as otherwise needed. The clinic is located on USC campus at the corner of McClintock and Child’s Way, and is quite accessible to the public. It is one block east of Vermont and between Jefferson and Exposition. For directions and a map, please click. We arrange reduced parking fees ($1) when you schedule an appointment.

To make an appointment, please call 213-740-1600.

The Executive Director of the Psychology Services Center is Dr. Barry Reynolds.