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Jumpstart Your Career Series

The Jumpstart Your Career Series is designed to help Counseling Internship students obtain postgraduate employment and/or enter a doctoral program. A series of workshops and activities are offered throughout the Internship Year. This series in combination with Alumni services and events, offers students the support needed for transition to the workplace. See the appendix for the Counseling program calendar with dates, times and locations of Jumpstart workshops and activities.

Year-End Supervisor Luncheon & Colloquium

The Annual Supervisor Luncheon is a time-honored tradition for over three decades in the master's program in Counseling where supervisors are recognized for their contributions to the development of student trainees. The event includes a luncheon, award ceremony and professional continuing education presentation by a notable speaker in the supervision field. The event is attended by program staff, supervisors, students, faculty and preceptors. This is a mandatory event for all students in the program.

Careers Night

Students spend an exciting and informative evening with Counseling program alumni as they share their wisdom and experience regarding professional opportunities in the counseling field. Panel members represent a wide range of settings and professional specialties. As such, they discuss their particular career paths, highlight career opportunities and hiring trends for counselors and offer career planning suggestions and advice on conducting a successful job search. A networking reception follows the panel discussion.

Alumni Mentoring Program

As part of the Jumpstart Your Career Services, the Alumni Advisory Board organizes an Alumni Mentoring Program. This program matching students will alumni from The Family Institute who graduated from either the Marriage & Family Therapy program or the Counseling program. These alumni work with students on professional development tasks including understanding the specific mental health setting a student might wish to enter (private practice, agency), networking and/or other specific job search tasks. Attempts are made to match alumni and students with similar interests and geographic locations.

Grand Rounds

The Family Institute sponsors several postdoctoral fellowships. Fellows participate in monthly Grand Rounds meetings, during which a clinical case or intervention topic is presented and discussed in a theoretical or empirical context. Each Fellow is required to conduct one presentation per year. Counseling students are invited to attend these presentations. Students are able to learn about current advancements in therapeutic fields and, as well, Fellows act as research models/mentors.

Conference Workshops

Students are encouraged to attend workshops offered by the professional Counseling community. These include the annual conference at The Family Institute, the Illinois Counseling Association conference, the Illinois Mental Health Counseling conference and the American Mental Health Counseling conferences. In addition to attending conferences, students are encouraged to seek out and attend conferences related to their own individual counseling interests. Counseling students are also encouraged to partner with Counseling faculty, staff, supervisors and other students to submit poster and presentation proposals. Financial support may be available to students who present at conferences (see program director).