Good evening.
Welcome, Anna, Mary Anne, and father.
I appreciate you guys showing up for the, excuse me, overview of the doctor of psychology, PsyD, and clinical psychology program.
My name is there we go.
My name is Tom Brooks.
I'm the vice president for enrollment and marketing here at Divine Mercy University, and I'll be doing the overview this evening for you.
One of the, things that I would tell you is that we do have a chat section, and, I'll answer as many questions as I can at the end, if that's okay.
So if you have some questions, put them in there, and then, we will, get to them as we get to the end.
I'm sure that we'll have other folks join.
That's kind of the way it happens.
But I look forward to your questions, and, I hope you get some information you need out of this presentation tonight.
And, again, my name is Tom Brooks, and we'll go ahead and get started.
First, welcome to Divine Mercy University.
DMU is a Catholic institution comprised of two schools.
It is dedicated to the scientific study of psychology with a Catholic Christian understanding of the person, marriage, and family.
We were founded in 1999 as the Institute for Psychological Sciences or IPS.
In 2014, the institute launched its MS in psychology program online with its focus on educating working professionals.
And then in 2015, IPS was renamed Divine Mercy University with the addition of our school of counseling.
As mentioned, we have the school of counseling, and it currently offers an MS in counseling.
It's called it's an online hybrid program with, everything being online except a residency program where you come in for five days once a year doing a program, which is three times.
And then under the IPS school, which is the Institute for Psychological Sciences, we have the PsyD in clinical psychology.
That's a fully residential program, meaning campus based, and it's in our Sterling location.
And then we have an MS in psychology online.
It's not a degree I'm I'm sorry.
It's not a licensing program, but a helping degree.
Mission of DMU is to provide students with an effective academic and educational environment that supports the integration of the psychological sciences and a Christian Catholic Christian understanding of the person.
We prepare students to respond to their vocation as mental health professionals.
We're located in Sterling, Virginia, roughly about 40 miles from Washington, DC.
And, for those of you who know the Virginia area, we are very close to Dulles Airport.
As you can see from some of the pictures, we have all kinds of activities.
We're you know, to the Northwest of us is the, wine country of Northern Virginia.
A little bit further from that is Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, a lot of, historical areas.
And you can do everything up there from hiking the Appalachian Trail to white water rafting, floating on tubes, kayaking, paddle boarding, or all kinds of things like that.
Conversely, you can go down to, DC, check out all the, you know, things in Washington, DC.
And, and you're really only a couple, two, three hours away from the ocean as well with, Ocean City, Maryland and Virginia Beach both not too far from us.
Accreditation and approvals.
There's two types of approvals.
There's the institutional approval that universities have, and and that's how they are allowed to operate.
And then there's programmatic accreditation for certain types of programs that require that.
Divine Mercy University is institutionally accredited by the SACS dash c o c, which stands for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Commission on Colleges.
Similar colleges that are associated with with SACS or accredited by SACS are Florida State, Texas or no.
I'm sorry.
Wake Forest, Duke, North Carolina, things like schools like that.
SACS is recognized as an accrediting agency of colleges and schools by the Department of Education.
DMU voluntarily participate in the accrediting process, and we either met or exceeded all standards in thorough evaluations.
And we just recently was awarded another ten year, reaccreditation.
We're approved to operate by the state of Virginia, the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia.
Our PsyD program has been recognized since 2006 as a national registered designation program by the Association of State and Provisional Psychology Boards.
The PsyD program has been accredited by the APA, American Psychological Association, since 2016, so that's our programmatic accreditation.
And Divine Mercy University has been approved to participate in the national council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements or what we call NC SARRA.
And that's what allows us to work with our students in an online capacity across The United States.
Clinical psychology.
Clinical psychology is a psychological specialty that provides continuing and comprehensive mental and behavioral health care for individuals and families, consultation to agencies and communities, training, education and supervision, and research based practice.
A program structure and clinical experience for the PsyD program.
To graduate from the school, you need a hundred and twenty two credit hours inclusive of both the MSci and PsyD programs.
We get the question a lot of, can I get my master's in, clinical psychology, which we call the MSci, or do I have to go through the PsyD?
These these days, you need a PsyD in order to practice as a licensed, clinician.
But in addition to earning your PsyD program, along the way, you'll actually graduate with your MSI, so you will have two different degrees.
You'll have your master's level and then your PsyD level.
And, again, the PsyD the MSI has learned or obtained along the way to your, PsyD program.
In total, it's a five year program on-site in Sterling, Virginia, and it prepares for licensure as a clinical psychologist.
Year one coursework, you start your dissertation research, and you start your coursework, predominantly books, classroom work, things like that.
Year two, again, more coursework, and you start an externship.
Year three, coursework and externship.
And year four is coursework and externship.
And then year five is your predoctoral internship, and you defend your dissertation, and there's no classes.
So you literally start working in a clinic in year two.
That's what they, talk about externship.
And then you can also apply for site to sites for your externship, such as some of the ones listed down here, St.
Elizabeth's Hospital, the psychiatric hospital in Washington, DC, the VA Medical Center in Martinsburg, Virginia.
85% of our students are matched with an APA credit or APIC member internship site, And this was 2017 and 2018.
And, actually, for the last couple years, we've been pretty close to a 100%.
So is the PsyD program right for you?
Do you wanna help people flourish?
Are you interested in the science behind human behavior?
Do you want to become an instrument of healing through the psychological sciences?
Are you interested in performing psychological tests and assessments to diagnose your clients and create treatment plans?
Are you looking to start a career as a licensed mental health professional, specific specifically as a clinical psychologist?
Key areas of competency achieved through the PsyD program.
In order to do these things that we just mentioned on the earlier page and to get licensed, you really need to understand, you know, the full, breadth of the PsyD program and what you'll learn along the way.
Part of it is foundations in psychological sciences and research, integrity and practice, assessment and diagnosis, therapeutic intervention, professional roles, and clinical practice from a Catholic integrated perspective.
The picture you see to the right is actually, one of our graduations at the Basilica in Washington, DC.
Key areas of competency achieved through the PsyD program.
The first one is foundations in psychological sciences and research.
Graduates will attain foundational psychological sciences, knowledge of biological, cognitive, effective, social, and developmental aspects of the human person, as well as history and systems of psychology, psychological measurement, research design, and statistical methods.
Graduates will have the skills necessary to conduct their own psychological research.
Second is integrity and practice.
Graduates will be knowledgeable in the areas of diversity and ethics and display critical thinking, self aware slash reflective practice, and self care.
Graduates will demonstrate responsiveness to supervision, collegiality, and professional comportment and professional practice.
The third element is assessment and diagnosis.
Graduates will be able to conduct clinical interviewing, perform intake evaluation, demonstrate knowledge in the administration scoring and interpretation of psychological assessment, integrate multiple sources of test data and clinical interview information to a written report, diagnose and develop a treatment plan.
Number four, therapeutic intervention.
Graduates will be able to demonstrate case conceptualization, treatment planning, building and maintaining the therapeutic relationship, psychotherapy skills, crisis management of urgent and special circumstances, and discharge planning.
The fifth competency is professional roles.
Graduates will be able to function in a variety of required roles of professional psychologists to include consultant, educator, supervisor, practice manager, and program evaluator.
They will be able to work collaboratively collaboratively sorry, with in interdisciplinary teams and with clients.
Sixth competency is clinical practice from a Catholic integrated perspective.
Graduates will have a developed I'm sorry.
Graduates will have developed a Catholic understanding of the human flourishing in the individual person in marriage and family life and be able to integrate this with the psychological sciences in a clinical practice.
So some sample employment tracks.
Where are some of the places you can apply your trade, as they say?
Obviously, you can be a licensed clinical psychologist.
You can be a clinic director.
You can be a psychiatric technician, psychiatric crisis unit interviewer, community mental health social worker, drug abuse social worker, drug and alcohol specialist, certified alcohol or drug counselors, therapists, and they're actually credentialed as CACs or CADCs, professional psychological resource advisor, psych psychological behavioral therapists, and health project director, group home director.
Some places, depending on the state that you're in, may require additional education or certification or licensure.
Note that for the above listed, all are part, all are for the practice of the Actora level.
Again, some states required additional coursework, additional hours of instruction or supervision, in order for you to be able to, act in one of these roles or any other roles under this program.
Some of our students.
James, Wahlberg is in was in our clinical psychology program.
The training is focused on the healing of the whole person.
Kristen Long said I was drawn to PsyD program out of a desire to serve others in a more profound way than my previous positions offered.
Timothy Weiss says this school is not afraid to teach you what it means to be human at every level psychologically, philosophically, and theologically.
That's why I like it.
And Kirsten Curtis, I am so thankful for DMU.
The faculty members are very supportive, and I receive a lot of hands on clinical experience.
Alright.
We're gonna do one video.
This is, William Johnston, and it's regarding treating PTSD in combat veterans.
Hi.
My name is William Johnston, and I'm a PsyD student at Divine Mercy University, currently approaching the end of my third year in the program.
Military service runs in my family.
And, and so both my grandparents served.
My parents both served.
This door, the PsyD program at Divine Mercy University opened the opportunity for me to continue to get back, to conduct research, and hopefully implement a more robust program to treat PTSD as it relates to combat veterans.
DMU has certainly provided the integration that I saw in terms of my formation, both the philosophy and theology core, in addition to the psychology curriculum, has provided me growth in terms of my faith, in my role as a husband and father, and of course, a psychological clinician.
So in essence, the Catholic Christian meta model of the human person is is why I'm here, both for my own sake as well as the sake of my future clients.
I do one more, and this is acquiring knowledge and skills at DMU from one of our alumni, Veritry Van Roe.
I would say that being a student at DYM University or DMU is one of the best things that happens to me.
I really appreciate a great support from faculty members and also classmates.
I have gained a great deal of knowledge in all aspects of clinical practice, research, and also professional development.
DMU not only provides students with strong academic skills, but also prepares them for a career in psychology.
I personally benefit from mentorship with academic advisor and clinical supervisors.
As a person, what I most appreciate from DMU is that its mission helped broaden my perspectives in understanding a human person through the lens of Catholicism.
Catholic principle, especially in hope, love, and faith, are very valuable and certainly helped me become a better clinician.
Alright.
Let's talk a little bit about our some of our faculty and their specializations.
Doctor Lisa Klowicki, who is the program director specialized in adolescent, adult, and couples therapy.
Doctor Diane Graves is assistant program director and professor specializing in child therapy development and psychology.
Doctor Anna Pecoraro, associate professor, clinical supervisor, specialized in addictions and trauma treatment.
Doctor Philip Scrofani, professor, clinical supervisor, clinical psychology, specialized in cognitive behavioral therapy and group therapy.
Doctor William j Nordling is a professor, clinical supervisor, specialized credentials in child, marriage, and family therapy.
And doctor Paul Vitz, senior scholar and professor, specialized in integration of Christian theology with psychology.
And doctor Nordling and doctor Vitz, along with, another one of our professors, doctor Titus, recently, wrote and, published a book on Catholic psychology that's won a couple of awards and is now being, integrated into some classrooms across the country, and it's on the Catholic Christian meta model of the person.
Licensing.
Is licensing required?
A licensed in license to practice is required by each state and or jurisdiction where individuals might practice as a counselor.
When licensing process begins after the student completes the practicum and internship and officially graduates from DMU program.
States can and often do have additional differing requirements.
Students are responsible for checking state requirements where they plan to work and adhere to them.
These typically include national state exams.
D m sorry.
DMU will provide general information related to licensure during the student experience.
Who initiates licensing?
Licensing is a student driven process.
It is important for the student to begin research of licensing requirements in the state he or she intends to work in as early in the program as possible.
Will students be fully licensed after graduation?
No.
Graduates must work approximately one year in a supervised clinical environment in addition to other state requirements to be licensed.
The graduate may be required to obtain a provisional license for this year period.
Basically, check your state requirements.
And if you have questions, we do have faculty members and advisers that are there to, you know, advise you on your different state requirements.
The lifelong impact of vesting of investing in your education.
As an example, if you buy a car, your your investment depreciates over the years.
Year one, it's not too bad, but by year six, you don't have much value in that car.
Conversely, you know, education investment, the more you work the longer you work, the more your investment grows through pay, through, you know, value of your services, those kind of things.
So, the PsyD program, just as a a note, is also one of those programs where if you work at certain, places like, let's say, the VA, nonprofits, and other and others, you can actually have your student tuition, paid.
Your investment in your education.
Currently, it's a thousand 95, dollars per credit.
And if you multiply that by the 102 22 credits that are required, it's a 133,590, and that does not include fees and indirect expenses.
Indirect expenses are basically your living expenses, food, things like that while you're here.
Some options for you are, to go through what we call a title four, option, which is getting a loan from the government, federal aid for those who qualify, William d Ford federal direct student loan program, including unsubsidized Stafford loans and graduate plus loans.
Financial the financial aid department will work with each student on an individual basis to see what you qualify for and, how best to move forward in in working through that process.
Additionally, when our students come to campus, we have student assistantships, and we do have a federal work study program.
Of course, there's scholarships, internal and external.
And if you go to the viemercy.edu website and financial aid, you can look at the the current scholarships.
And then we also have, some alternative financing options, cash plans, if you're lucky enough to have, you know, money sitting there for your education.
Obviously, we can set up internally interest free, cash payments, private funds, agencies and organizations, what we call matching funds, possible grant programs, support groups.
Some could be funded by their parish, a diocese, a business.
We've had students that have been supported by all kinds of different folks, private donors.
Diocesan investment, which I just mentioned.
And we are approved for veterans funding, and we basically are approved for all the different chapters.
So how do you make graduate school affordable?
Early admission scholarships, those of you that are looking at starting in fall of twenty twenty three, We have already, launched the application for next year's start, and, you know, we tell everybody, get your scholarships in early.
You can earn up to $3,000 just by getting your, not your scholarships, your application in, early.
We have a Newman scholarship.
You're gonna earn up to 5,000, faith and hope.
And I won't read all of these, but you can see all the different types of, scholarships we have.
And, in addition, the PsyD program has a, 50% scholarship that's awarded to a student, and then we have 225% scholarships that are awarded to students as well.
And we're capped at the number of students that will actually start each program, or each year.
We only have one start in the PsyD program, and that's, 18 to 19 students is pretty much all we'll take.
So, you know, as you can imagine, it's competitive for the fifty percent and two twenty five percents, but there's a ton of different types of scholarships that we do have available.
And then we currently have a a program called memorandum of understanding where we have agreements with all kinds of different businesses, diocese, parishes, ministries, companies that, are supportive of their folks coming here, and some of them are as high as 35%.
So let's talk about entrance requirements.
The baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited or internationally recognized school, You'll need, undergraduate degree in psychology preferred, not required.
But students admitted without an under undergraduate degree in psychology will be required to complete prerequisite courses during the first year of their program.
Need a minimum GPA of three point o on a on a scale of four point o, and applicants with a cumulative GPA of less than three b three point o may be considered for admission on a case by case basis.
Application process.
One, complete the online application.
Two, our financial aid office will begin working with you upon receipt of the application.
Three, consistent communication is maintained.
Four, once all documents are submitted, competitive applicants are invited to an interview on-site.
We do have three interviews.
One is in November, I believe.
The other one is in February or January.
I apologize.
Maybe late January.
And then the last one, I believe, is in March.
We do have that on our website as well.
And, this one, I apologize.
The note says, well, number five, all applicants will hear back with an admission decision by mid February, and, that actually should say March.
I apologize.
And the program begins on-site August 2023.
How to complete your application package?
Online application form, part one, inclusive of $55 application fee.
Part two, essays and resume.
Then you'll be required to provide three recommendations, at least two of which must be academic in nature, official transcripts from all post secondary institutions, and then you will need to, have an official GRE general test scores using and then the code our code is 5639, and then they need to be within the past five years.
So if you've already taken your GRE, that's great as long as it's under five years.
And then, if you haven't, you would need to take your GRE, preferably before your interview date.
So, I'm not sure if there's is there anybody on here who is an international potential international applicant?
If you are, just, kinda raise your hand or put your, something in the chat and let me know.
Okay.
I see a couple of hands.
Three hands.
Alright.
So we'll go through this piece so you'll understand.
For international applicants and applicants whose baccalaureate degree was earned at an institution outside of The US, please note the following.
Applicants holding degrees from outside The United States must submit an international transcripts to an NACES, MACE's approved evaluation service, such as west.org or edperspective.org for a course by course evaluation of their transcripts.
Applicants holding degrees from outside The United States must demonstrate post secondary education that is is, at minimum, equivalent to US bachelor's degree.
If the credential is not in English, the credential must be translated in English, and cost for the evaluation will be the responsibility of the students.
Applicants whose primary language is not English may need to take the TOEFL or the IELTS test.
So that's pretty much it in a nutshell.
I I've asked you guys to hold your questions to the end, so I appreciate that.
I see, we have one person saying yes from India.
So welcome, Ronald.
And then, well, I appreciate everybody joining us.
I am, again, I'm available.
As you can see, my credentials are right there.
I'll give you my actual, direct line.
It's (703) 416-1161.
Or if you're really interested, you can jump online, start your application.
And when you do, that will be sent to one of our admissions advisers, either Steve Showalter or, early August, a gentleman by the name of Bradley Seifer.
Let me see here.
And is the requirements the same for a graduate as an undergraduate?
So if you have a graduate degree, you do need to have a, 3.5 GPA.
And depending on what type of graduate degree you have, there may be an opportunity to actually transfer in some credits.
But that's something we got to evaluate and send to the program for them to to let us know what would be able to transfer in.
So counseling psychology four point o, that's a good one.
I would suggest when you make application, you note that.
And if you have transcripts, even unofficial, send those in, and we can get we can get, an evaluation done.
Acceptance rate.
We, again, we have three different, interview dates.
And on average, we have, roughly 50 to 60 actual interviewees.
And, normally, we're somewhere into the 70 to 90 applications.
So some fall out along the way or change their mind because they're going in a different direction.
So if we say that, on average, we interview 60 people, we only start, again, 18 to 19 students, but we do accept roughly 20 to 22 students in the event that any of those that are formally admitted, can't start.
So we have, in essence, a wait list.
So, hopefully, that may answer your question.
Any other questions?
Alright.
So you have, can someone who studied psychology, spiritual therapy, and counseling apply for a PsyD in clinical psychology?
As long as you meet, the undergraduate requirements and the entrance requirements, absolutely.
And another question, do you have residencies near or at the university?
We do not have them at the university.
We absolutely have them nearest.
And now when I say nearest, that's relevant to how far you say near is.
Any other questions?
Alright.
I think we are done then.
So thank you everybody for attending.
I hope I shared with you what you needed, and please reach out to us if you have other questions, either myself or currently, a gentleman by the name of Stephen Showalter.
We will absolutely, spend as much time with you and answer all the questions we can to help you make a decision on whether you wanna apply to Divine Mercy or not.
Thank you, and have a great evening.