Counseling Training Clinic

Thank you for your interest in the CSU, Chico Counseling Training Clinic!

Who are we and what do we do?

The Counselor Training Clinic (CTC) is operated by the California State University, Chico psychology department’s Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) graduate program.

The CTC offers free individual, group, family and couples counseling by advanced MFT graduate students. Our services are free and available to both CSU Chico students, staff/faculty, as well as non-student and community members.

All graduate students are supervised by licensed department faculty. Services offered at the CTC meet all professional and ethical standards set forth in the field. Services are confidential and professional.

To participate in services offered by the CTC you must…

• be 18 years of age, unless participating in Family Therapy with parents, and
• complete an intake questionnaire prior to the commencement of services

What is a “Training Clinic”?

As noted above, the CTC is staffed by advanced MFT graduate students supervised by faculty. These students are competent and held to the same professional standards as other mental health professionals. Students are trained and supervised to address a multitude of issues.

That said, as a training clinic, we include a brief screening process for all new clients to deem appropriateness for inclusion in our services. As the clinic is staffed by new therapists-in-training, individuals who need a higher level of behavioral health care may be referred to other clinics that can best serve this need. Furthermore, our clinic does not offer emergency behavioral health services. If you are in a life-threatening emergency please call 9-1-1 or go directly to the nearest emergency room.

As part of the training process, all sessions offered by the CTC are video and audio recorded. Recordings are used ONLY for training purposes and stored digitally on a secure server. Recordings are deleted at the end of each academic semester, and kept for no longer than 4 months.

If you have any questions about this process, please free to reach out.

What types of therapy do you offer?

Individual counseling: meet one-on-one with a graduate student on a weekly basis for the duration of a semester. Flexibility in scheduling.

Group counseling: meet with a group of 4-8 members and participate in weekly group sessions led by a graduate student. Group sessions are scheduled at the same time and place each week. Sessions last the duration of the semester

Couples and Family: Couples and families meet with a co-lead (two grad students) once a week at the same time each week. Sessions last the duration of the semester.

Location

We are located on CSU, Chico’s campus in our Counselor Training Clinic (CTC) in Aymer J Hamilton Hall (AJH) rooms 111 and 116. Located immediately behind the Bidwell Mansion, next to Modoc Hall on Arcadian Avenue. When you enter the main hallway of AJH we are midway down the hall. See the images below for the location of Aymer J Hamilton Hall on campus, or open an interactive map with our location.

Parking

There are a variety of parking options nearby. For off-campus parking, there is metered parking located on Esplanade Frontage (parallel to the Gateway Museum) and Legion Avenue and can be reserved for up to 2 hours at a time. For most on-campus parking, parking permits are required: Monday - Friday 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. including Winter and Summer sessions. Campus does have several visitor parking areas where students and non-students can pay for parking via the passport parking app. On the campus parking map, look for visitor parking. 

Client Portal Link

Current CTC clients may access their MFT Program Client Portal here.

PSYC 110 and Extra Credit

Students enrolled in PSYC 110 can receive one unit of psychology credit for participating in group or individual therapy with one of our graduate MFT students in our Counselor Training Center. In order to participate, students must commit to meeting weekly in either a group setting or one-on-one with a student therapist for the duration of the semester. You may earn a total of two PSYC 110 units towards graduation. In addition, some faculty offer extra credit opportunities for those participating in services for the duration of a semester. Please consult with your faculty if this is an option they offer current students.

Frequently Asked Questions

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• 1. How and when do I sign up for services?

  You can reach out to the CTC via email or phone to get signed up for services. We start accepting clients several weeks prior to the start of each semester. Typically sessions start week two of the semester for individual sessions. Groups and couples/families typically start the third week of the semester. The earlier you express interest and reach out to the CTC, the sooner we can get you started in services. When we are at capacity we will begin a waitlist for that semester. If we have an opening we will refer to the waitlist through a first come first serve basis.

• 2. Are therapy sessions free? Do I need to give my insurance information?

  YES! Our services are always free and voluntary. Meaning you are allowed to terminate sessions at any time. You will NEVER be asked to pay or provide insurance information for our services.

• 3. What does it mean for my therapist to have Supervision?

  Our graduate students are closely supervised (either during the session or by review of a digital video recording) by Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) certified and licensed faculty. Graduate students are required to receive individual supervision to help them with their development of clinical skills and legal/ethical standards oversight. In addition, graduate students attend mandatory weekly group supervision for the duration of the semester where they review client cases, session recordings, and receive feedback on their clinical skills.

• 4. What happens with recordings and records of my sessions?

  All information pertaining to counseling is considered confidential and all faculty, graduate students, and CTC personnel (i.e., the Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling Training Center Coordinators) are bound by California law and professional ethics related to confidentiality. We record all therapy sessions for the betterment of graduate students' clinical development. All recordings are safely and confidently stored for the duration of services (the semester) and deleted at the end of the supervision (end of semester). Recordings will be kept confidential, as outlined by the ethical codes from CAMFT and AAMFT, and shown to no one else other than those listed on the informed consent (supervisor and group supervision members). All counseling files are destroyed within the minimum legal time frame after counseling and therapy is terminated.

• 5. If I am a returning client do I get the same therapist?

  The nature of a training clinic means that therapists rotate through the clinic with a high degree of frequency. We will do our best to maintain continuity for your therapy, but it may be that you are assigned to work with a new therapist at some point.

• 6. Are sessions offered in-person or online?

  We currently offer our services in-person in our Counseling Training Clinic. This offers us a confidential and safe space to conduct our services. We have the option to conduct online (telehealth) services on a case-by-case basis in the event accessing the CTC is a hardship for a client.

• 7. Who do I contact in a crisis?

  We are not a crisis center nor are our student therapists qualified to offer crisis services. Please call 9-1-1 in a life threatening emergency or go directly to the nearest emergency room.

  Here are other helpful resources:

  • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
  • National Suicide/Crisis lifeline: 9-8-8
  • Butte County Behavioral Health (Chico area): 1-800-334-6622 or 530-891-2810
  • North Valley Talk Line: (855) 582-5554
  • Crisis Text line: Text LISTEN to 741-741