Orientation and Training Goals
Orientation:
The sport psychology intern will spend approximately the first month of their internship year becoming oriented to Sport Psychology and the Athletics Department, as well as the Student Counseling Center to ensure success during the internship year and their long-range success in navigating other athletics systems and sport organizations. The sports psychology orientation experience will include, but is not limited to: meeting with pertinent staff from key areas within Athletics; touring Athletics facilities and operations; developing knowledge of key policies and procedures within Sport Psychology, Athletics, the Big 12 Conference, and the NCAA; and establishing the intern's training plan to meet the overall training goals and also their individualized needs and interests.
Training Plan:
Due to the dynamic nature of scheduling within an athletics organization comprised of multiple sports programs, the sport psychology specialization track will likely experience variability in hours worked depending on the time of year. The sport psychology intern will work, on average, 15-20 hours per week within athletics. Because there will be weeks where intern works more than anticipated, or when there are activities that fall outside of normal business hours, the sport psychology intern will be encouraged to utilize flextime strategies when appropriate (e.g., if there is a late evening assessment on a Thursday, come in later in the morning on Friday). Note that interns are hourly employees and there may be restrictions related to when flex time/overtime may be taken.
Overall Training Goals:
Texas Tech Athletics Sport Psychology approach to health service psychology training is grounded in a practitioner-scholar, developmental model. We believe the pre-doctoral internship is the capstone experience for future psychologists to obtain critical experiences to integrate their knowledge from graduate school into regular and varied professional experiences. Our goal is to support the professional and personal development of the sport psychology intern by focusing on the professional practice of health service psychology, with an added focus on sport psychology services and working with athlete and high performance populations. These practices are facilitated through direct service opportunities, supervision and consultation, didactic education, and outreach.
About Texas Tech Athletics:
Since 2012, Texas Tech Athletics has been committed to a comprehensive approach to student-athlete health and wellness that includes the provision of mental and behavioral health services along with mental performance enhancement through its Sport Psychology Department, one of the four departments housed within Student-Athlete Health and Wellness, along with Sports Medicine, Sports Nutrition, and Strength and Conditioning. These four areas work together to provide a holistic healthcare experience.
About Sport Psychology:
The mission of Sport Psychology is to provide psychological services to student-athletes that foster mental health and well-being and promote performance excellence in sport competition and in the classroom.
Services offered by Sport Psychology include: individual and group psychotherapy; health and behavior interventions; individual and team mental performance enhancement training; clinical and applied psychological assessment; case management for outside specialized mental health treatment; organizational mental health and wellness initiatives; and psychological training and skill development for coaches, administrators, and staff.
Sport Psychology staff are a key member of the student-athlete healthcare team. Clinical mental health services are set up using a primary care mental health integration model, and each sport program's treatment team includes a mental health professional working alongside the athletic trainer, team physician, and other pertinent specialty and allied healthcare professionals.
Sport psychology staff are a key member of each sport's performance staff, working alongside the athletic trainer, sports dietician, and strength and conditioning coach. The goal of the performance staff is to develop a comprehensive training program that fosters overall student-athlete health and performance.
Sport psychology staff are also key members of senior leadership and administrative committees to ensure that psychological health and performance is prioritized at all levels of Texas Tech Athletics. They work alongside academics, compliance, creative services and social media, promotions and fan engagement, equipment, student-athlete development, human resources, fund raising and donor relations, and other key administrators to foster a culture that emphasizes mental health and well-being.
Questions related to the program's accredited status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation:
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002
Phone: (202) 336-5979 / E-mail: apaaccred@apa.org
Web: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation
*Updated on 9/1/2023
Student Counseling Center
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Address
201 Student Wellness Center -
Phone
806.742.3674 -
Email
StudentCounselingCenter@ttu.edu