A new agreement between Mississippi College and the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center in Jackson will allow qualified students to gain clinical experience by providing counseling services to veteran patients.
Through a memorandum of understanding, the Jackson VA has been established as a “placement site” for counseling students at the Clinton-based university. Per the agreement, MC will send students in the clinical training portion of the university’s counseling program to the VA to provide counseling services directly to veterans.
MC counseling students are required to accrue a certain number of hours for their clinical training. Officials are confident that this new agreement with the VA will help them meet these requirements. Students will only begin seeing patients after they’ve taken core courses and moved into the clinical portion of the counseling program.
“When they go to the VA, our students will be providing mental health counseling services to VA clients under a VA supervisor,” Kayla Acklin, MC assistant professor and chair of counseling, said. “A faculty supervisor will also be overseeing their work. They’ll be operating as if they are counselors – they’ll help write treatment plans and case notes and assist with case management. Everything they do will be under very close supervision.”
The Department of Counseling at MC has similar affiliation agreements with other institutions, including Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield and Brentwood Behavioral Healthcare in Flowood, but this new partnership will mark its inaugural affiliation with the VA Medical Center.
Supporting a noble cause, officials are positive that providing more counselors at the Jackson VA will allow our nation’s veterans to receive much-needed counseling services without lengthy waits.
“By having our students there, the VA will have more counselors available for veterans,” Acklin said. “The veterans won’t have to wait as long for an appointment and will be able to see a mental health practitioner much more quickly.”
Supervisors at the VA Center will assign caseloads to students, who will be expected to carry them for a full year. The students will participate in the treatment of clients from a variety of demographics and diagnoses. Counseling students are expected to report to the veteran-centered medical facility this fall.
