In May, the Biola Counseling Center (BCC) received accreditation with the American Psychological Association (APA) — a mark that increases the BCC’s appeal as an internship site for psychology students across the country. In addition, the BCC, which is associated with Biola University’s Rosemead School of Psychology, will now be able to provide more counseling resources for the Biola community.


“The accreditation of our internship is a significant achievement for Rosemead and for Biola,” said Clark Campbell, dean of Rosemead School of Psychology. “We are thankful for the hard work of many and for the blessing of the Lord in this recognition.”


To gain accreditation with the APA, the BCC underwent a voluntary process of self-study and external review, and received a site visit from APA professionals in November 2015. In December, they received positive feedback, and heard their final results from the Commission on Accreditation in Spring 2016.


“Accreditation will help assure that we continue to attract high quality doctoral students, some of whom will come from Rosemead and some from other accredited doctoral programs around the nation,” said Campbell.


This accreditation comes as a result of the pre-doctoral internship program at the BCC, which was established in 2014. In October 2014, the BCC was approved for membership with the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC), and will now be accepting applicants for its second class of four APPIC member doctoral interns for the 2016-2017 academic year.


Working together with the National Match Program, the APPIC helps place psychology doctoral students in internships, and will now list Biola as one of its accredited internship sites.


The BCC’s doctoral internship program is one of four in the nation that offers a Christian foundation within the internship training, a trait which Michele Willingham, director of internship training at the BCC, believes to be central to both the center’s importance and its appeal.


“Candidates often express their interest in BCC as specifically stemming from the unique nature and strength of our program, namely our emphasis on the integration of psychological and spiritual facets of human experience to enhance competence in conducting therapy with religiously committed clients,” said Willingham.


Doctoral interns at the BCC will receive training which focuses on the development of clinical and multicultural competence while fully integrating a Christian understanding of God and humanity.


With the addition of this new internship program and accreditation, the BCC will now be able to deliver additional services to the Biola community, including drop-in consultation at the Student Development Office four days a week and 24/7 on-call crisis phone support for students and campus staff.


The BCC has a 45 year legacy of providing clinical training at the practicum level. With the addition of a new doctoral internship program and APA accreditation, the BCC’s influence will continue to expand.


Learn more about Rosemead School of Psychology.


Written by Kathryn Toombs, Public Relations Intern. For more information, please contact Jenna Loumagne at (562) 777-4061, or by email at jenna.loumagne@biola.edu.