Internship Sites
PLU’s MFT Department partners with local community mental health agencies and an AAMFT Approved Supervisor at each site.
We guarantee our practicum students an internship placement at one of these sites.
Each site has the same objective of giving interns practical experience in the mental health field, however, each site has unique qualities and opportunities for growth as a therapist. In addition to the practicum sites, the MFT Department has a relationship with The Hoarding Project (THP) where students may volunteer and gain additional clinical hours.
Placements are determined by the interest of the student and space availability at the practicum site.
On Campus Site
The Couple and Family Therapy Center - Community Clinic on PLU campus
Every student in the program will spend their first semester of practica here performing therapy with a co-therapist from their class. Students will work with a wide range of clients, which include individuals, families,and couples. This site offers therapist-in-training the opportunity to observe their colleagues perform therapy sessions from behind a one-way mirror. Students will meet with a supervisor for 2 hours per week to confer about cases and discuss any questions or concerns they may have.
Private Practice Sites
Integrated Therapy Services NW, University Place, WA
Integrated Therapy Services is located approximately 13 miles from the PLU Campus. All therapists-in-training work with a wide variety of clients including children, teens, adults, couples, families, and the perinatal and postnatal population. This internship site offers the unique experience of being in a private practice setting while also being supported and surrounded by a group of systems-trained therapists. We are committed to providing innovative treatments and personalized wellness. We do this from a basis that employs the valuable contributions of the field of Marriage and Family Therapy, Social Work, and Mental Health Counseling as well as current and new research that supports specific evidence-based courses of treatment. In this way, we are able to provide an approach to treatment that embraces the past, looks to the future with hope, and makes space in the present for change. We are proud to offer our services to Tacoma and all of Pierce County.
Affordable Counseling Center/Infinite Possibilities (ACC), Puyallup, WA
The Affordable Counseling Center is designed to meet the counseling needs of middle American. Services are affordable at $25/session for children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families. In today’s society families struggles with multiple issues that impacts their day-to-day lives. We hear everyday of children and adolescents struggling with various issues like bullying, ADD/ADHD, blended families, school safety, and making friends. Parents are faced with how best to address these issues as they strive to parent their children to adulthood.
Adults in families strive to not only care for and raise their children, they are also faced with difficult choices between work and home as well as how do I maintain my relationship while addressing all these issues. The intent is for the staff at The Affordable Counseling Center to assist with these and other issues that are presented by clients.
Community Health Sites
MultiCare Child Specialty Center (CSC), Puyallup, WA
This clinic is located approximately 15 minutes from the PLU campus. All therapists-in-training work with a wide variety of clients including older adults, children, and families in crisis situations and the chronically mentally ill. This internship site offers a unique experience for therapists to interact with the medical community.
MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital Behavioral Health, Puyallup, WA
YWCA Pierce County, Tacoma, WA
YWCA is located in Downtown Tacoma and specializes in working with individuals and families who have experienced domestic violence. From their website: “As an inclusionary non-profit organization, YWCA Pierce County provides assistance to survivors of domestic violence and their children. All survivors are welcome regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, or sexual orientation. Bilingual staff and interpretation services eliminate language barriers and ease transitions for all of our clients. The YWCA serves over 11,000 adults and children annually, who are seeking help due to domestic violence.”
Puyallup Tribal Health Authority, Kwawachee Counseling Center (KCC), Tacoma, WA
The Puyallup Tribal Health Authority provides medical, dental, pharmacy, outpatient treatment and counseling/crisis advocacy services to over 9,500 active patients.
The Kwawachee Counseling Center (KCC) provides culturally-rooted outpatient mental health services utilizing a traditional holistic model of wellness that incorporates mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of the clients. KCC staff combines this traditional model with an integrative therapeutic approach when working with clients and their families. KCC works with all ages and problems across the continuum of care including clients who are at risk to develop problems as well as clients who suffer from serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI). Counseling services include clinical screening, diagnostic interviewing, individualized treatment planning, individual, family, couple, and group therapy.
Puyallup Tribal Health Authority, Kwawachee Counseling Center (KCC), Tacoma, WA
Chaplain Family Life Center (CFLC) at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM)
The CFLC is approximately 30 minutes from PLU’s campus. The mission of the CFLC is to provide an intern site for Master level students and provide supervised counseling for military personnel and family members on Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM). The CFLC operates under the guidance and direction of the Office of the Chief of Chaplains and Army Regulation 165-1 as a chaplain counseling center. Many clients come to the CFLC with an expectation of receiving professional counseling that includes a focus on spiritual values and resources. All interns will complete additional training in theological integration and military culture and terminology.