WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Missouri State University’s Counseling Program Practicum Training Clinic in West Plains is now open for the 2018 spring semester and accepting clients.

Counseling program officials said low cost or no cost counseling services for adults and children are available beginning at 4 p.m. Thursdays at the counseling program’s practicum training clinic in Gohn Hall.

Counselor trainees under the direct supervision of a licensed professional counselor will conduct the sessions, officials said. The cost of the weekly, 50-minute sessions range from $5 to $20 per session, depending on the client’s income, although the fee may be reduced or waived if financial struggles arise, they added. Clients can continue sessions until the client and counselor trainee determine goals have been achieved or until the end of the semester when appropriate transitions and referrals will be made to other community resources, they explained.

PLAY THERAPY SERVICES

With the counseling program’s designation as a Play Therapy Institute from the Association of Play Therapy, Counseling Program Instructor Rebecca Smotherman said counselor trainees who have been trained in play therapy also can offer play therapy sessions for young children at the local clinic. Play therapy is a developmentally appropriate counseling intervention that assists children in regulating and expressing emotions appropriately, learning to respond to limit setting, developing creative solutions to their struggles and experiences, and becoming empowered, she explained.

OTHER RESOURCES

In addition to therapy sessions, the clinic also provides a variety of books that clients can borrow concerning anger, anxiety, self-esteem, parenting, relationships, grief, communication, self-help, trauma and other topics, officials added.

Establishment of the local clinic was part of an expansion of the degree program in West Plains that began in spring 2017. The expansion allows students to complete all of their course work, including their clinic practicums and internships, locally, officials said.

For more information about the clinic and counseling sessions or to schedule an appointment, call Smotherman at 417-255-7934 on Thursdays, 417-836-3215 on Mondays through Wednesdays or stop by Gohn Hall, 603 W. Main St. in West Plains, from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursdays.