Postgraduate Clinical Residency Program

The Center is developing a Postgraduate Clinical Residency Program that offers intensive residencies to provisionally licensed graduates of master’s level mental health programs in social work, clinical mental health counseling and marriage and family therapy.

The program is a one to two-year, paid full time training program designed to prepare a resident for full licensure to practice independently as a mental health therapist in the state of Iowa.

Requirements of the program include:

• Direct psychotherapy service to clients
• Weekly individual and group supervision of all clinical work
• Participation in ongoing training and didactic seminars
• Compliance with all requirements of supervision
• Attendance at staff meetings, consultation, case conferences, and all required staff activities
• Proper maintenance of case notes and treatment plans using the electronic records system
• Compliance with all standards listed in the Center’s personnel practices manual and in the clinical services manual

Erin Moskal, the Center’s first resident, provided the following testimonial:

“I offer an enthusiastic endorsement of the clinical residency program at the Des Moines Pastoral Counseling Center. As a graduate of the Mental Health Counseling program at Drake University and of the Center’s graduate training program,  I was well prepared to seek credentialing as a temporary licensed mental health counselor in Iowa. As a resident at the Center, my expertise is deeper and sharper through the program’s rigorous didactics and consultation. The Center’s holistic approaches align with my professional values of delivering integrative, client-centered services. I am a better clinician due to my residency experience and I think it’s critically important to grow the program to meet Iowa’s mental health workforce crisis.”

For more information about the Center’s new Postgraduate Clinical Residency Program, please contact Dr. Shannon Welch-Groves (swelchgroves@mindspiritcenter.org).