New Collaboration Brings Counseling Support to PAYCheck Participants
The LSU Health New Orleans Counseling Department and the Human Development Center’s PAYCheck Program have launched an exciting new collaboration that enhances both counselor training and student support. PAYCheck, a program that helps transition-age youth with disabilities prepare for adult life and employment, is now serving as a practicum and internship site for counseling students.
Through this partnership, counseling interns will work alongside PAYCheck participants. They’ll gain hands-on experience in person-centered planning, Employment First training, and job coaching, while also providing supportive counseling on topics ranging from self-advocacy and vocational skills to relationships, identity, and navigating family dynamics.
“If counseling students are interested in transition-age students with disabilities, they are going to get exposure to the supports someone might need to live and work in the community,” said clinical supervisor Rose Angelocci, Ph.D. “They’re not only supporting them vocationally on the job; they will also support advocacy skills, life skills, financial skills, everything that makes up a person’s ability to navigate community life.”
Whether facilitating social skills or helping students manage anxiety about the growing responsibilities of adulthood, Dr. Angelocci says this partnership gives PAYCheck participants “an outlet to talk these things out with somebody who is not their parent or teacher.”
The counseling interns’ presence adds another layer of guidance and mentorship to PAYCheck’s services. According to Program Manager Tracy O’Donnell, “We’re excited to learn from the counseling students how to better support our participants when they have difficulty with everyday life.” She also noted that students benefit from free counseling support tailored to the challenges young adults often face, including communication with parents, decision-making, and preparing for independence.
The partnership currently hosts two counseling students, with hopes to host more interns in the future. By strengthening both vocational and mental health supports, the collaboration not only enriches the training experience for counseling interns but also extends what PAYCheck offers participants as they transition into adult life.
About the LSUHSC Department of Counseling
Located within the LSUHSC School of Allied Professions, the Master of Health Sciences in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (MHS) program is fully accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) and is a 60-credit hour graduate program, on campus instruction classroom environment, with some courses offered with remote learning, as approved by CACREP. The program prepares counselors to assume the full range of professional responsibilities required in community counseling organizations, private as well as publicly funded and nonprofit, and to contribute to scholarship and service locally and nationally.
Visit the LSUHSC Counseling Website
About the PAYCheck Program
PAYCheck is a 3 semester program where students participate in courses at a postsecondary institution, engage in professional career development activities, learn community and work-related skills, and gain employment experience through two 10-week paid internships.