Our Counselors
Our counselors are students in the 60-hour CACREP-approved masters degree counseling program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). At the time of providing services, they are necessarily enrolled in one of their three “field” courses—Practicum, Internship I, or Internship II—in which they accrue direct counseling experience in schools, in the UTRGV Counseling and Assessment Clinic, or in external agency venues such as DreamStar Free Online Counseling.
During the COVID-19 crisis, UTRGV students were unable to see their clients in face-to-face physical settings, and thus had to turn to telehealth—phone and online videoconferencing—as an alternative. DreamStar Free Online Counseling (DFOC) was created as a way to provide online counseling opportunities for UTRGV students.
Our student counselors cannot practice independently, nor can they receive compensation for their services. However, they have completed most of their coursework by the time they enroll in their field courses. Thus, they are familiar with the major theories and interventions used in contemporary counseling, and have practiced a variety of counseling methods.
All of our counselors are committed to incorporating dreamwork into the therapeutic relationship, and are under supervision by Dr. Sparrow (as the external site supervisor) as well as their Practicum or Internship professors. They must maintain their own liability insurance coverage, and they have been cleared by criminal background checks.