The professional school's training program is an integral part of its public service commitment. As soon as students possess the necessary psychological service skills, they provide these services under supervision in applied settings.

All three of GSAPP's training programs have extensive links to the community. Many of these links are channeled through the school`s Center for Applied Psychology, the "teaching hospital" of GSAPP.

An ongoing project at the local level is the Rutgers/ Somerset Counseling Project, a family- and community-based intervention and prevention research program that reaches young people at serious risk and their families. It was begun by Drs. Brenna Bry and Nancy Boyd-Franklin in 1993 in conjunction with a local Baptist church and intermediate and high school principals. The project has three main service components: (1) school-based student counseling, (2) home-based family therapy, and (3) school-based aggression prevention groups. It provides an excellent opportunity for GSAPP students to learn family therapy and community psychology interventions. Approximately 30 students have participated in the program each year since its inception.

The Project to Recruit Adoptive Families for African-American School-Aged Children (on behalf of the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services, or DYFS) and an organizational assessment of Work First New Jersey (for the New Jersey Department of Human Services' Division of Family Development) are examples of recently completed innovative public services offered through the Center for Applied Psychology. Additionally, practicum placements involve more than a dozen school districts, specialized schools, community mental health centers, hospitals, hospice programs, and urban programs for youths and families.