Doctoral Internship in Health Service Psychology

Doctoral Internship in Health Service Psychology


We are very excited that you are interested in our APA-accredited doctoral internship (program #111511).

We hope that our website will give you easy access to information about our program, including our training goals, mission, and philosophy. In addition, we hope that you will get a good sense of the staff and atmosphere at Counseling and Psychological Services and the University Health Services at UC Berkeley. Our staff is committed to providing excellent training experiences which will support and facilitate your growth and development as a professional psychologist. Our program includes intensive supervision, didactic training seminars, mentorship, and a broad range of clinical and consultation, and outreach experiences.

We hope that after reviewing our materials you will find that our program is a good match with your own training needs and goals.

Philosophy of Training


The doctoral internship program is committed to providing comprehensive training experiences to facilitate interns' professional development and personal growth. A primary goal is to help interns consolidate their clinical and consultation skills, and to integrate these into their professional identities as psychologists. This training experience marks the significant developmental transition of interns from trainees to well-rounded professionals who are able to function competently and autonomously and who will contribute to the field of psychology and to the welfare of clients and society in general. Special focus is given to interns' development in the following areas:

The development of professional competencies in clinical/counseling psychology including the attitudes, theoretical knowledge, and applied skills necessary for work with a broad range of client issues and problems. Interns' integration of academic and theoretical learning with clinical work is an important aspect of this development. In addition to counseling with individuals and groups, these professional competencies include skills in crisis assessment and intervention and prevention-oriented interventions, including psychoeducational workshops, consultation to the university community, and outreach presentations.

The development of knowledge, awareness, and skills for work with diverse populations. Interns are guided, taught, encouraged, and mentored to examine and explore their knowledge of and attitudes toward cultural, racial, sexual, religious, physical, and age differences as part of this development.

The development of a professional identity as a psychologist, and the evolution of roles from student to professional. This process involves the integration of knowledge of oneself with the ability to work clinically with richly diverse populations. This also involves being able to assume professional and personal responsibility for one's work.

In order to facilitate these goals, intensive supervision, seminars, consultation, and ongoing feedback are provided. The full-time, twelve-month internship provides interns with training in the specific areas of crisis intervention, brief counseling for individuals and couples, workshop and group facilitation, and consultation and outreach. Interns have the opportunity to work with the broad range of student problems encountered in a university setting and to participate in all aspects of CAPS programs including staff meetings, case conferences, and staff development and training. The training program is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association.


 2023 Doctoral Intern Training Manual

Training Goals and Objectives


Goal #1: Development of knowledge and the ability to adhere to legal, ethical and professional guidelines for practice.

  • Interns will adhere to APA ethical principles and the laws of California pertaining to the practice of psychology. Interns will be aware of their own professional limitations.
  • Interns will use consultation as necessary.

Goal #2: Development of competence in individual counseling and psychotherapy, including initial assessment, brief counseling and referral.

  • Interns will conduct initial assessments, including developing case conceptualization, treatment plan, and case disposition.
  • Interns will integrate cultural factors in their treatment planning.
  • Interns will effectively conduct One At A time therapy.
  • Interns will provide group therapy (Managing Stress, Anxiety, and Depression group).

Goal #3: Development of competence in the ability to integrate science and practice.

  • Interns will be aware of theories of supervision.
  • Interns will have a working knowledge of theories of personality, psychopathology, and psychotherapy.
  • Interns will accurately assess client difficulties and formulate treatment plans and interventions using clinical, theoretical, and conceptual skills.

Goal #4: Development of competence in career and objective personality assessments.

  • Interns will provide career assessment and counseling.
  • Interns will demonstrate knowledge of career theory.
  • Interns will have access to personality assessments and depression and anxiety instruments.

Goal #5: Development of competence in crisis assessment and intervention.

  • Interns will provide consultation, collaboration, and appropriate documentation appropriate in assessing safety and risk factors.
  • Interns will provide appropriate crisis interventions (e.g., safety planning; assessing for hospitalization).
  • Interns will provide appropriate disposition and follow-up with crisis situations.

Goal #6: Development of competence in consultation and outreach activities and the delivery of psychoeducational workshops.

  • Interns will design and deliver workshops to the campus and campus partners.
  • Interns will consult and collaborate with staff, faculty, and other campus partners.
  • Interns will serve as a consultant to staff, including residence life staff.

Goal #7: Development of competence in the provision of supervision.

  • Interns will be aware of theories of supervision.
  • Interns will form professional working relationships with supervisees.
  • Interns are able to give both positive and constructive feedback to their supervisees.
  • Interns will be aware of their strengths and areas for growth as a supervisor.

Goal #8: Development of knowledge and skills necessary for work with diverse populations.

  • Interns will demonstrate knowledge, sensitivity, and respect for differences.
  • Interns will demonstrate comfort in multicultural interactions.
  • Interns will demonstrate an understanding of how oppression, racism, discrimination, and stereotyping may affect clients.
  • Interns will demonstrate personal awareness and understanding of the impact of differences in their own professional interactions and clinical work.
  • Interns will engage in self-examination to increase recognition and awareness of beliefs, attitudes, and biases that may impact their professional work.


Goal #9: Development of a professional identity as a psychologist.

  • Interns will make progress on their dissertation or be engaged in some other scholarly activity (e.g., publishing a dissertation, working on a proposal for a conference).
  • Interns will be able to provide feedback to their supervisors.
  • Interns will demonstrate appropriate autonomy and take responsibility for clinical and professional decisions.
  • Interns will manage multiple relationships (with supervisors, supervisees, seminar leaders, and peers) in a professional manner.

Formal Training Activities


Supervision

Intensive individual supervision is provided throughout the internship year and is considered a core component of training. In supervision, interns receive support for their growth and development as professional psychologists as well as ongoing feedback regarding their goals for training, strengths, and areas for improvement. Supervisory functions include monitoring client welfare, promoting and  enhancing clinical and consultation skills, encouraging personal and professional  growth, reviewing notes and videos of sessions, as well as evaluating intern progress.

Through individual supervision from a primary supervisor, interns receive support, guidance and ongoing feedback regarding their professional strengths and areas for development. The primary supervisory relationship is considered a core aspect of each intern’s training during the internship year. Interns meet with primary supervisors 2 hours per week. Additional consultation is arranged on an as-needed basis.  

Seminars

Training seminars provide interns with an opportunity to deepen their learning and integrate theoretical knowledge with actual clinical experiences. The seminars also provide interns with the opportunity to learn from the expertise of senior staff members and other mental health professionals as well as each other. The  following seminars are offered this year: Clinical Seminar

Clinical Seminar

This weekly 2-hour clinical training seminar occurs throughout the year and is presented by senior staff members and invited speakers. The seminar is intended to provide interns with information and knowledge essential for clinical and consultation work  with a student population. Topics include important areas such as  professional and ethical issues in clinical practice, One-At-A-Time (OAAT) counseling, forms of short-term therapy (CBT and brief psychodynamic therapy), clinical assessment and treatment planning, crisis assessment and intervention, cultural considerations and medication, substance use treatment, and trauma-informed therapy. 

Multicultural Seminar

This seminar meets weekly in the Spring semester and combines experiential and didactic components to explore how counselor and client assumptions, backgrounds and training may influence the counseling process. A major training assumption is that in order to do effective multicultural work, clinicians must be aware of their own assumptions and biases. Interns are encouraged to explore and understand how their own training and backgrounds may affect their interactions with clients and colleagues. Interns are encouraged to utilize the understanding gained through this exploration in all of their clinical and consultation work. 

Mini Case Conference

This weekly seminar is a space for interns to discuss clinical cases and issues with a licensed staff member. Special attention is given to the One-At-A-Time (OAAT) approach to counseling, brief assessment and diagnosis to inform treatment. In addition, this seminar allows interns to share any issues or concerns that may arise during the course of the internship. During this meeting, interns are provided with opportunities to discuss  administrative and program planning issues, clinical cases, personal concerns which may be relevant to their clinical work and professional  interactions. Interns are required to present a case presentation at least once each semester. 

Supervision of Supervision Seminar

This weekly 1-hour seminar  provides interns the opportunity to discuss and review theoretical models of supervision. Interns are provided with a forum to share and  discuss their experiences as supervisors of career counseling interns.  Interns also present a video of their supervision (and receive feedback) in this seminar. 

Outreach and Consultation Seminar 

This bi-weekly seminar in the Fall supports the development of the skills needed to create outreach programs and attend to the various outreach and consultation requests from the university. This seminar gives interns the opportunity to receive feedback from their peers on presentation style and content. Interns begin the seminar by presenting short topics of their choice and expertise in order to gain the confidence and skills to present to larger audiences. By the end of the training year interns will have developed a longer, more substantive presentation and have presented on a number of topics related to college student mental health. Finally, with regard to campus consultation, interns gain the necessary skills to help faculty and staff understand the signs of distress in students and the resources  available to them on this campus. 

Career Assessment and Counseling Seminar

This bi-weekly seminar in the Spring provides training in the clinical application of theories and assessment techniques relevant to career development, career choice and career counseling. Special emphasis is placed on knowledge and  use of personality, career and vocational testing and the integration of  test results in the counseling process, in a culturally sensitive manner.  Interns learn to administer and interpret tests and how to integrate test results into their clinical work with students who are often struggling with the complexities of academic, career and personal issues. Interns are required to do a case presentation in the Spring semester. 

Professional Development Seminar

This weekly 1-hour seminar focuses on the transition from trainee to professional psychologist. Interns are provided with the opportunity to discuss and explore their  educational and career history, including how familial and cultural factors have impacted career exposure, values, and development. Seminar topics include professional identity development (professional values, attitudes, and behaviors), as well as practical skills (job search, licensure, interview strategies, and networking) - with the goal of preparing interns for the next phase in their career development. Past interns, current Senior Staff, and counseling professionals across the U.S. present to the cohort on their career paths with presenters being chosen each year based on the cohort’s specific interests and goals. 

Supervision Seminar

This weekly seminar reviews theoretical models of supervision and provides a forum for interns to share and discuss their experiences as supervisors of master's level students in social work and counseling.

Professional Development Seminar

This weekly seminar provides a forum for interns to discuss issues such as licensure, career decision-making, and job search.

Case Conferences

In weekly staff case conferences, interns and staff members present cases for discussion and provide peer support and consultation around clinical work. Interns also participate in a 2-hour mini case conference every other week with other interns.

Staff Meetings and Professional Development

Interns participate in monthly staff meetings. In addition, interns attend staff development workshops which are offered regularly throughout the year. These workshops focus on specific areas in which staff receive additional training and information. Interns are also encouraged to attend national and local conferences.

Typical Training Schedule


A typical intern schedule for a 40 hour week:

  • Individual counseling 10-15 hours
  • Supervision of master's student (and prep) 2 hours
  • Training Seminars 6-8 hours
  • Individual Supervision 2 hours
  • Staff case conference 1 hour
  • Mini case conference 1 hour
  • Staff Meeting 1 hour, monthly
  • Research time 2 hours
  • Charting and administrative work 6-8 hours

Appointments and Benefits


Internships are full-time (40 hours per week) for a twelve-month period beginning July 29, 2024. Interns can expect to accrue between 1800-2000 hours towards licensure. The stipend for the internship is anticipated to be $42,200 for the year. Vacation, sick leave, professional development time, medical insurance, and other university benefits (library privileges, access to university recreational facilities for a fee) are provided.

Application Qualifications and Procedures


Qualifications:

Applicants must be advanced doctoral students with appropriate coursework in assessment,  clinical diagnosis, counseling theory and practice. All formal coursework, supervised practicum experiences (minimum of 500 hours by start of internship), and comprehensive examinations for the doctorate in counseling or clinical psychology must be completed prior to beginning the internship. We prefer applicants who have completed their dissertation proposals prior to the beginning of the internship year. Applicants with a demonstrated interest in working with multicultural populations are preferred. Applicants from APA-accredited doctoral programs in counseling or clinical psychology are preferred.

According to University of California policies, this internship is considered a sensitive position and requires a background check as a condition of employment. Employment is dependent on obtaining and maintaining a credentialing clearance, background clearance and medical clearance (i.e updated immunizations) according to University Health Service policies.

Procedures:

In order to be considered for our internship, please complete the AAPI Online, which may be accessed at http://www.appic.org by clicking on "AAPI Online."

Please note that our deadline for completed applications is November 2, 2023 (midnight EST). Your application will be reviewed by the Selection Committee during the month of November. After initial review, selected applicants will be contacted for telephone interviews. We will make every effort to notify all applicants of their status by the week of December 3, 2023

We plan to conduct interviews via Zoom only between December 12-December 22, 2023. The interviews last 45-50 minutes, typically includes responding to at least 1 vignette and then other questions that help us assess the match between the applicant's goals for the year and what we have to offer. There are usually 8-10 questions and then time at the end for applicants to ask us questions. The interview team typically consists of the training director, a current intern, a postdoctoral fellow, and a senior staff clinician.

As an APPIC member internship, we follow all APPIC policies and procedures regarding selection and notification. This internship site agrees to abide by the APPIC policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept, or use any ranking-related information from any intern applicant. These policies are available on the APPIC website. We will be participating in the APPIC match process coordinated by National Matching Services, Inc. In order to participate and be considered by our site, you must register with National Matching services by requesting a packet of materials. This can be done by phone at (416) 977-3431 or online at www.natmatch.com/psychint . Our program code number is 111511.

The Psychology Internship at CAPS is accredited by the American Psychological Association. For further information, you may contact the APA Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation by phone at (202) 336-5979 or (202) 336-6123 TDD or at the following website: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation. You may also email the Accreditation Office at apaaccre@apa.org. You may also write to them at:

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation

American Psychological Association

750 First Street, NE

Washington, DC 20002-4242

We understand that the internship application process can be extremely stressful, and urge you to contact us if you have any questions about our internship program, UHS, UC Berkeley or the application process itself. Please feel free to call me at (510)  642 - 9494 or e-mail me at kmurarka@berkeley.edu. I look forward to receiving your application and talking with you further about our program.

Sincerely,

Kusha Murarka, PsyD

Director of Training

Summary of the Characteristics of the Specified Internship Class

2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024
Number of completed applications: 139 129 125
Number of applicants invited for interviews: 42 35 35
Total number of interns: 3 3 3
Total number of interns from APA/CPA accredited programs: 3 3 3
Total number of interns from Ph.D. programs: 3 3 3
Total number of interns from Psy.D. programs: 0 0 0
Total number of interns from Ed.D. programs: 0 0 0
Number of interns that come from a Clinical Psychology program: 0 0 0
Number of interns that come from a Counseling Psychology program: 3 3 3
Number of interns that come from a School Psychology program: 0 0 0
Range of integrated assessment reports: lowest number of reports written: 0 1 0
Range of integrated assessment reports: highest number of reports written 5 7 6

Internship Admissions, Support, and Initial Placement Data

Internship Program Admissions

Briefly describe in narrative form important information to assist potential applicants in assessing their likely fit with your program. This description must be consistent with the program's policies on intern selection and practicum and academic preparation requirements: Applicants must be advanced doctoral students with appropriate coursework in assessment, personality theory, and diagnosis as well as counseling theory and practice. All formal coursework, supervised practicum experience (minimum of 500 hours), and comprehensive exams must be completed prior to the beginning of the internship year. Applicants with a demonstrated interest in working with multicultural populations are preferred. Applicants from APA-accredited doctoral programs in counseling or clinical psychology are preferred.
Does the program require that applicants have received a minimum number of hours of the following at the time of application? If yes, indicate how many:

Total Direct Contact Intervention Hours: 500 hours (Prior to the beginning of the internship year.)

Total Direct Contact Assessment Hours: None.

Describe any other required minimum criteria used to screen applicants:

N/A

Financial and Other Benefit Support for Upcoming Training Year

Annual Stipend/Salary for Full-Time Interns $42,200
Annual Stipend/Salary for Half-Time Interns N/A
Program provides access to medical insurance for intern? Yes
If access to medical insurance is provided:
Trainee contribution to cost required? Yes
Coverage of family member(s) available? Yes
Coverage of legally married partner available? Yes
Coverage of domestic partner available? Yes
Hours of Annual Paid Personal Time Off (PTO and/or Vacation) 192 hours
Hours of Annual Paid Sick Leave 96 hours
In the event of medical conditions and/or family needs that require extended leave, does the program allow reasonable unpaid leave to interns/residents in excess of personal time off and sick leave? Yes
Other Benefits Up to 40 hours of professional development time.

Initial Post-Internship Positions

(provide an aggregated tally for the preceding three cohorts)
2020-2023
Total # of interns who were in the 3 cohorts 9
Total # of interns who did not seek employment because they returned to their doctoral program/are completing doctoral degree 0
Post-doctoral residency position Employed position
Community mental health center N/A N/A
Federally qualified health center N/A N/A
Independent primary care facility/clinic N/A N/A
University counseling center 5 1
Veteran Affairs medical center N/A N/A
Military health center N/A N/A
Academic health center N/A N/A
Other medical center or hospital 1 1
Psychiatric hospital N/A N/A
Academic university/department N/A 1
Community College or other teaching setting N/A N/A
Independent research institution  N/A N/A
Correctional facility N/A N/A
School district/system N/A N/A
Independent practice setting N/A N/A
Not currently employed N/A N/A
Changed to another field N/A N/A
Other N/A N/A
Unknown N/A N/A

FAQs

Is it appropriate for applicants to contact current trainees and staff with questions? Yes. Please email Kusha (kmurarka@berkeley.edu) to request current trainees and staff contact information. When contacting trainees and staff, please ask how they would prefer to be in communication (e.g., phone or email).

How diverse is UC Berkeley’s student body? UC Berkeley’s community has rich cultural, ethnic, social, and socioeconomic diversity in which every state and over 100 countries are represented. For instance, in Fall 2021, Berkeley had 31,814 undergraduate students, and about 29% of them are first-generation college students; about 23% of them were from underrepresented groups; about 13% of them identified as LGBTQ+ individuals; about 13% of them are international students. More diversity data can be viewed here: https://diversity.berkeley.edu/reports-data/diversity-data-dashboard

What are you looking for in an intern? The majority of our doctoral interns have previous practical experience in counseling centers, experience providing brief therapy, and experience with crisis management. It is helpful for doctoral interns to have some knowledge/experience of assessment, career counseling and supervision. As a staff, we value diversity both in terms of learning from each other and from the students we serve. Applicants that are able to articulate how diversity has impacted them on a personal and professional level tend to be a good fit with our training program. Similarly, we are looking for individuals who enjoy working collaboratively in a multidisciplinary team setting.

Do you look at social networking sites as part of the evaluation process? Currently, we do not seek out information from social networking sites as part of our evaluation process.

Can I receive specialized training in some clinical area? You will definitely get specialized training in providing multiculturally competent brief therapy; crisis management; and group therapy. Other specialized training (e.g., specific clinical issues, couples counseling, specific populations) can occur through individual supervision. However, this needs to be discussed with the Training Director and your individual supervisor. If you have specific training goals/needs that are not specified in our materials please ask before, or during, the interview so we can discuss the possibilities.

Do you provide telemental health? Yes, we offer the option of receiving mental health services remotely through phone and Zoom video. Interns are issued laptops so they can work from home or in office and provide these telemental health options. However, post-pandemic campus life and student demand have increased the need for on-site, in-person services, so the majority of services are now being offered in person.

How many long-term clients do I get to have? Two. However, the clients you see for longer-term therapy need to fit specific criteria that you will discuss with your supervisor and colleagues in case conference.

Please describe opportunities for crisis counseling. All interns have “on-call sessions” -usually 2 hours per week – where they see students reporting an urgent need to see a provider today as well as take calls from staff, faculty, and parents concerned about a student.

Are there opportunities for testing? There are a number of assessments available for doctoral interns to use in working with students. Our staff primarily uses the Strong Interest Inventory and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator when working with students with career issues. Other assessments may be used when clinically indicated. We are also in the process of developing an ADHD pilot program and interns may have the opportunity to learn and administer ADHD assessments. In the assessment seminar, you will learn about these assessments and others that you might choose to use in your clinical work.

Are there opportunities to do outreach? Yes. Interns play an important role in our outreach to the campus. CAPS frequently gets requests from the campus to do workshops, training, and other preventive mental health programs as well as doing proactive outreach work to the campus to reach underserved populations.We do approximately 100 outreach events/year. Interns are expected to be involved in these outreach efforts (the expectation is that interns will be involved in at least 3 outreach events per semester) and to develop their skills and comfort level in leading such programs. In addition, interns are paired with senior clinicians to respond to urgent outreach requests (e.g., crisis debriefings, responses to campus emergencies), which may involve evening work. Finally, some doctoral interns have served as liaisons to residential life (dormitories), providing consultation to resident advisors and resident directors, as needed.

Will doctoral interns be able to provide supervision? Yes. Every year we have doctoral interns supervising our career practicum interns. However, sometimes we have fewer career interns than we do doctoral interns. All doctoral interns participate in the Supervision of Supervision seminar and every effort is made to have interns, especially those without prior supervision experience, supervise for at least one semester.

How are supervisory assignments made? During the summer interns are sent an email asking, among other things, what their goals are for supervision and what they would like in a supervisor. The training staff meets to discuss possible matches based on the stated interests and goals of the incoming doctoral intern. Similarly, staff also have a say in whom they would like to work with based on their availability and own interests.

Do interns have an opportunity to lead groups at CAPS? Yes, we welcome intern involvement in our group program. CAPS offer a range of therapy, support and psycho-educational groups each semester. Interns are encouraged each year to co-lead at least one group with a post-doctoral fellow or senior staff member. Group leadership assignments are based both upon the clinical needs of the group program and the training needs of an intern.

Will you accept a 4th letter of recommendation? We will accept it but we may not read it. Given the number of applications we receive and the short time allotted before we need to make very important decisions (i.e., who to interview) we suggest only sending 3 letters from individuals you believe can best speak to your skills and areas for growth. This will ensure we read your best letters of support.

How would you characterize the culture of the CAPS? We like to have fun with each other, love working with college students, and enjoy celebrating each other's accomplishments (with food). That said, this is a fast-paced setting that is highly utilized. Thus, there can be increased stress during certain times of the year when demand for services is high. We continually look at how we can better meet the need for student access while at the same time monitor self-care.

Are staff involved in research? A few members are involved in research and publishing. However, there is no formal program of research during the internship program. Interns are provided two hours of research time each week to focus on their dissertation or other interested projects.

Are there opportunities to teach? There is no formal opportunity to teach on an ongoing basis; however, there might be some opportunities to guest lecture from time to time. 

Will I get my own office? Our hope is that every doctoral intern would have their own office. For the past several years interns have had their own assigned offices. However, due to the growing staff at CAPS and hybrid schedules, sometimes interns need to share office with other staff members. We are in the process of identifying office space in the Tang Center and on campus to accommodate our growing staff.

Will I have access to computers? Of course. Each office is equipped with Microsoft's Office Suite, Google Suite applications including email and Google Drive through Google Chrome, and Point and Click (our electronic medical record) which allows access to patient information. All notes are done electronically. On remote days, interns use their university-issued Chromebook to work. 

How many applications do you typically receive and how many applicants will remain under active consideration after interviews? Each year we receive around 120-130 applications and interview around 40 candidates. We rank most interviewed candidates. Last year we received 125 applications for the doctoral internship, interviewed 36, and ranked 34.

Do I need to call you after the interview to "show interest" and hopefully improve my chances of getting ranked high? No. However, feel free to contact us if you have any questions that are not addressed on our website or that were not addressed during the interview. Email is often the easiest way to reach us.

Do you have an Open House? We have not decided if we will host an open house this year. However, oftentimes current trainees will host Q&A sessions after the interview process is completed. Such Q&A sessions are for you to ask questions about living and working at Berkeley, and your participation is completely voluntary and it is not a part of formal interview.

Applicants are welcome to visit in person and we do not privilege applicants who visit over those that do not. In fact, more often than not we have matched with applicants who have not visited (or met with the training director). That is, there is no advantage - rankings wise - to visiting or talking directly with the training director. If you would like to visit - that is,  if seeing the site and/or meeting with the training director will help you in your decision making - you are more than welcome and we will do our best to accommodate your schedule.

What do interns do after they leave? All kinds of things. Many interns complete a postdoctoral fellowship to gain hours for licensure (current interns are given preference for our postdoctoral fellowship positions at CAPS); some interns apply for staff positions in counseling centers; some go on to teach at universities; and a few interns have left to work as consultants. 

Do doctoral interns get preferential consideration for job openings? Not really, although several doctoral interns have joined our staff at some point after finishing their training experience. Having worked here helps you understand the challenges and rewards of working at CAPS and thus gives any applicant somewhat of an advantage during an interview.

How do doctoral interns survive on the stipend? It is a challenge but many of our interns have found creative ways to get by on the salary. We suggest contacting current interns directly for more information about this particular issue. We continue to advocate for increases in the stipend.

My program requires that internship sites complete our own university's evaluation form. Will you do that? At the end of every semester, the Director of Training sends the Academic Training Director a letter summarizing the intern's performance to date along with a copy of the primary supervisor's evaluation of the intern. Therefore, if you are enrolled in an academic training program that requires additional training contracts and/or evaluations, these will not be completed by our training staff. Your program may choose to use the data from our evaluations to complete their own forms. You are strongly encouraged to consult with your Director of Clinical Training or Kusha if you have questions about this policy.


Could you describe the diversity of your staff? Our counseling center prides itself with the diversity of the staff. Our staff is diverse with respect to age, gender, ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation, religion/spirituality, and size. In addition, theoretical orientations and areas of expertise vary among staff members.

Related resources

A Doctoral Psychology Intern is Pictured

Lenia Chae, MA

A Doctoral Psychology Intern is Pictured

Nguyen Nguyen, MA

A Doctoral Psychology Intern is Pictured

Himadhari Sharma, MA