APA Accredited Internship in Professional Psychology 2009-2010

The Intern Training Program

Philosophy of Training
The predoctoral 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:

1. 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.
   
   
2. 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.
   
   
3. 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 on-going 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 CPS programs including staff meetings, case conferences and staff development and training. The training program is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association.

Formal Traning Activities

Supervision
Interns receive two to three hours per week of intensive individual supervision from one or more licensed senior staff members. Initial supervisory assignments are made by CPS supervisors and the Director of Training. Individual interns' interests, training needs, skill level, theoretical orientation and preferences for supervisory style are considered in making these assignments. Additional supervision experiences or case consultation opportunities can be arranged based upon specific training needs and interests.

Seminars
Training seminars provide interns with an opportunity to deepen their learning and integrate theoretical knowledge with actual clinical experiences. The following seminars are typically offered each year:

1. Clinical Seminar. The weekly 2-hour clinical training seminar occurs throughout the year and is presented by senior staff members and invited speakers. This seminar is intended to provide interns with information and knowledge essential for clinical work with student populations. Topics and training modules include important areas such as professional and ethical issues in clinical practice, brief psychotherapy, clinical assessment, crisis assessment and intervention, psychopharmacology and substance abuse.
   
   
2. Career Assessment and Counseling Seminar. This weekly seminar places special emphasis on career and vocational testing and counseling. Interns learn to administer and interpret career/vocational and personality tests and to integrate test results into their clinical work with students who are often struggling with the complexities of academic, career and personal issues.
   
   
3. Multicultural Seminar. This seminar combines experiential and didactic components to explore how counselor and client assumptions, backgrounds and training may influence the counseling process. Interns are encouraged to explore and understand how their own training and backgrounds may affect their interactions with clients.
   
   
4. 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.
   
   
5. Professional Development Seminar. This 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 mini case conference of their own, with a senior staff member as consultant.

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. Examples of recent workshops include: multicultural concerns, short-term psychotherapy, bipolar disorder and working with Chicano-Latino students. Interns are also encouraged to attend national and local conferences.

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