Q: What is the university and the city of Irvine like?
UC Irvine is one of 10 campuses in the University of California system, located in the City of Irvine, near Newport Beach, and 40 miles south of Los Angeles. Irvine is the number one master planned community in America and perennially ranks in the top three safest cities in America with a population of over 100,000. UCI is among the fastest-growing campuses in the UC system with approximately 26,000 students enrolled in undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs.
Q: Are there any opportunities to teach?
A: The training program often offers various opportunities to teach. In the past, interns have had the opportunity to teach classes with Counseling Center staff. The Center's staff is involved in teaching both academic and residence hall courses. The latter are courses that are more psychoeducationally focused and often involve working with first year students. Staff have taught academic courses such as Chicano Psychology, African American Psychology, Asian American Psychology, and other psychology related courses. If teaching is an important training need for you, discuss this with the training director.
Q: What opportunities are offered in the areas of outreach and consultation?
A: The UCI counseling center offers many exciting opportunities to deliver and develop workshops. Our Center receives close to 100 workshop requests throughout the year. We deliver workshops to UCI students, faculty and staff. Common workshop requests include stress management, diversity issues, learning styles, relationships, etc. The Center's staff also work in various consultative roles throughout the University. Interns will work to develop both outreach and consultation skills during the year.
Q: Could you describe the diversity of your staff?
A: Our Counseling Center prides itself with the diversity of the staff. Our staff is diverse with respect to age, gender, ethnicity, ableness and sexual orientation. In addition, theoretical orientations and areas of expertise vary among staff members.
Q: What populations do you tend to serve at UCI?
A: The Counseling Center provides direct services and outreach to an ethnically diverse group of students. The UCI campus is fairly diverse and is represented by about 50% Asian Americans, 25% Caucasians, 10% Chicano/Latinos, 2% African Americans. We also work with gay, lesbian, and bisexual clients and students. The Counseling Center offers services to both undergraduate and graduate students.
Q: Will I be able to work on my dissertation while on internship?
A: The Counseling Center is extremely supportive of interns who are working on their dissertations or research projects. Some of our staff have active research interests and may be of assistance to interns. The training program provides interns with professional development time for interns to dedicate to their research or other professional development activities. Access to the UCI Library system is also available to interns.
Q: What is the surrounding city of Irvine like? Is there affordable housing?
A: The city of Irvine is centrally located in Orange County. Irvine is about 50 minutes south of Los Angeles and about 90 minutes north of San Diego. Beach communities are about 10 minutes away and ski resorts are about 2 hours away. Most interns have lived within 15-20 minutes away from Campus in the surrounding communities such as Tustin, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. Generally, affordable housing may be found in these and other nearby communities.
Q: How are supervisors assigned and selected?
A: During orientation, interns have the opportunity to meet with the different supervising staff. This gives interns the opportunity to get to know the different supervisors and supervising styles. Subsequently, the interns rank the supervisors and discuss their preferences with the training director. The training director will make final assignments, taking into account the preferences of interns.
Q: What opportunities are there for interns to provide supervision?
Currently, interns are involved in the supervision of peers in our COACH program and Peer Educator Program, and participate in a supervision of supervision seminar.
Q: What will my supervision experience be like during my internship?
There are multiple opportunities for supervision in addition to working with your two individual supervisors. The interns participate weekly in group supervision, and can also work with other staff psychologists by co-facilitating a group, and providing joint couples or family therapy. There will also be consultation and supervision from the back-up supervisor during the interns’ triage/crisis intervention shifts. In short, all members of our clinical staff are involved with the training program.
Q: What is a typical day for an intern?
A: Initially, interns may spend the greater part of the day in training seminars and meetings. The training director also spends time in orientating interns to the Counseling Center and the University. Eventually, the interns are involved in providing direct services and workshops. Although there is some degree of overlap between the interns schedules, much of the day depends on the interns individual interests and commitments (i.e., type of workshops, groups, teaching, etc.).
Q: Does the Center provide any support for professional development?
A: The Counseling Center encourages and supports the professional activities of interns. For example, the interns usually attend the Organization of Counseling Center Directors in Higher Education conference (O.C.C.D.H.E.) near San Luis Obispo, CA. In the past, the Center has provided some financial support for conferences and other professional activities. The interns also have the opportunity to attend professional development activities that are presented to the Center's professional staff.
Q: What types of groups does the Counseling Center offer?
A: The Counseling Center offers a variety of groups to UCI students. The center offers therapy, support, and psychoeducational groups. For example, our staff offers support groups such as Asian American women's group, International Coffee Hour, and Estamos Unidas. In addition, the Center offers therapy groups such as the Graduate Women's group, Students from Difficult Families group, and Relationships group.
Q: What is the stipend, & other benefits offered by your internship site?
A: Currently the stipend is $24,000 for our 12 month full-time internship. Major medical coverage is also offered to our interns. In addition, interns will have vacation, holiday and sick time as allowed by the University.
Q: Can I do a part-time or half-time internship?
A: Currently, the internship is set up as a full-time internship and we do not have the accommodations for part-time or half-time interns.
• What is the university and the city of Irvine like?
• Are there any opportunities to teach?
• What opportunities are offered in the areas of outreach and consultation?
• Could you describe the diversity of your staff?
• What populations do you tend to serve at UCI?
• Will I be able to work on my dissertation while on internship?
• What is the surrounding city of Irvine like? Is there affordable housing?
• How are supervisors assigned and selected?
• What opportunities are there for interns to provide supervision?
• What will my supervision experience be like during my internship?
• What is a typical day for an intern?
• Does the Center provide any support for professional development?
• What types of groups does the Counseling Center offer?
• What is the stipend, & other benefits offered by your internship site?
• Can I do a part-time or half-time internship?
