Pre-Doctoral Psychology Internship Program at UC Irvine
Program Philosophy and Training Model
Our training model might best be described as a Practitioner-Scholar Model in that we focus on clinical practice informed by scholarly inquiry. Underlying and infused within this model is our program’s value for celebrating and honoring multiculturalism in our relationships, practices, policies and procedures while also striving to create a multi-culturally sensitive and supportive environment in which to work and to train. In keeping with the Practitioner-Scholar Model, training is conducted by staff who are themselves seasoned clinicians. Our staff enriches training seminars by incorporating their sophisticated clinical understandings to topics of interest; likewise, they bring a wealth of practical experience to the close clinical supervision they provide interns. In addition to practical “know how”, our staff integrates scientific thinking into our training seminars and modules. Moreover, our internship promotes the integration of theory and practice through professional development speakers, scholarly reading assignments, and conferences.
Our overarching goal is to help interns incrementally progress from the trainee position into that of functionally competent professional. By the end of the internship, we expect our interns to be able to provide a full range of professional activities for diverse populations. Throughout the training process, we encourage the development and refinement of several core skills including: clinical interventions, the integration of theory and research into clinical practice, multicultural conceptualization and awareness, outreach and consultation, and the provision of training/supervision. Training is organized in a sequential and cumulative fashion. While all interns are expected to meet certain core training requirements and time commitments, there is some room for individualization in order to meet interns’ specific training interests and professional goals.
Lastly, inherent in our program’s philosophy is a belief that education is dynamic and life-long. We value and are committed to an on-going process of self-assessment, education and review of our training program. This process is vital to our continually updating and changing the program in directions that will be of greatest benefit to our interns and the field of professional psychology.
The training program is organized around 4 fundamental goals which represent the major areas of training defined as necessary for entry into professional practice as a psychologist. Each goal is subdivided into corresponding skills with the expectation that interns will achieve intermediate to advanced competency in every area by the completion of the program.
1. Development of broad and general range of clinical skills, in the areas of:
- Initial screening and assessment
- Case conceptualization
- Individual psychotherapy
- Couples therapy (optional)
- Group therapy
- Urgent care and crisis intervention
- Psychological assessment
2. Development of a broad and general range of outreach, consultation, and training/teaching in the areas of:
- Consultation theory and evaluation
- Effective consulting relationships
- Mental health consultation
- Workshop design, delivery and evaluation
- Supervision theory and methods
- Provision of effective supervision to paraprofessional helpers (i.e. Peer Educators, LGBT Mentors, or Life COACHES)
- Teaching (optional)
3. Development of general professional knowledge, skills, and attitudes in the areas of:
- Ethical, legal and professional standards, including ethical decision-making
- Professional judgment and behavior (e.g., knowing one’s limits, when to consult, aware of one’s impact in the services provided)
- Attitude as a trainee in supervision and training seminars (e.g., open, curious, initiating, respectful, collaborative)
- Development of a professional identity as a psychologist (e.g., demonstrates increasing autonomy and confidence around own abilities)
- Relationships with colleagues (e.g., collaborative, and conflict resolving)
- Projection of a competent image (e.g., visible, respected member of CC within and outside CC)
- Administrative and written responsibilities (e.g., responsible follow through and timely completion of notes and reports)
4. Development of broad and general range of skills, knowledge and attitudes for working with diverse populations in the areas of:
- Self awareness (e.g., awareness of own culture, examines own biases and how these affect their work)
- Knowledge about cultural and individual diversity (e.g., understands how diversity affects assessment and therapy; understands how oppression, discrimination and stereotyping may affect clients)
- Sensitivity and awareness in working with and relating to others (e.g., understands how students may have different attitudes toward counseling services; empathic understanding of others’ frames of reference)
- Culturally effective service delivery
The Training Program is organized under the central leadership of the Training Director who in turn coordinates closely with the Training Committee, the Director, and the Clinical Director of the Counseling Center. The program’s greatest resource is our highly trained, dedicated and diverse training staff (i.e., our entire staff). Every effort is made to maximize an intern’s exposure to as many of our staff members as possible. We hope that interns will benefit from our staff’s divergent areas of interest, specialties, and unique perspectives and styles.
The internship can be divided into three key structural areas: 1) Formal intern training, 2) Direct service delivery, and 3) Administrative activities. These three structural areas are then interwoven into the overall fabric of and blueprint for the training program; they provide the means for realizing the four internship training goals (clinical competence; outreach, consultation & training competence; multi-cultural competence, and development of a professional identity). Each structural area is subdivided into several essential learning activities.
1) Formal Intern Training: Approximately 25%* of the intern’s time is spent in formal learning activities. These include:
- Orientation period: Intensive orientation and pre-service training to introduce interns to the Center’s staff, its operations, and to the larger campus context. It is also a time when interns are given general training and formulate their training goals.
- Intern Training Seminar: Weekly seminars and presentations that are developmentally, clinically, and professionally relevant to the intern training needs (e.g., laws and ethics, eating disorders, job search and licensure issues, etc.).
- Intern Training Modules Series: providing in-depth training in a particular area. The topics for Module Series may include: psychological assessment, outreach and consultation, the practical application of theory to clinical work, multiculturalism and social justice, and supervision.
- In-service Staff/MCEP Training: The Center provides periodic professional development programs for the entire staff on a variety of relevant topics.
- Intern Group Supervision: Interns meet with the TD weekly to discuss clinical cases, group dynamics, and to participate in facilitated peer supervision. This time may also be used to discuss training issues, intern development, and intern self-care.
- Individual Supervision: During orientation interns meet each prospective supervisor. Taking into account the intern’s preferences, the TD assigns each intern to two individual supervisors. Each intern meets at least one hour per week with each individual supervisor.
- Consultation & Disposition team meeting: Each intern is assigned to one of four Consultation & Disposition Teams. Consultation & Disposition Teams meet weekly to discuss disposition planning, intake case assignment and referral. Time permitting teams may use a portion of their time for case consultation.
- Group Processing With Staff Co-leader: Every intern is required to co-lead at least one group with a staff member; the co-leaders arrange time for group debriefing and planning.
- Individual Assessment Supervision: Each intern is required to complete one full psychological test battery and will receive individual assessment supervision from the Psychological Assessment Series instructor.
- Couple’s Co-therapy and Supervision: Interns may decide to conduct couples therapy with a staff co-therapist. Following treatment, the co-facilitators meet to debrief and plan.
- Supervision of Supervision of a Peer Educator, COACH, or LGBT Mentor Interns are assigned to one of three Counseling Center Peer Programs, taking into account the intern’s preferences. The intern will receive “sup of sup” by that Peer Program’s Staff Coordinator.
- Intern Panel Presentation of Psychological Testing Case: Interns are required to present their full psychological test battery to staff each year; this is done in a panel format.
- Self-review of Client Taping: Interns are required to digitally record all of their intakes and individual therapy sessions. These are both self-reviewed and presented to individual supervisors.
- Professional Development: All staff are encouraged to engage in professional development. For interns, this is inclusive of select conferences, job interviews, dissertation defense whereby all professional development must ultimately be approved by the TD.
- Intern Evaluation: On-going feedback and the formal evaluation process are considered integral parts of the intern’s training. Formal evaluations occur at least twice a year.
2) Direct Service Delivery Experiences: Approximately 50%* of the intern’s time is spent in providing direct service delivery. These include:
- Initial appointments: Each intern completes two weekly initial appointments.
- Individual therapy: Each intern maintains a caseload of approximately 7-9 hours of individual client contact per week.
- Couples therapy: Optional and a training opportunity for interns to pair up with a staff member and provide conjoint therapy.
- Group therapy: Interns are required to co-lead at least 1 group.
- Urgent Care and crisis response: Each intern is assigned to a weekly Urgent Care shift. The intern is closely supervised by the assigned staff back-up therapist.
- Psychological testing: Each intern is required to complete one full psychological test battery which is integrated into to the intern’s learning experience in the rotating module of Psychological Assessment.
- Consultation and outreach services: As reflected in our Center’s mission, we believe in providing prevention oriented outreach services. Utilizing a psycho-educational model, we train our interns in consultation, workshop design and delivery, and training.
- Training and supervision of peers: Each intern is assigned to one of our three peer programs with consideration of intern preferences. Within their assigned peer program, interns then provide training and assist Coordinators with the administration of the Peer program. We are continuing to pilot a program whereby interns provide some supervision for that program’s team of peers (Peer Educators, COACHES, or LGBT Mentors). Interns receive supervision of their supervision.
- Co-teaching: Optional and co-teaching is a distinctive feature of our training program. Interns can be paired with staff to co-teach an academic for-credit class through a residence hall or a departmental affiliation.
3) Administrative Activities: Approximately 25%* of the intern’s time is spent administratively. These include:
- Staff meeting: Interns are an integral part of the staff and are required to attend weekly staff meetings.
- Committee work Interns are assigned to one of four primary committees, taking into account the interns’ preferences. The four committees are: 1. Training; 2. Clinical Services; 3. Research and Technology; and 4. Outreach and Consultation. The Center has a 5th committee (CC Climate) that interns may also join.
- Intern self-support group: Optional and highly recommended and supported for interns to initiate a weekly intern-driven support group.
- Clinical administration: Includes case notes, intake and triage notes, and case management.
- Other administration: Professionally-related emails, phone calls, letters, etc.
* Please note that the use of these percentages is for approximation only. They are intended to give prospective interns a basic sense of the typical breakdown of intern activities.
The internship stipend for the 2008-2009 Internship year is $24,000. Interns also receive paid vacation days and University holidays. Interns accrue sick time and are eligible for the University’s health insurance and dental plan. As a staff member of UCI, an intern has library privileges and access to many other university campus services and events.
