Skill Development Goals
By the end of the internship, trainees will demonstrate competence in the following areas:
- Psychotherapy and assessment
- Outreach and consultation
- Cultural and individual differences and diversity
- Professional identity
- Supervision of peer advisors
Psychotherapy and Assessment
Individual counseling and psychotherapy. Interns spend the bulk of their time in direct contact with clients. They have aproximately sixteen client contact hours per week. If some of these cases are seen on a biweekly basis, their caseload may reach twenty active clients. Most client work will be short-term in nature; interns may elect to take on one or two long-term clients. Interns are encouraged to obtain couple and family experience as well but requests for these services are sporadic. Interns have webcams and access to digital camera equipment in their offices to support their training experience.
Walk-in coverage. Interns provide walk-in assessment coverage for three hours per week. This duty follows an apprenticeship model in which interns are supervised more closely at the beginning of the year and are given more autonomy as the year progresses. Interns providing crisis coverage always have access to supervisory backup. At our site, interns are not required to provide after-hours coverage on a regular basis. However, in situations of clinical emergency interns might collaborate with supervisory staff in conducting debriefings or other after-hours crisis intervention.
Group counseling and psychotherapy. Interns co-facilitate a therapy group each semester. Groups will often be co-facilitated and supervised by a senior staff member, but some groups may be co-lead by interns. One hour of supervision will be provided per week for this activity, often provided in half hour increments (half hour pre-group preparation, and half hour debriefing). Occasionally, our groups do not fill.
Academic probation clients. All staff members at the USDCC see clients referred to the Counseling Center due to academic probation status. In addition, at the beginning of the academic year before intern caseloads are busy, interns may have the opportunity to see a small number of first and second year academic probation cases referred to the Office of Student Learning Initiatives.
Psychological assessment. As a first stage of treatment, psychological assessment is seen as a key part of intervention with any client. We focus on developing an initial assessment of the client that is thorough, responsive to the client's concerns and of practical utility for treatment planning. Assessment may also include psychological testing, though the primary form of assessment at the USDCC is clinical interviews.
Our program aims to provide basic testing experience that is typical at university counseling centers. Interns are required to be involved in six clinical cases in which assessment is involved, and must include at least one multitest evaluation. In addition, interns will be trained to complete learning disability screens and will complete these as assigned.
To prepare them for this training experience, interns receive training in assessment through an assessment seminar that is conducted during their orientation month and continues bi-monthly throughout the internship. The assumption is made that graduate students who have progressed to internship have recieved basic instruction on cognitive and personality assessment. Therefore, the focus of the seminar is on reviewing testing principles, integrating of results and report writing, rather than on exhaustive teaching of each instrument. More time is devoted to instruments that interns are less likely to have learned comprehensively in their graduate programs.
Clear and accurate diagnostic and conceptualization skills are fostered throughout the training process. From assessment, interns are supervised in moving to a treatment plan which is clinically useful, theoretically sound and flexible to emerging concerns.
Outreach and Consultation
Outreach and consultation are viewed as an integral part of a psychologist's efforts in the university counseling center setting. Philosophically, we see outreach as meeting several needs for our population: providing prevention efforts and identifying students who would benefit from services in critical topical areas (e.g., eating disorders, substance abuse), recruiting and providing nontraditional services to underrepresented client populations, reaching beyond the Center's walls to introduce students to the Counseling Center staff and destigmatize counseling services and providing creative services in an efficient way to a larger body of students.
Interns' training in outreach, similar to other areas, is sequential and multimodal. Initially, interns are exposed to various presentation styles by observing senior staff members conducting various outreach programs. Interns are given didactic training to provide them with the conceptual background to develop and present effective outreach programming. Staff observe interns conducting their own outreach efforts, and provide feedback to help interns improve their skills. As a supplement to their didactic training, the Director for the Center for Health and Wellness Promotion consults with interns on an as-needed basis to allow the interns to develop outreach skills and to solidify confidence in their ability to provide psychological services within this modality.
Interns have the opportunity to provide ongoing consultation with University of San Diego staff members by participating on university committees. Supervision of such activities is provided by the Director of the Center for Health and Wellness Promotion. Further opportunities to develop consultation relationships with on-campus agencies and employees may be available depending on interns' interests and campus needs.
Interns are required to present a minimum of eight outreach presentations each year. Most interns present more than this minimum amount.
Cultural and Individual Differences and Diversity
An understanding of the impact of culture is integrated into every aspect of the work we do in direct services, training, scholarly activity and research. We define culture and diversity broadly, allowing our definition to include (but not be limited to) ability status, acculturation, age, culutre, ethnicity, gener, language, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status. Comprehensive understanding of the impact of culture is seen by our staff as an integral component or part of competent psychological practice.
Our training in the area of Cultural and Individual Differences and Diversity promote learning in the areas of knowledge, skills, and self awareness. Didactic training address knowledge. Several population based seminars are provided and may include: African-American clients, Asian-American clients, GLBT issues, International students, Latino/a clients, and Religion and Spirituality. Skills are addressed through practice and individual and group supervision with diverse clientele, which may include individual or group work. In recent years the Women of Color Support Group has been a successful addition to our clinical services. Self awareness and skills are addressed in the biweekly Diversity Consultation experience. Finally, to enrich interns’ knowledge of our diverse border community, and to provide some exposure to local social justice issues in our multicultural Southern California community, we are hoping to offer interns the opportunity to participate in two border immersion experiences, one during internship and one near the end of internship. In cases where border conditions are not secure enough, we have canceled this experience, instead visiting diverse local San Diego neighborhoods.
Professional Identity
Because internship is the last formal training setting for predoctoral students, we view the development of an ethical, knowledgeable professional identity as integral to the training experience. In our view, this encompasses several components: ethics, deportment, self-awareness, professional judgment, integrity, responsible and timely record-keeping, maintaining appropriate professional relationships and emotional stability. These components are addressed through mentoring, supervision, modeling and didactic training. When possible, we take interns to a Board of Psychology meeting to expose them to the decision making process and rules of the licensing board. In addition, the structure of the program encourages increased autonomy over time, allowing interns to work more independently as their skills develop. Activity in professional organizations is encouraged by the agency, and is modeled by several staff. Staff members strive to model self-care and to encourage interns to be aware of their needs.
Supervision
Supervision is an increasingly important skill for professional psychologists. The training program provides a didactic seminar to prepare interns for this duty.
Our training program provides interns with the opportunity to practice supervision skills in two formats. Under the supervision of a licensed supervisor, interns provide a weekly hour of individual supervision to a practicum student in an APA-accredited training program. Interns have this experience at least one semester out of the year.
Our practicum program was newly formed in the 2008-2009 academic year. Please see the practicum program description on our website for more information: http://www.sandiego.edu/usdcc/practicumprogram.php. Interns also have the opportunity to practice their skills providing training and supervision to peer advisors. Supervision of the peer counselors is conducted in small groups of no more than four. Interns are encouraged to provide supplemental didactic training to the peer advisors as needed. Group supervision is provided to allow interns the opportunity to practice their skills with the guidance of experienced supervisor(s).
The Peer Advising Program is a collaboration between the USD Wellness Area, the Department of Psychology and the Office of Student Learning Initiatives on campus. It is coordinated by the Director of the Center for Health and Wellness Promotion on campus. Peer advisors are selected for participation in this class through an extensive application and interview process. They complete a semester-long course in peer advising prior to engaging in peer counseling activity. Students receive course credit for this activity. Interns have the opportunity to participate in selection of the following year's class, and traditionally, interns have been instrumental in providing feedback for ongoing program development.
Optional Training Experiences
In addition to the training requirements described previously, interns have the option of completing one or more rotations in designated areas of interest. Interns may complete one rotation per semester. Rotations are typically two to four hours per week and include both experiential activities and supervision; they may also include didactic training. Current rotations that have been formally developed include:
- Career Counseling. This rotation takes place at USD's Career Services office, under the guidance of Alan Farber, Ph.D. This rotation will be structured and is developmental in nature; interns move from observing seasoned career professionals intervene, to providing career counseling. Interns interested in this option should have some basic background in this area. This rotation will be three -four hours perweek for a semester, including 2-3 hours per week of client contact and one hour per week of supervision.
- Mindfulness. This is an internal rotation taking place at the Counseling Center. Its goal is to provide specialized training to interns with an interest in integrating mindfulness approaches within psychotherapy. This rotation will be three – four hours per week for a semester, including a mindfulness group, at least one client, and one hour per week of supervision.
- Teaching and Training. This is both an internal and an external rotation, incorporating a focus on teaching. Interns will have the opportunity to instruct classes in psychology and to obtain feedback on their teaching skills. This rotation is expected to be approximately two hours per week, with that time balanced between teaching activities, supervision and mentoring, and class prep time.
- Crisis and Emergency Services. The goal of this rotation is to provide interns with an opportunity to gain additional experience and expertise in providing emergency services within the context of a university counseling center. A range of potential experiences are provided and negotiated with the supervisor of this rotation.
- COMPASS Center. During this rotation interns will learn a model for assessing the needs and recommending resources for families of children with special needs. This is an external rotation that takes place in the summer.
- Alcohol and Other Drug Assessment and Education. Interns selecting this rotation will co-facilitate psycho-educational groups for students who are mandated to seek services, due to an alcohol violation. Additional opportunities may include individual AOD assessments, working with peer educators, and providing outreach to the USD community. This rotation is expected to be two to four hours per week.
- Disability Services. During this rotation interns will be exposed to the workings of a disability services department, gain experience coordinating services for, working with, and advocating for students with disabilities and their families. There will also be opportunities for administering and interpreting learning disability screening measures.
In addition to these formal rotations, interns with special interests are encouraged to make this known so Counseling Center staff can provide mentoring, assist in client referrals, etc. Additional rotations may be negotiated if adequate resources (e.g., client referrals, supervision) are present.
