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. When groups fill, 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).
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.
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 deliver classes in psychology and to obtain feedback on their teaching skills. Interns also have the option of co-facilitating a peer advising class. 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.
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.
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 Coordinator of Outreach 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 serving as a liaison to a residence hall director. Supervision of such activities is provided by the individual supervisor. 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.
Cultural and Individual Differences and Diversity
An understanding of the impact of culture is integrated into every aspect of the work we do in indirect services, training, scholarly activity and research. We define culture and diversity broadly, allowing our definition to encompass racial and ethnic differences, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, nationality, acculturation, religious affiliation and ability status. Comprehensive understanding of the impact of culture is seen by our staff as an integral component or part of competent psychological practice.
In addition to the ongoing integration of diversity in all areas, the training program regularly offers special topics as part of the didactic component of our trainings, in-services and seminars. In addition, cultural factors are discussed in individual and group supervision and assessment seminar. Outreach presentations and consultations are frequently provided to the campus community on diversity issues.
We offer interns two diversity-focused learning experiences: the Multiculturalism and Diversity seminars, which address self-awareness in the diversity realm, as well as racial and ethnic identity development. In addition, 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. In addition to the didactic seminars, interns are provided with Diversity Consultation, a bi-weekly meeting that provides interns with an opportunity to develop a greater sense of self and cultural awareness, and how this impacts their capacity to integrate issues of diversity into their work and their professional identities as psychologists. This consultation meeting supplements rather than takes the place of supervision; interns are encouraged to discuss issues of diversity in both individual and group supervision formats.
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, 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. 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 of Peer Advisors
Supervision is an increasingly important skill for professional psychologists. The training program provides a didactic seminar to prepare interns for this duty. For a semester, 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 Counseling Center, the Department of Psychology and the Office of Student Learning Initiatives 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.
