CAPS Pre-Doctoral Psychology Internship Training Strategies

Orientation

The first three weeks of the internship are dedicated to orientation, which introduces the interns to the organization and training program. Orientation provides an overview of services offered by CAPS and the skills required to perform these services. Some aspects of the orientation are for the interns only and are designed to help them become more aware of themselves as they make the transition into the intern role and a new phase of training. The experiences, goals and training strategies of the internship program are discussed and interns also define their own personal goals. Other activities are designed to help the interns get to know the agency and the staff and to become part of the CAPS organization; these sessions involve interactions with other staff, trainees and key campus agencies and colleagues.

Supervision

Supervision at CAPS is based on a developmental model. Interns participate in developmentally targeted experiences with supervision that is designed to facilitate interns functioning at increasingly higher levels of competence, sophistication, autonomy, responsibility, and complexity over the internship year. Supervision assists interns to identify their strengths and growth edges and supports and encourages them in the process of moving from areas of comfort to maximal growth. Interns are provided quality supervision in a number of different formats including:

Individual Supervision

Each intern receives two hours of individual supervision per week from two different licensed senior psychologists. One supervisor works with the intern for the entire year to provide continuity; the other hour of supervision is with different supervisors the first and second halves of the year in order to increase diversity of experience. Individual supervisors are initially assigned by the training director with the input of the training committee and the interns. Video and audio recordings are used as a tool in supervision.

Supervision of Triage and Crisis Counseling

Interns participate on a triage team with increasing levels of responsibility, autonomy and independence through the year and as their competence and confidence develops. Interns are on a triage team with three senior Psychologists, who will provide immediate consultation assistance and supervision, as needed. In addition, interns as a group will participate in an hour per week of additional supervision of triage and crisis counseling with the psychologists on their triage team.

Multicultural Mentoring

Throughout the year, interns meet weekly as a group with two staff psychologists for multicultural mentoring and supervision. The purpose of these meetings is to assist interns to look more closely at their own attitudes, awareness, sensitivity and issues related to multicultural competency and the ability to work with diverse populations. These sessions provide a format for interns to acquire familiarity with models of diverse identity development, process other prior multicultural training experiences, receive supervision on how multicultural factors are impacting their clinical work and receive feedback on their multicultural projects. Interns each present one case per month in Multicultural Mentoring.

Assessment Supervision

Interns participate in a one hour per week group assessment supervision during the first semester. The group is divided into modules with different staff providing supervision in the group and individually, as needed, in their particular areas of expertise. The first six week module focuses on EEAC Evaluations; these are evaluations provided to the Dean of Students Emergency Evaluation and Action Committee to assist them in planning for students who have come to public attention for exhibiting disturbed and/or disruptive behavior. The next module focuses on Academic Intervention Assessments which are used by Academic Deans to help them make decisions regarding students’ requests to drop classes or withdraw from school for psychological reasons. Assessment Supervision also focuses on safety assessment and ongoing risk management and substance abuse evaluations. Additional individual supervision of assessment is provided throughout the year, as needed.

Supervision of Supervision

During spring semester, interns meet weekly as a group with a senior staff member for one hour of supervision of their work supervising practicum students. These sessions provide a theoretical and conceptual framework for supervision, a format to receive feedback and increase awareness of their own supervision styles and an opportunity to develop supervisory skills and technique. Video recordings of interns’ supervision with practicum students are viewed and discussed as part of supervision.

Professional Development Supervision/Training Coordinator Meetings

Interns meet as a group with the Coordinator of Training for one hour per week. The purpose of these meetings is to facilitate interns in processing their training experiences as a whole. There will be particular focus on encouraging interns to identify the changes that they are undergoing as they move from the graduate student to intern role and then again as they anticipate completing the internship and moving forward into the role of a professional psychologist. Early in the year, sessions will focus on assisting interns in actively setting goals for their internship year; later sessions will focus more on professional identity development, job search, terminating from internship and entering the professional role. These meetings will also provide oversight of the training experience and will serve to help interns monitor their schedules, identify resources and opportunities and ensure that the internship experience is meeting intern and program goals and requirements. Sessions will also assist interns in trouble shooting any problems, if  necessary. Interns are also always welcome to schedule additional individual meetings with the Coordinator of Training, as need dictates.

Supervision of Group Therapy

Interns receive .5 hours per week of supervision from their staff member group co-facilitator. When interns co-lead groups with other interns or trainees, additional group supervision is assigned. Interns have the opportunity to facilitate groups with a peer coach as part of our Bounce Back program for students on academic probation. Interns who co-lead a Bounce Back group participate in an hour long weekly group supervision session with other Bounce Back leaders.

Weekly Service Delivery Team

Interns participate in a weekly two hour trainee service delivery team. The team is multidisciplinary and is composed of  trainees and representative staff. These team meetings serve the function of case conferences in that they provide a forum  to discuss clinical issues,  challenging cases, disposition issues and treatment approaches. Teams also provide an opportunity for interns to explore in depth issues and concerns that have arisen from their experiences at CAPS.

Group Case Conference

Interns participate in bi-weekly group case conference, which will include staff and Interns who are leading groups or who are interested in issues pertaining to group therapy.

Multicultural Presentation/Case Conference

Interns participate in a multicultural presentation/case conference with all clinical staff three times per year. These discussions provide a format for more closely examining the way in which diverse backgrounds and identities impact the experiences and difficulties that our students experience; these case conferences also enable us, as staff and trainees, to consider how to take diversity factors into account in order to be more helpful and clinically effective.

CAPS Didactic Seminar

Interns meet weekly for one hour with various staff members, who have expertise on the designated topic. Within the seminar are modules addressing multicultural competence, ethics, assessment, brief therapy, different treatment models, and issues prevalent in a college population and professional identity development.

Staff Professional Development Activities

Interns have the opportunity to participate in continuing education activities designed for our staff. Examples of such trainings offered this past year included:  day long workshops addressing suicide assessment and prevention, the Bounce Back Program for academic retention and the needs of Students who are veterans or in the military; a half day workshop on Ethics; as well as presentations by other psychologists from the community on their areas of expertise.

Research Time/ Presentation

Interns are allowed two hours per week first semester to work on their dissertations or other research interests. They will each have the opportunity to present their work to CAPS staff.

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