Student Affairs : Counseling Services : Training : Clinical Pre-Doctoral Internships

Clinical Pre-doctoral Internships

Counseling Services' Clinical Training Program is a nine-month training program that generally begins in the third week of August and ends approximately during the first week of June. General information about our program, including application procedures are found below. For more specific and "hands-on" information please telephone or email Dr. Angela Krumm, Training Coordinator, (408) 924-5910.
 
The major goal of the SJSU COUNSELING SERVICES' CLINICAL TRAINING PROGRAM is to provide high quality learning experiences to graduate students and post graduate students in counseling, clinical psychology, or social work in preparation for a career in mental health. To help attain the goal, our staff has a strong commitment to supervise, teach, and mentor our trainees. Additionally, our specific goals for trainees are to assist them in:

1) increasing their levels of effectiveness and confidence;
2) understanding and integrating theoretical learning with clinical experiences;
3) finding their individual therapeutic style;
4) developing professional relationships and assuming a professional identity; and
5) learning about agency norms and decision-making processes.

These goals are addressed and facilitated by supervision, modeling, didactic training, experiential learning, peer group consultation, and mentoring. Our supervision staff currently is composed of six licensed psychologists and one licensed social worker.

AGENCY DESCRIPTION: San José State University Counseling Services is a department within the Division of Student Affairs at San José State University. Counseling Services offers services designed to help San José State's diverse student body of 28,000 identify and accomplish their academic and career goals, enhance personal development, meet life's challenges, and improve interpersonal relationships. Counseling Services is established as a comprehensive counseling center offering core clinical services, developmental and life skills interventions, consultations, and outreach to our diverse student population. Short-term counseling and psychotherapy are the primary means of direct service delivery.

AGENCY OBJECTIVE: Counseling Services provides quality services to students so they can achieve their goals of becoming successful graduates of San José State University, both academically and socially. To fulfill this objective, we look at the whole student and provide guidance and tools to become productive and well-rounded. To do that, professionally trained psychologists, social workers, and counselors are available for students on an individual or group basis for counseling on a myriad of psychological and academic issues. In addition, we provide services such as outreach presentations for students, student groups, staff/faculty, and staff consultations on issues of student mental health and campus climate; and professional training, teaching, and supervision for future mental health personnel, consistent with the educational mission of the university.

POPULATION SERVED: Counseling Services provides services for all enrolled students of San José State University. The student population of SJSU is a highly diverse group. For example, there is no one clear majority group (more than 50%) in terms of ethnicity on the campus and ages range from late teens to many students in their fifties. In addition, there is diversity around ability/disability, religion, culture, sexual orientation, value systems and lifestyles.

THEORETICAL ORIENTATION: Counseling Services' staff utilize a variety of theoretical positions including psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, feminist, gestalt, humanistic, and systems perspectives. Generally, an integrated approach to counseling and psychotherapy is shared by the staff.

CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING: Training in cross-cultural therapy and counseling is integrated into most, if not all, training activities. As noted, SJSU Counseling Services serves a highly diverse population.

RESPONSIBILITIES: Responsibilities for trainees vary and depend greatly upon the maturity and experience level of the trainee. In general, new trainees do individual, group and couple counseling, occasional assessment and crisis coverage, receive supervision, attend a weekly trainee seminar, participate in weekly staff meetings, perform intakes, do weekly paperwork such as writing intakes and case notes, and participate in consultation and outreach activities for student groups.

OTHER INFORMATION AND APPLICATION PROCEDURES: Our training program for pre-doctoral interns is for 1500 hours of Supervised Professional Experience (SPE), held in nine months.  More SPE hours may be possible, dependent on the demands of the service and through negotiations with the Training Committee. Full and Part-time internships are available; however preference is given to trainees interested in full-time internships.  Training generally begins around the third week of August and ends approximately during the first week of June. We generally have program accommodations for 4-6 trainees each year. Additionally Counseling Services' Clinical Training Program follows the California Psychology Internship Council (CAPIC) guidelines for Internships.

HONORARIUM: Pending budget approval, Counseling Services provides $10,000 honorarium for each pre-doctoral intern. Interns will also have staff privileges, access to a private office, library use, paid parking, and ten days off for holiday closures. Other discretionary days off are available with the permission of the Director of Counseling Services.

COMPONTENTS OF THE INTERNSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM

Training

 Supervision:  Counseling Services highly values our role as supervisors. Counseling Services meets or exceeds the supervision requirement in the Board of Psychology’s Supervised    Professional Experience (SPE) regulation.  Each pre-doc intern will have at least two hours per week of individual face-to-face supervision for the training year.  They also receive one hour of weekly group supervision.

 Training Seminar: The Training Seminar meets weekly. This is an opportunity for trainees to discuss cases and clinical issues and to develop conceptualization skills. During the seminar meetings, various clinical topics will be presented and discussed by faculty at Counseling Services and guest speakers from the larger community.  Previous presentation topics have included domestic violence, working with specific cultural populations, sexual identity, gender identity, boundaries in therapy, eating disorders, substance abuse, etc.  Early in the training year, interns spend additional weekly time in training seminar as they learn new clinical skills and have time for fostering connections with staff and other trainees.

 Process Group in Diversity:  As mentioned earlier, individual and cultural diversity is an important component to the Training Program.  Self-awareness is vital to the development of the competent practitioner.  The Process Group in Diversity is an opportunity for trainees to develop their awareness in diversity.  The group is optional but strongly encouraged for all trainees and is held weekly.  In order to ensure the emotional safety of trainees, information discussed in this seminar is entirely confidential, is led by a counselor who is not part of the evaluation team, and contents discussed are not included in the evaluation process.             

 Social Justice Seminar:  Involvement in social justice is highly valued by faculty at Counseling Services. The hour long weekly meeting is an opportunity for trainees to discuss social justice issues, group therapy, and to develop outreach presentations and systemic intervention skills that address the needs of the diverse University Community. Depending on the needs of Counseling Services and available supervision, interns may be able to develop specialization areas in which they focus their outreach and group efforts (e.g., LGBT student services, sexual assault, first-generation college students, suicide prevention).

 Assessment Seminar:  The Assessment Seminar meets throughout the semester and is scheduled more frequently at the beginning of the training year.  The Assessment Seminar is designed to provide an introduction for trainees in testing and diagnosing with diverse clients.  Trainees will be required to administer a few instruments and discuss ethical issues in the administration of test instruments and diagnosing.

 Clinical Consultation Meeting: This weekly meeting is for all faculty and trainees.  It is an opportunity to present cases to each other and is a venue to give and receive consultation on each other’s clinical work. The emphasis in the meeting is on viewing our work as a team effort to provide the best possible service to students. The Counseling Services psychiatrist also attends to discuss cases in common.

 Case Presentations: Pre-doctoral interns are required to give two formal case presentations over the course of the training year in Training Seminar.  Trainees are strongly encouraged to obtain feedback from supervisors regarding their case presentations (e.g. review write-up, attend presentation.)

Direct Clinical Service

Interns are expected to provide 20 – 22 direct service hours per week throughout their time at Counseling Services. Direct service hours are provided through individual, couple, and group counseling sessions; outreach presentations; and consultation with faculty, staff, students, and departments.

 Individual/Couple Psychotherapy: Interns are responsible for managing a caseload of 20 – 22 diverse individual/couple counseling sessions per week throughout the year. This number may be impacted by the types of clients, complexities in their current case load, and participation in groups and outreach presentations.

 Groups: Trainees may be involved in providing group therapy.  Formation of groups will be discussed in orientation, individual supervision, and the Social Justice Seminar. If seeking group experience, pre-doctoral interns are required to co-lead their first therapy group in Counseling Services with a post-doctoral resident (with approval) or counseling faculty.  Please see the Counseling Services website for examples of groups that have been offered in the past.

 Consultation and Outreach: Trainees are encouraged to be involved in various Counseling Services programming efforts over the course of the year. Involvement may be with programs presented during re-occurring events such as Eating Disorders Awareness Week, Women’s History month, LGBT Peer Mentor Program, The Tunnel of Oppression, or African American History month.  Other outreach projects are designed to meet the needs of the university community as they arise and still others arise from the interests and expertise that trainees bring to us (e.g., sleep management, perfectionism, healthy relationships). Time spent on these projects varies widely. Please see the Counseling Services website for examples of outreach programs and workshops that have been offered in the past.

Other Activities

 Assessment/Crisis Coverage: Assessment/crisis coverage is a 2.5 – 4 hour shift between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM.  Students who wish to receive personal counseling are immediately seen in an assessment/crisis session.  These sessions generally last 15 – 20 minutes and are used to “assess” the student’s reason for wanting personal counseling and address any risk factors. Crisis sessions may require additional time. Trainees are not responsible for after-hour emergency coverage. 

 Peer Support Meeting: Counseling Services recognizes that the internship year involves a major professional transition, and we highly value peer support during this process. The trainees meet as a group (with no staff present) and may use the time for any number of things including: eating together, discussing group dynamics, discussing issues arising in their internship experience, and offering support regarding dissertation or licensure.

 Case Management: Trainees are encouraged to schedule time into their weekly schedules to complete their case records, review videotapes of sessions, and attend to other administrative tasks.  In addition, certain blocks of free time for case management will present themselves from time to time (cancellations, no-shows).

 Professional Development/Research Time: Full-time interns may schedule some professional development time for such purposes as dissertation, research, studying for licensure, or attending a pre-license class or conference.  The amount of time permitted, up to four hours per week, is granted through collaboration between the trainee, the trainee’s primary supervisor, and Training Committee. The amount of professional development time granted is dependent upon how busy Counseling Services is at any particular time of the year.

 Other Consultation, Club, or Committee Work: In the past, trainees have become involved with other organizations that correspond to their own interests.  These have included the Career Services; Health Services; MOSAIC Cross-cultural Center; the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Resource Center; the Women's Resource Center; etc. 

 Attendance at Division or Departmental Meetings and Functions: As part of Counseling Services, trainees attend various meetings throughout the year that involve the staff and faculty, such as Division of Student Affairs meetings and other professional development opportunities (e.g., Grand Rounds trainings by faculty). Attendance is integral to understanding the larger context of working on a university campus.

Applicants for our Clinical Training Program need to submit:

• The CAPIC Uniform Application
• A letter of interest
• Transcripts of doctoral program 
• A curriculum vita indicating the number of face-to-face and group therapy hours provided from previous sites
• Three recent (less than 3 years old) original recommendation letters   

Candidates may obtain the CAPIC application from their graduate school training office, from the CAPIC web site or by telephoning (510) 841-9230 Ext. 110.  Please send application materials to:

• San José State University
  Counseling Services
  Attention: Angela Krumm, Ph.D.
  One Washington Square, ADM 201
  San José, CA 95192-0035

The closing date for acceptance of applications for our pre-doctoral internship is Friday, March 5, 2010 .  Selected applicants for an interview will be notified two - three weeks after the CAPIC application deadline.