Predoctoral Internship in Professional Psychology

The University of California, Riverside Counseling Center predoctoral internship offers supervised training in brief therapy, group counseling, developmental and preventive efforts, and crisis management. In addition to providing direct services, strengths of our internship include an emphasis on outreach and diversity awareness. Our diverse staff is committed to providing a training experience that is developmental, respectful, and comprehensive in scope. Our internship is designed to provide a supportive yet challenging array of supervised training activities that facilitate professional development in clinical services, outreach, ethical integrity, and respect for difference and diversity.

The 12-month full-time internship position carries a stipend of $24,133, which includes a generous benefits package. Please note that we do not offer a part-time or half-time internship. This year the application process will occur on-line (See the APPIC website for more details), and we no longer accept paper applications. We follow all APPIC Guidelines, and abide by the policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept, or use any rank related information from any intern applicant in our selection process. Applicants to our program must be enrolled in the APPIC Internship Matching Program. The applicant agreement form and materials describing the Internship Matching Program can be found by contacting:

National Matching Service, Inc.
595 Bay Street
Suite 301, Box 29
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G2C2
Phone: (416) 977-3432
Fax: (416) 977-5020

The UC Riverside Internship Code Number for the APPIC Match is 172612. We appreciate your interest in internship program at UC Riverside, and look forward to reviewing your application. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the Training Director either by phone or email:

Theodore E. Swigart, Ph.D.
Training Director/Assistant Director
Counseling Center
University of California, Riverside
(951) 827-5531
tswigart@ucr.edu

UC Riverside and the Counseling Center

The University of California, Riverside is located approximately 50 miles east of Los Angeles, well within driving distance of most major cultural offerings in Southern California. Enrollment at UCR is presently about 14,571 undergrads and 2,051 graduate students; about 52% of students are female. In the fall of 2007 approximately 18% of UCR students identified as White, followed by 43% Asian American, 26% Latino, and 7% African American.

The Counseling Center offers programs and services to assist the UCR student population in several areas. The Center holds a preventive perspective that seeks to address the developmental and psychological needs of UCR students. In support of the academic mission of the university, the Center places strong emphasis on identifying and assisting distressed students, consultation and outreach. The Counseling Center is dedicated to creating a positive, healthy atmosphere for undergraduate and graduate student population to provide an environment which promotes academic, career, personal and social development. Consistent with the teaching, research and social mission of the University of California, Riverside, the Counseling Center provides psychological services designed to support the educational process of a culturally diverse campus.

The Predoctoral Internship

The predoctoral internship at the Counseling Center provides training to interns using a practitioner-mentorship-developmental training model. The guiding principal is that learning is a developmental process that is dependent on support, challenge, feedback, and role modeling. The internship is a crucial experience where the intern is expected to transition from student to an entry-level professional, capable of independent practice. Thus, high importance is placed on providing a setting where an intern’s professional identity is explored and further developed. The university setting highlights developmental concerns such as individuation, personal and professional identity formation, and relationship development. The training program is an endeavor that is fully supported by all of our staff. All the clinical staff members are hired with the expectation of contributing to and being actively involved in our training program.

The training model is supported by the following principles that are infused into all aspects of the internship curriculum:

• Developmental perspective on all training activities
• Focus on clinical service delivery as applied to university setting
• A sequential learning environment that encourages movement from apprentice/mentee to competent and autonomous professional
• Emphasis on supervision and mentoring/role-modeling
• Provide a learning environment that is collaborative and collegial
• Interdependence with the university community
• Respect for diversity and uniqueness of the individual

The practitioner orientation of the program emphasizes the importance of applying existing knowledge and skills. Learning is continual, and accumulates through clinical practice during the internship year. Philosophically, we view that the intern's development occurs through didactic and experiential activities. In keeping with that philosophy, the program's mentorship focus emphasizes the supervisor-supervisee relationship throughout the internship. Further, the Training Program supports a "mentorship" philosophy that facilitates maximum trainee interactions with staff members through a variety of clinical, training, and outreach/consultative activities. Our training model is put into action through a comprehensive and multidisciplinary training plan that recognizes the intern's professional as well as personal development. Initially, the program provides relatively more structure in intern training and experiences, encouraging more autonomous intern functioning as training progresses. The complexity and challenge of these activities increases within a consultative and supportive environment. Moreover, the program recognizes an intern's professional development as a continuing process through the timing of clinical seminars and client assignment, and a developmental approach to supervision. An awareness of and respect for differences among professionals, as well as appreciation for client diversity, rounds out the overall training philosophy and model of the program. Multiculturalism is a core value that is shared by staff members and interweaved throughout the training program. This value also reflects respect for diversity of the students, faculty and staff, and the university mission.

Interns are selected based on their solid grasp of psychological theory and knowledge and applied experience. They are expected to have training experiences and goals that emphasize direct service delivery, college student development, multicultural sensitivity and ethical acuity. When the internship year is completed, the intern is expected to be prepared for entry-level practice, demonstrating skills and attitudes that reflect intermediate to advanced levels of competency in:

• Short term therapy
• Group counseling ¨
• Clinical assessment and testing
• Diversity awareness and cultural competency
• Outreach and consultation
• Crisis intervention
• Ethical and professional behavior

Experiential Learning Activities

Intakes: Interns complete 3 - 4 intakes each week. Intakes are for screening, diagnostic and informational purposes. Interns are expected to assess current problem and risk features, obtain relevant history, and formulate a treatment plan and recommendations. Interns present their intakes at twice-weekly Treatment Planning and Referral meetings.

Individual Therapy: Interns spend approximately one-third of their time conducting individual counseling. The Center utilizes a brief therapy model, and students are eligible for up to a maximum of 8 sessions per client per academic year. Clients whose needs are beyond the scope of a brief therapy model are referred out. There are some exceptions to session limits. The decision to extend the session limits is made only after being formally addressed in supervision and approved by the Peer Review Committee.

Crisis Assessment and Consultation: Interns receive training in risk assessment, consultation, and crisis intervention protocols. Each intern is scheduled 4.5 hours of walk-in coverage (Counselor on Duty) each week. In addition, interns will rotate after-hours telephone consultation with licensed senior staff members. Senior staff back-up is provided.

Group Therapy: The Center offers a variety of therapy and support groups as well as theme-oriented groups. There is no limit imposed on the number of group sessions a client may attend, and a client may be seen in both group and individual therapy at the same time. Interns are required to co-lead groups with a senior staff member, and/or serve as group process observer.

Outreach and Consultation: Outreach and consultation services to the University community are considered a highly significant aspect of a trainee's work. Interns will meet with the Training Director and Outreach Coordinator to discuss the expectations of and set learning goals for this portion of the training program. The majority of outreach work involves presentations. Evening and weekend outreach is often necessary.

Interns are required to complete a minimum of twelve (12) outreach presentations, including one “innovative project.” This is an individual project developed and delivered by the intern. All materials needed to replicate the presentation (handouts, visual aids, etc) are left on file with the counseling center.

Psychological Testing: Psychological testing is often integrated into the therapy process itself. Many tests are available, including the MCCI, MMPI-II, Rorschach, WAIS-III, 16-PF, among others. Interns are required to complete a minimum of four test protocols (administration, scoring, report writing, and interpretation).

Training Activities

Individual Supervision: Interns receive two hours of individual supervision a week. Primary Supervisor: A California licensed Psychologist will meet an hour a week with her/his supervisee. The Primary Supervisor may be rotated at the beginning of the second half of the internship. Secondary Supervisor: A licensed senior staff will meet one hour per week with his/her supervisee. The Secondary Supervisor may also be rotated at the beginning of the second half of the internship.

Group Supervision: All interns will meet together with a group supervisor on a weekly basis and discuss their cases or address any other clinical issues in the group.

Supervision of Group Counseling: Interns who co-lead or serve as a process observer in a group will receive weekly one-hour supervision from the senior staff that co-leads the group.

Clinical Seminars: Interns will participate in a two hour clinical seminar on a weekly basis. Times are also set aside for monthly case conferences or professional development training in areas that are of interest to the career staff and interns. Further, interns will also contribute to the clinical seminars by either doing a case presentation or a seminar on a specific topic of specialty or interest that is relevant to the Campus or Center.

Treatment, Planning and Referral (TP & R) Meetings: The staff meets twice every week to review those clients seen recently in intake sessions. Interns present their intakes and receive feedback in regard to treatment planning, which may involve referral to another counselor or an off-campus resource.

Meetings with the Training Director: Interns meet with the Training Director one hour a week in the fall quarter and possibly biweekly in the remainder of the internship. This meeting provides the interns with the opportunity to discuss business related to the training program or to address other concerns regarding the internship and intern professional development.

Meetings with the Director of the Counseling Center: Interns will meet with the Director of the Center once a quarter to address any business related to the Counseling Center.

Intern Support Group: Interns meet one hour every week for peer support and discussion of issues that relate to the internship.

Service Responsibilities

Professional involvement takes place throughout all internship activities. This includes, but is not limited to, clinical services, outreach and consultation services, training seminars, staff meetings, and administrative tasks. In addition, interns audio or video tape all intake and therapy sessions. Clients that do not consent to taping are referred to senior staff.

The following table outlines the amount of time, on average, an intern devotes to specific services and training activities:

Exit Standards and Criteria

1. Complete 2,000 hours of supervised professional experience, which will include at least 500 direct service hours
2. Satisfactory ratings on each training objective required of the program
3. No ethical or legal violations
4. Deliver 1 formal case presentation
5. Complete 12 outreach presentations
6. Complete 1 innovative outreach project, evaluations/materials left on file
7. Completion of 4 psychological test batteries
8. All paperwork, including clinical documentation, testing logs and reports, outreach logs, and Board of Psychology logs, must be complete
9. Completion of all program and supervisory evaluations
10. Exit interview with Training Director

Evaluation Procedures

The training program views evaluation as collaborative and interactive process designed to assessing the strengths and limitations of both the intern and the training program. During initial orientation, interns complete written self-assessments of their skills, which are discussed with their supervisors and linked to goal setting. Intern progress is evaluated biannually by their supervisors and is provided in written and oral format. The Training Director forwards a copy of these evaluations and a summary progress letter to the academic home program. All evaluations of intern progress are jointly determined via input from supervisors, Training Director, Counseling Center Director, and relevant clinical staff.

Interns will also have opportunities to evaluate our internship. Feedback from interns is a crucial factor in monitoring and enhancing the quality of our training program. Interns complete biannual evaluations of their supervisors, complete quarterly evaluations of clinical seminars, and evaluate the training program as well as the Training Director.

Stipend

The 12-month funded internship positions will carry a stipend of $24,133 and excellent benefit package including health and dental insurance, vacation, holiday, professional and sick leave.

Qualifications

• Degree candidacy in a (APA-accredited preferred) doctoral program in counseling or clinical psychology.
• Completed coursework and practica.
• Dissertation proposal approved by start of internship.
• Comprehensive exams passed by APPIC ranking deadline.

Application

This year the application process will occur on-line (See the APPIC website for more details). We will not accept any paper materials. The electronic application includes:

• Completed AAPI. We do not require additional essays.
• Curriculum vita
• Cover letter
• Three letters of recommendation. At least two should be from clinical supervisors.
• Graduate school transcripts
• Completed applications must be received by November 16, 2009. We cannot accept late applications.
• APPIC Match Code: 172612

This internship site agrees to abide by the APPIC policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept or use any ranking-related information from any intern applicant.

Please direct all materials and questions to:

Theodore E. Swigart, Ph.D.
Training Director, Assistant Director
Counseling Center
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
tswigart@ucr.edu
(951) 827-5531

Selection Process

Applicants are notified of their interview status by mid-December and telephone interviews take place through December/January. Please note that on-site interviews are not offered. Telephone interviews last about 45 minutes and consist of a standardized set of questions. The interviews are conducted by the Training Director, 2 – 3 senior staff, and 1 current intern. We look for applicants who demonstrate a good fit between their training goals and our internship. All applicant data are evaluated using the following criteria: interest and goals of applicant are appropriate to the internship program; ethical judgment and conduct; strong theoretical and academic foundation for effective clinical intervention, and demonstrated sensitivity to diversity and multicultural issues. Rankings for preferred applicants are submitted to the National Matching Service in accordance to APPIC guidelines, deadlines, and recommendations.

The Counseling Center adheres to the University’s Personnel Policies for Staff Members, Policy 12 on Nondiscrimination in Employment. Furthermore, the Counseling Center does not discriminate against clients on the basis of race; color; religion; marital status; national origin; ancestry; sex; sexual orientation; physical or mental handicap; medical condition; status as a veteran or disabled veteran or citizenship.

Professional Training Staff