UW Counseling Center Pre-Doctoral Internship in Professional Psychology
2010-2011

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Training Activities

Individual Supervision

• Supervision is a central component of the training program, and licensed psychologists conduct individual supervision of interns on a regularly scheduled basis.

• Each intern may have at least two primary supervisors during the year; primary supervisors change in March.

• Formal primary supervision time is scheduled for two hours per week.

• Interns also choose a secondary supervisor; this supervision time is generally formatted around a theme, depending upon intern and staff interest, and interns meet with their secondary supervisors for one hour per week.

• Unscheduled supervision/consultation is always available to interns and staff members.

Supervision Preparation/Case Conceptualization

• Interns receive one hour per week to prepare for supervision by reviewing electronically recorded counseling sessions or doing other related activities.

• This time is used to organize cases for discussion with the primary supervisor

Psychological Testing

• The Counseling Center has the equipment necessary to provide computer scored assessments such as the MMPI-2, Millon-3, etc.

• Interns will complete two written testing assessments during the first three-quarters of the internship, depending upon client availability.

• Additional testing experience may be gained depending upon the interest of the intern and the availability of clients who might need formal testing.

Training in Career Counseling

• Interns will be provided training in several areas of career development, including: career assessments, values identification, career and life transitions, and multicultural aspects of career and life planning.  Interns will learn to administer, interpret, and provide both individual and group interpretations of the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) and the SII (Strong Interest Inventory).

• Following training in the Fall, each Intern will be responsible for facilitating group career assessment interpretive workshops for one academic quarter.

• Beginning in Winter quarter, Interns will provide career assessment interpretations and career counseling to individual clients.

• During Summer quarter, the Interns will share responsibility for providing career assessment workshops.

• Interested Interns may opt to co-facilitate Values Identification workshops, Transitions workshops, and/or participate in career-related outreach activities.

Practicum Supervision

• The Counseling Center provides a practicum training site for many training programs whose students are enrolled in doctoral programs in counseling, clinical, or educational psychology.

• Interns are provided training in supervision and typically supervise a practicum counselor for two quarters.

Case Conference

• Weekly case conference provides an opportunity for interns and senior staff to meet and interact in small and informal group(s) in order to present cases and receive feedback.

• Interns are actively involved in these weekly case consultations.

• As part of their training, interns prepare and present two of their cases in a more structured format during the first three-quarters of the training year.

Intern Check-In with T.D.

• Interns meet with the Training Director on an every-other-week basis.

• Interns are encouraged to discuss all aspects of their internship during these meetings.

• The Training Director responds to these issues and works to resolve problems if and/or when they arise.

Dissertation and Research Exploration and Support

• Interns meet with a staff member on an every-other-week basis.

• Interns are encouraged to discuss and process their dissertation and /or other research interests.

• The staff member collaboratively assists in planning process for accomplishment of research goals.

Intern Support Group

• Interns meet with an outside group facilitator for one hour every other week, for individual and group support.

Professional Development

• Interns may receive professional development time to use for scholarly activities such as reading journal articles, working on dissertations, or job search activities.

• Professional development activities are negotiated on a quarterly basis.

• Working on dissertations is STRONGLY encouraged!

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Intern Seminar Series

These didactic training experiences provide a forum for the staff and other professionals to present topics on mental health issues and professional development. Some of these training experiences occur in module formats over a period of several weeks that provide the opportunity for a more in-depth exploration of the topics under discussion.

Clinical Issues Seminars

These seminars meet every week for one hour for the first three quarters. The seminar series focuses on a variety of specific clinically and professionally relevant topics. A special emphasis is placed on providing psychological services to individuals from different cultures, gender, and lifestyle perspectives. Some of the topics for this seminar are generated by the needs and interests of the intern group and may include one or two presentations on such topics as: medication update, working with LGBT clients, substance abuse issues, working with clients of diverse ethnic identities, eating disorders, sexual abuse survivors, working with gender issues in treatment, preparing for licensure, and starting a career as a psychologist.

Short-term Therapy Seminar

This seminar series typically meets during Fall Quarter.  The seminar is designed to familiarize the interns with the intake procedures of the Counseling Center and with short-term therapy.  Focus is placed on the therapist's decision making process for accepting clients for work within a short-term treatment model or long-term work, and the seminar reviews models of short-term psychotherapy.  During the second half of the seminar, focus is placed on application of a short-term framework with interns' current caseloads.

Professional Ethics/Legal Issues Seminars

These seminars meet at the beginning of the internship year.  A review of APA Code of Ethics and Washington State Law relevant to providing psychological services is offered.  Professional and legal issues are also discussed in supervision throughout the internship year.

Working with Couples Seminars

These seminars also meet at the beginning of the internship year.  They focus on common issues couples present in therapy, and how to address these issues in couple treatment.

Supervision of Supervision Seminars

These seminars meet for approximately five weeks during the last half of Winter Quarter.  The objectives of these seminars are to assess each intern's supervisory skills and to present training and supervision models.  Beginning Spring Quarter, the interns meet every week for ongoing supervision of supervision purposes.

Psychological Testing Seminars

During the first part of the psychological testing seminars, interns are provided information about specific psychological tests with the goal of enhancing interpretive skills.  Interns are exposed to a model for integrating test data into their clinical work.  The seminar meets throughout Fall and Winter Quarters, and during the second half of the seminar, focus is placed on application of formal assessment in a Counseling Center clinical setting and to provide feedback on the interns’ testing cases.

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