UW Counseling Center
Pre-Doctoral Internship in Professional Psychology

2005-2006

Direct Services

Individual/Couples Counseling
Interns see an average of 9 to 14 ongoing clients per week.  Because a short-term treatment model insures the use of the Counseling Center by the greatest number of students, students are often seen for approximately 15 weeks.  However, longer tern treatment is provided when clinically appropriate and resources allow.

Intake Interviews
Each intern will conduct an average of two or more intakes per week, although this number may increase during certain times.

Outreach Programming
Outreach is an important service provided by the Counseling Center, and there are many opportunities to participate in outreach programming.  Outreach offers the opportunity to interact with students who would ordinarily have no contact with the Center.  Interns present at least eight outreach programs per academic year, and typically present many more than that.  Examples of frequently requested outreach programs include:  eating disorders, assertiveness, stress management, diversity, relationship enhancement acquaintance rape, careers, academic success, and CC services.  In addition, interns also participate in rotations throughout the internship year, in which they are trained to and then present the Study Smarter Workshops and the Career Assessment Workshops to students at our Center.  Interns are also encouraged to develop outreach programs that are within their interest areas.

Group Counseling
The Counseling Center has offers psychotherapy groups for students, depending upon resources and student interest and participation.  Interns are encouraged to develop and co-lead, under supervision, a group in their area of expertise and interest.

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 supervision, which 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 two hours per week to prepare for supervision by reviewing audio/video tapes 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 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

• Interns meet with the Training Director for one hour 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

Intern Support Group

• Interns meet with a group facilitator for one hour per week, for individual and group support.

Professional Development

• Interns may receive two hours each week to use for scholarly activities such as reading journal articles or working on dissertations.
• Professional development activities are negotiated on a quarterly basis.
• Working on dissertations is STRONGLY encouraged!

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 4 to 11 weeks that provide the opportunity for a more in-depth exploration of the topics under discussion.

Clinical Issues Seminar
This seminar meets every week for one hour for the first three quarters.  The seminar 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, substance abuse issues, eating disorders, sexual abuse survivors, preparing for licensure, and starting a career as a psychologist.

Intake Assessment and Short-term Therapy Seminar
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 Seminar
This seminar meets 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.

Working with Couples
This seminar also meets at the beginning of the internship year.  It focuses on common issues couples present in therapy, and how to address these issues in treatment.

Supervision of Supervision Seminar
This Seminar meets during Winter Quarter.  The objective of this seminar is 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 Seminar
During the first part of the psychological testing seminar, 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 then continues to meet on an every other week basis throughout the next quarter, where focus is placed on application of formal assessment in a Counseling Center clinical setting and to provide feedback on the intern's testing cases.

Multicultural Counseling Seminar
The goals of this seminar are to: 1) determine competencies and assess training needs in the area of cross-cultural counseling; 2) review standards of practice with ethnic and culturally diverse populations; and 3) develop individual training plans for the year.  During the second half of the seminar, focus is placed on discussion of intern's clinical caseload in relation to multicultural issues.

UW Counseling Center Intern Time Allocations:  2005-2006 (Revised 6/17/04)

(* These numbers are based upon the average of time spent in each activity over four quarters and are subject to change.)

* These numbers are averages; therefore they do not add up to 40 hours per week or 100%.

© 2004 UW Counseling Center