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Training Activities

We aim to train interns as skilled generalists equipped to work in a variety of post-internship employment settings. To accomplish this, we provide a range of didactic and experiential training activities that a psychologist in a university counseling center setting or other similar mental health settings are likely to encounter, including:

  • Group therapy
  • Individual therapy
  • Couples therapy
  • Intake assessments
  • Crisis intervention
  • Outreach and consultation
  • Provision of supervision
  • Assessment
  • Multicultural competence and humility
  • Ethical comportment
  • Weekly Activities

    A sample 40-hour weekly schedule is provided below.  While the experiences described in this section generally remain constant, the specific number of hours devoted to each activity may vary slightly from week to week.  During busy peak times of the semester, interns will likely be asked to increase the number of individual therapy clients and intakes.  This will offset the slower times of the semester and summer when caseloads are lower and interns have more time to devote to professional development activities (i.e., dissertation, research, special interest areas). 

    Activity

    Fall & Spring

    Summer

    Psychotherapy (Individual, Couples and Group Therapy)

    16.0

    16.0

    Intake Assessments, Crisis/Drop-in Hours & Case Management/Paperwork

    6.0

    8.0

    Special Interest Areas

    1.0

    4.0

    *Supervision of trainee

    1.0

    0.0

    Prep time for supervision (review of case notes, video tapes, eval prep, etc)

    1.0

    1.0

    Individual Supervision

    2.0

    2.0

    Professional Development Seminar

    1.5

    1.5

    Group Seminar/Supervision

    1.5

    .5-1.5

    Assessment Seminar (bi-weekly)

    1.5

    1.5

    Multicultural Seminar (bi-weekly)

    1.5

    1.5

    Outreach and Advocacy Seminar (bi-weekly)

    1.5

    1.5

    *Supervision of Supervision Seminar

    1.5

    0.0

    Intern Process Group (bi-weekly)

    1.5

    1.5

    Clinical Staff Meetings

    2.0

    2.0

    Case management/ paperwork/report writing 

    1.5

    1.5

    Prof. Development / Dissertation Time

    1.0

    3.0

    Outreach/Consultation (on average)

    1.0

    1.0

    Total Hours per Week

    40.0

    40.0

    *opportunities for group and to supervise over the summer may be available

    Schedule Seasonality

    In a university counseling center context, September/October and March/April tend to be some of our fuller months. Over the course of the internship year, there will naturally be some ebb and flow within one's schedule due to the nature of working in a university-based environment. In light of both FLSA legislation as well as center values, we work to ensure that even at our busiest times, that interns are supported in fulfilling their responsibilities within a 40-hour work week. While during busier times the pace may feel very rapid, interns find that they adjust to the pace of this schedule after a few weeks. This is intended to give an accurate and realistic sense of what you can expect during your training year. When interns do work above and beyond a 40-hour work week (e.g., occasional evening/weekend outreach opportunity), we work with the individual intern to flex their time.

  • Clinical Services

    During busier times, interns devote between 20-23 hours per week to clinical activities (direct client contact).  These include the following: 

    Individual/Couples Therapy
    On average, interns devote a minimum of 14 hours per week to providing psychotherapy services to individual clients and couples (16 hours of individual and couples therapy if not facilitating a therapy group).  An intern’s typical caseload is 16-20 clients, with some variance in overall caseload to account for clients seen on a less than biweekly basis.

    Group Therapy
    Interns co-lead, with a senior staff member, at least one therapy group each semester (2 hours per week).  Most groups are process-focused, and some are theme oriented (e.g., ACT for Trauma).  Structured groups with a skill-building focus (i.e., DBT group, Anxiety Workshop) are also offered each semester. Interns are required to co-facilitate one interpersonal process group per semester and may have the option to facilitate an additional structured group if approved by the Group Coordinator and Director of Training.  Evening hours may be required to accommodate group experiences, and when that is the case, intern schedules are flexed accordingly.

    Crisis/Drop-in Coverage
    Interns are responsible for providing crisis/drop-in coverage  for a total of ~4 hours per week. Students, faculty and staff may utilize crisis/drop-in services for a variety of reasons, so duties during such shift can vary significantly. Opportunities for safety planning, consultation, resourcing, and skill-building are often plentiful during these shifts.   

    Intake/Initial Consultatoin Assessments
    Interns conduct intakes/initial consultation assessments with clients who are new and/or returning to the center. Typically interns do about two hours of these per week. Interns may be asked to provide additional intake times during peak service times, depending on their caseloads and availability. Before interns may start conducting intakes/initial consultation, the director of training and/or members of the training team will assess their intake experience and readiness, moving through a scaffolded, developmental training sequence that supports learning our system as well as refining competencies in this area.    

    After Hours Crisis Coverage 
    Interns will be involved in providing after-hours crisis services on campus in rare instances in which a crisis requires that counseling center support be present outside of our normally scheduled hours (e.g., a student death, campus-wide crisis). Our center contracts with an outside agency, Rocky Mountain Crisis Partners, who ordinarily fields after hours client contacts.

    Supervision of Trainees
    Each intern will engage in a clinical supervision experience.  Two hours per week will be allotted to this experience (1 hour of face-to-face supervision with trainee and 1 hour of supervision prep time to review notes and tapes).  Opportunities for supervising a trainee over the summer may also be available.  Although the intern’s level of readiness will determine the actual supervision experience, most interns typically supervise a third- or fourth-year doctoral practicum student or Master's Intern.

    Outreach and Consultation
    Outreach programs and consultation are an important part of Counseling Center services as they enable students to deal with concerns before they develop into more serious problems.  Moreover, outreach services are necessary to meet the needs of those groups of students who do not actively ask for help by approaching a counseling center or other mental health agency.  Research supports the use of alternative services to effectively address the needs of culturally diverse and non-traditional students.  We require a minimum of 12 outreach activities over the course of the internship.  An average of 1 hour per week of outreach and consultation is allotted in the weekly schedule.  Some weeks will not include any outreach activities, while other weeks might require several hours of outreach.   Interns are encouraged to participate in additional outreach activities beyond the minimum requirements in order to meet the internships 2,000 overall hours requirement.  Evening and weekend outreach will be required on occasion.

    Assessment
    Though the Counseling Center does not offer Learning Disability assessments or full psychological batteries, interns are expected to integrate use of appropriate self-report and objective personality assessment tools into their clinical work.  Interns will gain familiarity with various self-report assessment tools (i.e., Beck Depression Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Eating Attitudes Test, etc).  Interns will also be expected to administer at least two objective personality assessments (i.e., MMPI & MCMI or PAI) with their individual clients during the course of the internship year and write up a formal integrated assessment report.  Interns will also have the opportunity to conduct Alcohol/Drug (AOD) Assessments and will receive extensive training on the SASSI (Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory) and the AOD clinical interview.  Interns will receive several trainings on personality and substance abuse assessment as part of the Professional Development seminar.

  • Seminars

    Assessment Seminar
    This seminar trains interns in Personality Assessment, conducting a clinical interview, writing and integrated report, and providing feedback based on the assessment interview and results. The seminar will balance knowledge with application in order to develop assessment skills such as collecting relevant information in the clinical interview, administering and interpreting testing results, writing an integrated report, and providing accurate and ethical feedback and recommendations based on the assessment process. The seminar will incorporate didactic information, consultation, and review of assessment results and materials. Topical issues may include but are not limited to the following: ethical and legal issues in assessment; clinical interview; providing feedback; using assessment to inform clinical work; types of personality assessment. The Assessment Seminar facilitator will be a licensed psychologist and responsible for reviewing assessment protocol and results, as well as making sure legal and ethical guidelines are followed. This seminar meets bi-weekly for 1 hour until the end of the academic year.

    Group Supervision Seminar
    This seminar supplements interns’ experiential learning (i.e., direct service and weekly debriefings with co-leader) by providing additional didactic training and opportunities for reflection and dialogue.  The seminar’s initial focus is on the CC’s group philosophy and procedures, Yalom’s Interpersonal Process Theory, client preparation for group, co-leader relationships, stages of group development, and group process dynamics and interventions.  Subsequently, the seminar provides an opportunity for case conference-type reflection and dialogue, viewing of video recordings, brainstorming of alternative interventions, and for enhancing knowledge about group process and stages of group development.  The Group Seminar meets weekly for 1 hour throughout the year.

    Multicultural Seminar
    The Multicultural Seminar is an intentional space for increasing interns’ knowledge, self-awareness, and skills regarding multicultural competencies in psychological services.  Doctoral interns will explore and reflect on several identities including race, ethnicity, ability, age, gender, religion, sexual identity, and SES.  Seminar consists of personal reflection, cultural sharing, case consultation, experiential learning, readings, as well as didactic presentations by clinical staff and campus partners. The framework of the multicultural seminar is loosely structured, with emphasis on process-orientation, dialogue, intentional sharing and integration of experiential/action as interns see fit.  Interns are encouraged to take appropriate “risks” by acknowledging unexplored areas, exploring biases, and intentionally moving towards (instead of shying away from) multicultural growth edges. This seminar meets bi-weekly for 1.5 hours through the end of the academic year.

    Professional Development Seminar
    This seminar is specifically geared to the clinical and professional development of doctoral interns.  Interns will address issues of professional growth and development, clinical and multicultural issues, assessment, and entry into professional psychology in this seminar.  Presentations by staff members, campus & community professionals, and interns cover a wide range of topics based on the intern group’s needs and interests.  Interns are welcome to make suggestions regarding topics they would like to see addressed in this seminar.  Sample topics have included:  ethical issues and ethical decision-making; documentation of therapy; empirically supported treatments; working with veterans; PTSD; Mindfulness approaches; DBT; ACT; Eating Disorders; Couples Therapy; Substance Abuse; Domestic Violence; Job Preparation; Preparation for Licensure, etc.  This seminar meets weekly for 1.5 hours throughout the course of the internship year.  Interns will be expected to provide a formal presentation to staff on one empirically supported treatment modality during this seminar.

    Supervision of Supervision Seminar
    This ongoing practice seminar is designed to develop the interns’ competency in the provision of supervision. The training is both didactic and practice focused, with each intern assigned a doctoral practicum student to supervise each semester. This seminar will increase the intern’s knowledge of the supervisory process including: models of supervision, review of the supervision contract and development of goals for supervision with the supervisee, assessment of the supervisees level of competence, utilizing the developmental model of supervision. Finally, this seminar utilizes a group supervision format, which includes the viewing of videotaped supervision sessions with supervisees on a weekly basis.

  • Other Activities

    Individual Supervision
    Interns will receive a minimum of 2 hours per week of individual supervision.  The intern's primary supervisor will provide supervision for psychotherapy/counseling, agency issues, and professional development.  The supervisor will review client recordings and have knowledge of all clients being seen by the intern.  The supervisor will also serve as advocate and consultant for other center-related activities and can assist the intern in decisions relating to professional development.  Supervisors will provide written feedback at mid-semester and end of semester evaluation meetings.  Every effort will be made to pair the intern with their top supervisor choice, though guarantees cannot be made.

    Intern Process Group
    This seminar meets for 1.5 hours every other week (alternating with the Multicultural Seminar).  This group is an opportunity for interns to have the space to process professional issues that arise during the course of the internship.  It is expected that interns will use this process time to seek support and feedback, work through conflicts, and discuss issues related to professional development.

    Clinical Case Conference
    Clinical Case Conference is designed to give interns additional opportunities to dialogue about their clinical work.  Informal case conference takes place during the weekly clinical staff meeting. One formal case presentation will also be required each semester (fall and spring or summer).

    Special Interest Areas
    There are a number of areas of competency that are commonly needed by psychologists working in university counseling centers.  To deepen the training experience of the interns in a way that will help them achieve additional competence and meet their personal training goals, a "Special Interest" component has been included in the internship training program.  Some of the areas previously identified for these training experiences have included drug and alcohol counseling, learning differences, eating disorders, men’s issues, supervision, mindfulness, religion/spirituality, or grief and loss.  Interns may also design special programs, typically with a service component, that uniquely meet their training needs.                      

    These training experiences are not intended to make an intern an "expert" in any of these special interest areas, but are designed to provide the intern an opportunity to develop a deeper familiarity in that area.  The Training Director has responsibility for administratively monitoring the completion of the intern’s special interest contract and will evaluate their performance.           

    Professional Development / Dissertation Time
    Interns are allotted an average of 1 hour per week of professional development time to use throughout the year. Interns are typically provided one week of professional development release time (i.e., 40 hours) during the winter term, in addition to being afforded 4 hours/week during the stretch of the summer term when the institution provides an abbreviated Friday workday schedule (i.e., 40 hours in total). Professional development time may be designated for dissertation. This time may also be used for conferences, workshops, research, graduation ceremonies, time to read books, articles, etc. to enhance professional knowledge, interviews, and/or additional training experiences. If an intern would like to attend a conference, workshop, or other extended professional development activity that extends beyond the 1 hour allotted per week, this may be arranged with the Director of Training. It should be noted that professional development/dissertation time is considered secondary to clinical responsibilities. In times of very high client traffic, interns may be asked to see clients during their professional development/dissertation times. Interns will have extensive time to devote to dissertation and professional development during periods of lower client traffic, such as over the academic breaks and summer semester to make up for missed professional development/dissertation time during the academic semesters.  

  • Administrative Time

    Clinical Case Conference
    All clinical staff meet for an hour to discuss contemporary issues impacting the Counseling Center and communities we serve, policy and procedural shifts, as well as to staff or consult around current and incoming clients.  This clinical case conference is an excellent opportunity for group supervision and for exchange of ideas between all senior staff and trainees.

    Psychiatric Case Consultation
    On a biweekly basis, 30 minutes of the clinical case conference meeting are devoted to psychiatric case consultation with our in-house psychiatrist. This meeting affords opportunities for informal psychiatric consultation, non-time-sensitive collaborative care around shared clients, consultation around prospective psychiatry referrals, and overall helps cultivate interdisciplinary care competencies. 

    Case Management/Paperwork/Supervision Prep Time
    Interns are expected to complete clinical notes and case management tasks (i.e., client phone calls, respond to emails) and tend to other supervision prep and/or administrative tasks during their weekly consultation/intake times when they are not seeing clients, as well as during various openings that appear in their schedule when appointments are rescheduled or canceled.  Additionally, interns are allotted 1.5 hours per week toward completing clinical notes and case management, and an hour for supervision prep.