Application Process
# of Predoctoral internship applicants in current training year: 0
Training Year: 2019 - 2020
# of Predoctoral internship applicants in current training year: 0
Please specify your application procedure:
From all applications received we carefully review the application materials, the recommendation letters, and the cover letter. While we ask what clinical experiences and skills each intern may have, we do not require interns to have experience with the services we provide. We provide training for all the services our agency delivers. Experience prior to clinical internship is also considered a transferable skill. For example, having worked with parents in a non-clinical setting could develop skills in working with parents now as a therapist. From our applications, we contact some interns for a preliminary phone interview. After the phone interview we determine which applicants to select for an in-person interview.
REQUIRED FOR INTERN APPLICATION:
Additional documents does your program required (if any)
Other
We only require two letters of recommendation from a prior clinical placement; one of which need to be from a recent clinical supervisor. AFTER CAPIC matching occurs (intern and internship have accepted each other for an internship) the intern will need to request an official transcript be mailed to us so we can apply for the California Medi-Cal waiver.
Required/Desired Experience (e.g., specific populations, testing, etc):
While prior experience in our service area is helpful to incoming interns, the emphasis we place on learning allows us to train interns in most facets they will need for this position. Interns should have completed 48 semester/trimester or 72 quarter units of graduate coursework, not including thesis, internship or dissertation. This allows us to obtain a Medi-Cal waiver for the intern to deliver services for 5 years. We desire interns who are interested and willing to learn Trauma-Focused CBT, Community Mental Health systems orientations, and how to conceptualize cases from a Psycho-dynamic and relational perspective. We also value experience providing therapy in various community locations, although it is not required. Our school spectrum of services includes assessment, brief, medium, and long-term therapy, group therapy, and consultation with teachers. We welcome interns who have previously worked with a multidisciplinary team or in a consultation setting, although these are not required also.
Letter of intent content (submitted to CAPIC as part of the complete student application to internship):
We ask for a number of details about an intern’s prior clinical experience in the application process, we do this to get an idea of the intern and not as a disqualifying factor for being considered for the internship. A strong interest in learning is very important.
--Please include:
1) if you are applying for a half-time or full-time doctoral internship; 2) any foreign languages you speak; 3) experience working in a school environment; 4) experience proving therapy in-home or in the community; 5) experience providing crisis services; 6) experience working with a multi-disciplinary team; 7) experiencing providing group therapy; and 8) experience with EPSDT Med-Cal documentation.
Please briefly describe the clinical and educational experience necessary to be considered for acceptance into your training program:
Interns should have least two years of clinical experience. We value and consider experience in non-clinical settings.
Any child experience, clinical or otherwise is considered helpful.
We value intern openness and desire to learn.
We prefer that students have taken a course in Child Abuse Reporting and laws and ethics. We provide an up-to-date and in-depth training's on both of these topics.
Specific Coursework (e.g., Neuropsychology, child Development, etc): Indicate if coursework is required or preferred below:
| Trauma Focused CBT or CBT |
Preferred |
| Laws and ethics |
Preferred |
| Child development |
Preferred |
| Psychodynamic |
Preferred |
| - |
Preferred |
Describe the interview process for your agency (individual or group interview, role playing required, case presentation required, etc):
Individual interviews are conducted with one-to-two Pathways staff. Before the interview, interns are asked to read over a few vignettes. During the interview, we ask some questions about the vignettes and we try to get a sense of the interns current clinical thinking. There are so many perspectives about clinical work, and we are only looking for the capacity to think about clinical material (not a specific answer). At the end of the interview, the applicant reads a process note from a clinical session and is asked to write up a brief progress note to give clinical staff a sense of the interns current documentation style. We will train all interns to meet current county documentation standards.
Describe what you are looking for in an applicant:
We are looking for interns with a desire to learn various aspects of serving diverse, and often underserved, populations primarily with children and families. We are not a private practice model, but rather a Community Mental Health model and we are truly looking for interns that want to learn to work within a an urban community.
Other information not covered above:
1) Each graduate school has a determined number of internship hours that must be completed, this number can vary considerably. We need to know about these requirements as soon as possible. We are able to make accommodations to fit all California graduate school needs. 2) Determination of clinic or school placement (while we do take the intern’s preference into consideration) is established mainly by the space available at the schools that year and the clinical needs at all sites. Therefore, we cannot guarantee placement until after all school contacts are decided during a particular internship year. 3) Most of the referrals in the clinic are children and their families. These clients can often only come to therapy appointments in the later afternoon and early evening. To meet these out-patient appointment needs, interns often work from 2 to 5 evenings a week depending on the number of hours placed in the clinic and the client's needs.
Please briefly note any additional comments about the application process here:
We enjoy the interview process and find many interns also enjoy this process with us. We use our interview process as an opportunity for interns and our staff to learn about other placements and other models of providing services.
As well, there is such a variation in conceptualization of cases, and we find this promotes interesting discussions.
Please upload your agency's supplemental documents, including your Brochure, Training Manual, Certificate of Completion, and CVs of all supervisors, as well as any other supporting documents you may have, such as a Syllabus, or Didactic Schedule, etc.
When you first login, you will see the link to "Manage documents" next to your agency name. Please click on that link, or simply click here, and it will instruct you on how to upload documents from your computer to your agency profile.
These documents will only be seen by CAPIC Administration, not students or other agencies. They are required as important aspects of our Quality Assurance program. Please upload your documents even if you have previously submitted them to CAPIC in another form. We now need them in electronic form as part of your online profile.
Have these files been uploaded? Yes
Please upload the agency's formalized written due process/grievance procedures which includes notice, hearing, and appeal processes for interns.
When you first login, you will see the link to "Manage documents" next to your agency name. Please click on that link, or simply click here, and it will instruct you on how to upload documents from your computer to your agency profile.
These documents will only be seen by CAPIC Administration, not students or other agencies. They are required as important aspects of our Quality Assurance program. Please upload your documents even if you have previously submitted them to CAPIC in another form. We now need them in electronic form as part of your online profile.
Have these files been uploaded? Yes
Is office space available for trainees? Yes
Our agency headquarters moved to downtown Oakland in July of 2013. In the Oakland administrative office, there are five floors of office space and interns have access to multiple offices and work stations with computers for intern use.
Our agency and counseling department continues to grow.
We continue to provide out-patient clinic based services in our San Leandro clinic that has available office space for client sessions. We also continue to provide therapy services in multiple San Leandro elementary, middle, and high schools. Our Community Mental Health Service Director negotiates with administrators for confidential work-spaces in the schools for interns to use.
Is your program accredited by the American Psychological Association? No
If yes, please what is the status of your accreditiation?
Is your training program a current member of the Association of Predoctoral and postdoctoral Internship centers (APPIC)? No
Do you have concerns about the stability of your agency and/or training program? No
If yes, please what is the status of your accreditiation?
Does your agency agree to adhere to the timetables, policies and procedures of the CAPIC application/selection process? Yes
California Psychology Internship Council