Program Description and Components
The doctoral internship program is a 12 month, 40 to 42 hour a week, exempt position. The year begins and ends in the end of July/early August. Interns are schedule to work 40 hours per week. As staff members, Interns work with center administrators to create a work schedule that meets the needs of the center and FAU students, while also considering staff preferences. CAPS staff occasionally participates in afterhours outreach and events. As part of the CAPS team, Interns may be asked to participate as well. Per Florida licensure laws, Interns are expected to accrue a minimum of 2,000 hours, with at least 500 of those hours being direct service.
Click here for Sample Weekly ScheduleBelow is a description of direct and non-direct service activities. If you would like a copy of our training manual (which includes more detailed descriptions of each activity, non-discrimination policy, grievance procedures, and due process policy), please email the Interim Training Director at juliorivas@health.fau.edu.
The doctoral internship program aims to train generalists in Health Service Psychology to function independently in a variety of clinical mental health settings. We provide training in the following competencies:
- Research
- Ethical and legal standards
- Individual and cultural diversity
- Professional values, attitudes, and behaviors
- Communication and interpersonal skills
- Assessment
- Intervention
- Supervision
- Consultation and interprofessional/interdisciplinary skills
Training in these profession-wide competencies is achieved through a myriad of training activities.
Direct Service Activities
| Activity | Description |
|---|---|
| First Appointments | Interns are scheduled approximately for 2-5 first appointments weekly, depending on time in the semester. During these sessions interns make disposition plans which could include individual therapy, group therapy, or referral. Crisis clients may also be seen during first appointments. |
| Individual or Relational Counseling | Interns have 10-12 individual sessions per week, depending on other direct service provided. If interested in relationship counseling, interns may see a small handful of cases (may include couples or family) and may conduct co-therapy with senior staff. |
| Group Therapy | Interns run a minimum of two unique groups during the internship year. One will be an interpersonal process group and the intern can request a second group based on interest and/or growth area. Interns often run much more than two groups throughout the year. |
| Crisis/Emergency | Interns gain experience providing crisis/emergency services, as students reach out to CAPS in need of urgent services. |
| Therapeutic Assessment | Interns administer 5 personality assessments. Therapeutic personality assessment is a brief intervention that uses psychological assessment to help clients to better understand themselves and their experiences in the world. These assessments are done with CAPS clients to aid in the process of therapy. |
| Provision of Supervision | During the Fall interns provide consultative supervision to one extern on one client, focused on in depth case conceptualization. During the spring semester interns provide weekly supervision to half of an extern's caseload. Interns review notes and serve as the primary supervisor to the extern for these cases. This model allows for interns to gain experience in breadth and depth of supervision. |
| Outreach & Consultation | Interns are required to participate in at least 10 outreach and consultation events during the course of the internship year. While there are requirements of the types of activities that interns must participate in, they can choose events consistent with their interests (e.g., sexual assault prevention, eating disorder awareness). Interns also serve as a co-liaison to a campus or academic department. |
*All individual clinical work done within CAPS is video recorded for supervision purposes.
Regularly Scheduled Indirect Service Activities
| Activity | Description |
|---|---|
| Supervision |
|
| Training Seminar | Staff present on rotating topics 2 hours weekly |
| Intern Development Meetings | These meetings are 1 hour weekly and rotate between the following topics:
|
| Committee Participation | Interns are members of at least 1 CAPS committee. These committees range in their meeting frequency and focus, but are all involved in shaping various aspects of CAPS. Interns are seen as contributing members to committees and are encouraged to actively participate. Interns may sit on the following committees:
|
| Meeting with Training Director/Cohort | Interns have weekly meetings with the Training Director, however as the year progresses interns and training director discuss how to structure this time to best meet needs of Interns |
| Extern Training Seminar | Interns provide training seminars and group supervision to externs at least once a semester |
| All Staff Meetings |
Interns attend CAPS weekly staff meeting |
| Research | Interns are granted 2 hours of research time per week. This can be used to work on dissertation, complete scholarly readings, or prepare for clients. |
In addition to the regularly scheduled indirect service hours listed above, interns also participate in two training retreats (these often include a trip to the beach), staff retreats (past retreats have included kayaking, ROPES course, exposure to equine therapy), day long professional development trainings at CAPS, a thorough 3-week orientation process, complete required readings (e.g., CAPS Policies and Procedures manual, Jed Documents, Title IX documents), and complete required trainings (e.g., Safe Zone, HIPPA). Interns also provide a formal case presentation to staff to help prepare for job interviews.