THE INTERNSHIP PROGRAMI. Philosophy and Goals The internship is a time to develop basic professional skills and move toward establishing an integrated professional identity. The intern training provides considerable autonomy and responsibility while offering constructive feedback and emotional support for personal and professional integration. Primary objectives include developing conceptual knowledge, applied skills, and competence in the following areas:
While basic service responsibilities are assigned, interns are encouraged to exercise choices within these responsibilities (e.g., type of groups, outreach programs, and rotations). A balance between exploring new areas of practice and further developing current areas of expertise is desirable. A variety of theoretical orientations is available from the supervising staff: psychodynamic, interpersonal-integrative, Jungian, object-relations, humanistic-existential, and cognitive-behavioral. The evaluation process is considered an essential component of training. Clinical supervisors provide formal evaluations at the end of each term. The training staff meets each term to assess the progress of each intern. In turn, interns evaluate their clinical supervisors each term and the training program twice a year. Personal and professional integration often involves examining personal characteristics and issues that are relevant to professional effectiveness and success. In keeping with APA's Ethical Standard 7.04 (Student Disclosure of Personal Information) as contained in the Revised Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (APA, 2002), it is important that intern applicants and interns know that self-disclosure will be part of the supervisory and training experience of the pre-doctoral interns. Training staff will assist the intern to explore and understand the qualities and dynamics he or she brings to interpersonal and professional situations and how these facilitate or hinder effective interactions and interventions. This exploration will also include identifying and processing intern cohort dynamics, to assist interns in developing professional, collegial relationship skills. Interns can expect to examine and discuss issues such as how personal characteristics and interpersonal styles affect professional group functioning, addressing and resolving conflicts, and addressing power differences in professional groups. The Counseling and Testing Center as a Multicultural Organization The Counseling and Testing Center strives to live up to the values and principles of a multicultural organization. This means we attempt to develop and implement explicit policies and practices that ensure that all members of the diverse workforce feel fully included and have every opportunity to contribute to the goal of achieving the mission of the organization. We also seek to continually improve our organization and to enhance our ability to achieve our mission by advocating and practicing social justice internally and external to the educational system. We attempt to integrate our commitment to individual and cultural diversity into all aspects of our direct service work, our agency interactions, and the training program. Staff members are committed to assessing our own individual cultural awareness and to seeking out opportunities to further develop self-awareness, gain relevant cultural knowledge, and develop skills relevant to multicultural work. There are many experiences and activities available to assist in the multicultural development of pre-doctoral interns. These include staff workshops on multicultural topics such as multicultural supervision and multicultural organizational development; a year-long intern multicultural seminar; and opportunities to participate in rotations such as assisting with the graduate level Counseling Diverse Populations course offered through the Department of Counseling Psychology or the course entitled Diversity and Communication for Facilitators offered by the UO Center on Diversity and Community (CODAC). Additional opportunities may include co-facilitating intensive cultural competency workshops with Student Affairs departments, working with the UO Men’s Center, and developing liaison relationships with multicultural student organizations (including LGBTQA) or campus religious directors. Interns begin their appointments six weeks prior
to the beginning of Fall term. The first few weeks' activities include
an orientation to the university, the Counseling and Testing Center,
and the training program. Specialized training seminars are offered
in selected areas (e.g., brief therapy, multicultural supervision).
A flexible schedule is maintained during this period to allow interns
to become acquainted with the area and the University and to move
into their offices. |
