University of Central Florida Counseling Center

Pre-doctoral Internship in Professional Psychology
University of Central Florida
Counseling Center

Hello and welcome to the UCF Counseling Center website describing our Pre-Doctoral Internship Program in Professional Psychology. We are happy that you are interested in our training site. We expect that the information contained here will assist in your search for a good fit when considering internship selection. However, if you have any further questions, please feel free to email me at khofmann@mail.ucf.edu or contact me by telephone at (407) 823-2811. I will be glad to discuss the internship program with you.


Best wishes to you in your internship selection process.
Karen Hofmann , Ph.D.
Associate Director
Director of Training

 

 

To access the AAPI directly from this site:
1.            Click Here
2.            On your internet browser, type in the APPIC address: http://www.appic.org/
3.            To download the AAPI to your diskette or hard disk follow the specific instructions for the computer you are using.

APPIC Member Code Number: 203711

 

Application Information
Internship Philosophy & Model
Internship Setting
 

Eligibility Criteria


We prefer applicants from doctoral programs in counseling psychology or clinical psychology. Stronger consideration will be given to applicants from APA accredited programs (or programs seeking accreditation). Applicants should have at least 400 hours of AAPI intervention & assessment hours and a grand total of 1000 AAPI practicum hours by the start of the internship. All coursework, practicum experience and comprehensive examinations required for the doctoral degree should be completed prior to internship. Applications are not considered complete until all materials are received.

Application Procedure

The UCF Counseling Center is a member of APPIC (Association of Psychology Post-Doctoral and Intership Centers), so please go to the APPIC website for more information about rules and guidelines for applying to APPIC intership sites.

APPIC code number: 203711

Deadlines are the following: To be considered for the internship of the academic year 2010-2011, all
application materials must be uploaded on to the AAPI Online by Monday, November 9, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. (EST). Interview notification date will be no later than December 14, 2009. Internet video conference interviews (by Skype) will be set up and conducted in December/ January. Match Day is February 22, 2010.

To be considered forUCF Pre-doctoral Psychology Internship position, your online application must include the following components:

  • Completed online APPIC Application for Psychology Internship (AAPI) form.
    The AAPI may be downloaded from www.appic.org.
  • Cover letter stating your interest in the UCF Counseling Center Internship and why you would be a good candidate for this internship site.
  • Academic Program’s Verification of Internship Eligibility and Readiness
  • Current vita
  • Official transcripts of all graduate work
  • Three letters of recommendation with at least 2 from licensed professionals who have supervised your clinical work.


This internship site agrees to abide by the APPIC policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept, or use any ranking-related information from any intern applicant. If you have questions or need clarification regarding the UCF Counseling Center Pre-doctoral internship in Psychology, please contact Karen Hofmann, Ph.D., Director of Training.

PLEASE NOTE: Our program is not yet APA-accredited, but we are working toward this goal. All internship activities abide by APA standards. Attending a non-APA-accredited internship should not impede your ability to get licesensed in most states.

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Training Year
The internship training experience will begin August 1, 2010 and will ends July 30, 2011. Interns will accrue and document a minimum of 2,000 professional hours during the internship year.

Positions
The Counseling Center provides 2 internship positions for this academic year.

Stipend and Benefits
The internship position offers a salary of $23,660 paid on a bi-weekly basis. Interns receive 15 days of combined annual leave, sick leave, and professional development leave for professional activities such as dissertation defense, job interviews, and conferences . In addition, there are approximately 9 university holidays. All interns have a private office with video/audio taping equipment, a personal computer linked to the University network, and library privileges.

Policies on Use of Leave Time
Interns are strongly encouraged to take their annual leave in between semesters and during summer sessions. All annual leave and professional development days must be approved by the Training Director at least two weeks in advance (if possible) by submitting a completed Leave Request Form to the Training Director.

Contact Information
Karen Hofmann, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Training
Counseling Center
University of Central Florida
P.O. Box 163170
Orlando, FL 32816-3170
Phone: (407) 823-2811
FAX: (407) 823-5415
Email: khofmann@mail.ucf.edu

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GOALS OF THE INTERNSHIP
1. Interns will gain professional competence and confidence in their work, increase self-awareness that promotes professional growth, and develop a clearer sense of professional identity.

2. Interns will be able to conduct themselves in an ethical manner throughout their internship. Ethical conduct is defined by the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association (2002).

3. Interns will be able to demonstrate multicultural competence in their work with clients from diverse cultural backgrounds and who display other forms of individual difference. Multicultural competence is defined by the Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change of the American Psychological Association (2003).

4. Interns will be able to conduct clinical interviews in which they accurately evaluate the psychological needs of clients, make accurate diagnoses, and assess the need for brief psychotherapy, psychiatric medication, or other psychological interventions including referral. Interns will make knowledgeable decisions about when to use psychological testing and how to use assessment results to inform interventions.

5. Interns will be able to provide brief individual psychotherapy to diverse clients with a variety of presenting concerns by the completion of the internship. Interns will practice integrative psychotherapy and learn how to apply ideas and strategies of change from different theoretical approaches.

6. Interns will be able to facilitate process-oriented psychotherapy groups and/or theme-oriented psychoeducational groups.

7. Interns will be able to provide crisis intervention for clients experiencing personal distress or acute symptomotology related to stress, trauma, or loss. Interns will be able to help students in crisis reduce their immediate distress and mobilize resources. Interns will be able to make decisions about clients’ safety based on a risk-assessment of their danger to self and others.

8. Interns will be able to design and facilitate psychoeducational workshops and engage in other types of developmental programming and presentations. Interns will be able to provide consultation with faculty, staff, parents and others who are concerned about a student, and develop formal consultation relationships with residence life and other members of the campus community to help meet the needs of students.

9. Interns will learn about the theory and practice of supervision from a devleopmental perspective. Interns will be able to supervise pre-doctoral praticum students for one semester and be supervised by a licensed psychologist for supervision of supervision.

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INTERNSHIP ACTIVITIES
Orientation (3 weeks): Interns are introduced to the internship program through a 3-week orientation period which occurs prior to the start of the academic year in August.

DIRECT SERVICE ACTIVITIES
Individual Brief Therapy (7-14 hrs. weekly) – Each intern is expected to carry between 11 and 15 clients on their caseload on a weekly basis. 1-2 long-term therapy cases may be carried, but must be discussed between an Intern and their individual supervisor with ultimate approval being determined by a Center utilization review committee.

Intakes (2 hrs. weekly) – Interns will be assigned two regular 45 minute intakes a week. Interns will do a full assessment and full written write up for at least the firsts 3 clients. With supervisor approval, Interns then can use regular T.A. / intake paperwork.

Same Day Timely Access (2 hours weekly) – An intern will get a maximum of 2 same day walk-in clients a week. This could be a regular intake or turn into a crisis intervention session. Each intern will be assigned a designated day and time to be on the timely access walk in system. An intern is expected to do a brief intake assessment and bring the case to case disposition.

Crisis Intervention- Interns gain a majority of crisis intervention experience through timely access/walk-in coverage throughout the year in responding to clinically urgent and complex client situations (e.g., suicidal or homicidal risk, psychotic episodes, or overwhelming trauma).

Interns may have opportunities to assist senior staff in the planning, implementation and responds to the psychological and emotional needs of clients (counselor on duty) within the Center, or the larger campus community in the aftermath of a traumatic event (e.g., suicide, homicide, hurricane, etc.) depending on the nature of the crisis and training interest of interns.

Counselor on Duty - Interns will be on the counselor-on-duty rotation after the first month at the Center. They will be able to assist as back up consultants to therapist and field any calls coming throught the center. This gives Interns good experience in consultation at various levels.

Group Therapy (1.5 hours weekly) – Each intern will co-facilitate at least one process group each semester. An intern can also co-facilitate a workshop, structured group or support group with a senior staff psychologist / memeber same semester if the intern chooses.

SUPERVISION:
Group Therapy Supervision (.50-.75 hour per week) – For Each Group Conducted) Interns who serve as a process-observer or co-facilitator of a therapy group will receive supervision from their senior staff co-facilitator for each group being conducted. Supervision of group usually is conducted right after the group. The amount of time allotted for group supervision time may vary depending on the length of time the therapy group meets.

Individual Supervision (2 hours per week – All Year) Interns receive 2 hours of weekly individual supervision from a licensed psychologist. Each semester, supervisor and intern are expected to clarify intern training goals, responsibilities and roles, evaluation procedures, and expectations of supervisors and interns.

Supervision of Supervision (1hr. weekly) Interns spend one hour of supervision with a licesed psychologist who will teach the theory of supervision the first semester, and then be supervising the process of supervision during the next semester.

Conducting Supervision with Practicum Student (1.5 hr. weekly for spring and summer semeters) Interns will be able to supervise a pre-doctoral intern doing a practicum at the Counseing Center for 20 hrs. Interns will be learning about supervision while being engaged in the process of conducting supervision.

Case Conference Group Peer Supervision (1 hour weekly – All Year) Pre-doctoral interns and pre-master’s trainees are required to attend a weekly case conference which is co-facilitated by the Training Director or other senior staff member. In this meeting, interns will make formal and informal case presentations and have opportunities to engage in professional and clinical dialogues with colleagues regarding their work with clients.

TRAINING ACTIVITIES / MEETINGS

Training Seminar (2 hours weekly – All Year) Pre-doctoral interns are required to attend a weekly didactic training seminar taught by various members of the Center staff which are geared toward the following areas of competency. During the spring semester, each intern is required to conduct one (1) presentation on a special clinical practice topic of their choice for a staff professional development.

Case Disposition Meeting (1hr. weekly) Interns will spend one hour a week in an assigned case disposition team comprised of senior staff and other trainees to present intakes for disposal and/or to pick a new cases.

Supervision of Supervision Seminar (1 hour weekly; fall only). Interns engage in a didactic seminar during the fall semester so that they can prepare to conduct supervision in during the spring and summer semester. Seminar focuses on theory of supervision as well as important topics related to how to conduct supervision.

Meeting with Training Director and with Director of Outreach (monthly – All Year) All pre-doctoral interns will meet with the Training Director on a monthly basis for ongoing support, or to discuss trainees ongoing experiences within the program. Director of Outreach and prevention meets with interns on a monthly basis to check on there progress with outreach.

Staff Meeting (1.5 hrs weekly) Interns are expected to participate in designated staff meetings as colleagues, unless otherwise specified that a staff meeting will be for senior staff only.

DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAMMING/ OUTREACH:

Developmental Programming and Outreach Presentations- Pre-doctoral Interns are expected to present a minimum of six (9) outreach presentations during the year (3 each semester) and participate in tabling events.

OTHER TRAINING ACTIVITIES:
Prep Time/Documentation/ResearchTime (9 hours weekly)
Interns will be given 6-9 weekly hours for client documentation, client/ supervision preparation, or dissertation/ research.

Specialty Project (1 hour weekly) Interns are required to complete a specialty project that is relevant to the intern and the Counseling Center.

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SAMPLE SCHEDULE FOR INTERNS
Although the exact time spent in each category may vary for each intern, a sample schedule and a range of time committed to each area based on a 40-hour per week schedule is provided below:

Direct Service Activities              
Weekly Hours
Brief Individual therapy
7-14
Group Therapy
1.5
Timely Access Services  
2
Regular Intake Assessments
2
Counselor on Duty           
0-4.5
Supervision
Individual Supervision   
2
Supervision of Group Therapy     
.5-.75
Supervision of Practicum Student (spring and summer semester)
1.5
 Supervision of Supervision
1
Case Conference/ Group Peer Supervision 
1
 Training Activities/Meetings     
Staff Meetings
1.5
Training Seminar/ Professional Development                         
2
Case Disposition Meeting    
1
Supervision of Supervision Seminar (Fall semester only)
1
 Meetings w/ Training Director and Director of outreach and prevention  
0-1
 Other Activiteis

Developmental Programming/ Outreach &Tabling (3 outreaches and tablings a semester) 

0-1
Clinical Records Documentation/Adm. Prep / Specialty Project/ Dissertation Time
10

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Counseling Center Bldg 27
4000 Central Florida Blvd | PO Box 163170
Orlando, FL 32816
407.823.2811
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