Philosophy of Training
The internship program at CAPS is based on a practitioner/scholar approach to training in which we emphasize learning through closely supervised clinical practice. Interns receive intensive training and experience in performing the central responsibilities of a psychologist in a multidisciplinary counseling center setting. These responsibilities include: individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, diagnostic assessment, crisis consultation, supervision of practicum students, and outreach. In all of these endeavors we also strive to foster interns’ growth in the areas of multicultural competence, professional identity development, ethical practice, and the integration of science and practice in psychology.
The University of Pennsylvania is a world-class university located in the city of Philadelphia which has a very vibrant mental health community with many training opportunities. Where possible, the internship draws upon the considerable resources of the university and the city to enhance the training program. For instance, we offer seminars lead by experts from the Penn community on anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and sexual differences. Interns may participate in programs at various cultural centers on campus such as the Pan Asian American Community House, the Greenfield Intercultural Center, and La Casa Latina to enhance their multicultural training experiences. Interns also have opportunities to attend a distinguished speaker series run by a local psychoanalytic organization and also to obtain a psychoanalytic mentor, if desired, through another local psychoanalytic organization. Some of our recent interns have also done summer rotations at the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety, an agency that is nationally known for cutting-edge cognitive behavioral treatment and research.
Multidisciplinary Approach
As a center who senior staff is comprised of licensed psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers, we value a multidisciplinary approach to training and service delivery and emphasize the development of the interns’ capacity to work collaboratively with psychology colleagues and professionals from other disciplines. The practicum, social work, and psychiatry residency training programs at CAPS also contribute to the multidisciplinary learning environment. All members of the staff participate in interns’ training through formal and informal supervision, team meeting collaboration, consultation, and seminars.
Clinical Practice with a Focus on Multicultural Competence
The University of Pennsylvania is a very culturally diverse institution, with students from all over the country and all over the world, and with every race, class, and ethnicity represented. At CAPS, we are committed to training interns to become multiculturally competent practitioners. We facilitate this in a number of ways. First, interns have extensive experience consulting and collaborating with a culturally diverse group of professionals from a number of mental health disciplines through participation with (and eventual leadership of) a multidisciplinary treatment team. Second, interns provide clinical services, under close supervision, to a highly diverse group of clients. Third, interns participate in a series of multicultural seminars throughout the year that are designed to increase their multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. Fourth, interns conduct a multicultural project of their choosing in which they identify a particular cultural group they would like to gain more expertise with and then use the substantial resources of the university to learn more about it—e.g., work with La Casa Latina, the cultural center for Latino students, to identify the mental health needs of Hispanic students. The project culminates with each intern leading a presentation to the staff and trainees about their newly gained cultural expertise.
Professional Identity Development
We view the internship as the capstone of the doctoral level psychologist’s training. Therefore, we believe it is particularly important for interns to develop an appreciation of the professional role they will be adopting once their training is completed. We devote some of our intern seminars and intern meetings to discussions of professional issues for beginning psychologists such as, career development, job-hunting, licensure requirements, continuing education opportunities, and work/life balance. Additionally, interns are afforded numerous opportunities to establish close working relationships with staff members from a wide variety of professional and theoretical backgrounds. Through their direct work with staff via collaboration and consultation across a wide range of professional services, interns have many opportunities to begin to develop an identity as a professional psychologist. We believe that the strong generalist skills they attain through our internship will enable them to become psychologists prepared to work in university counseling centers as well as a multitude of other professional settings including, but not limited to: community mental health centers, academia, private practice, schools, and hospitals
Ethical Practice
We strive to train interns who will become practitioners with the highest ethical standards. During the year, there are ethics seminars devoted to teaching interns about contemporary ethical issues, especially issues relevant to college counseling, but also more broadly to ethical decision-making. Ethical issues are also routinely discussed in individual and group supervision. Additionally, our staff clinicians are expected to conduct themselves in a highly ethically competent manner and to model this conduct for all of our trainees. At CAPS we particularly value the use of consultation and collaboration in ethical decision-making and interns have many opportunities to see this in action in multidisciplinary team meetings and formal and informal staff collaboration meetings.
Self Development*
We also believe that striving for self-awareness is an integral part of being a clinical or counseling psychologist. Therefore, we encourage interns to develop self-awareness skills in a variety of ways in the course of the internship experience. For instance, in individual and group supervisory sessions interns are encouraged to reflect on their own personal reactions to clients. We hope to teach interns to use these reactions as an important source of data about themselves, their clients, and the therapeutic process. We also encourage interns to reflect on their own reactions to working with clients and supervisees who are different from themselves and to be open to explore these differences in a way that will enhance their treatment and supervisory relationships.
Since we believe that self-reflection is essential to the supervisory process, interns will be encouraged, at times, to disclose personal information. Our supervisory staff is deeply invested in maintaining a safe, trusting, and supportive environment so that interns will feel comfortable with self-disclosure. We also hope that interns will experience the ways in which self-reflection can help them in effectively conceptualizing and intervening with their clients.
*This section is intended to satisfy Section 7.04 of the APA Ethics Code regarding our responsibility to notify applicants of the requirement for self-disclosure of personal information. Please note also that this section is adapted from The University of Texas at Austin’s training philosophy on self awareness developed by Greg Keilin, Ph.D.
Integration of Science and Practice
We train our interns to take a scholarly approach to their clinical practice activities at CAPS. We strive to help them develop skills in applying clinical theory and empirical research to case conceptualization, treatment planning, and clinical interventions. In seminars, individual supervision, case group, and group supervision (of supervision) we incorporate readings and discussion of theoretical and empirical literature relevant to clinical practice in an outpatient setting. We hope to help interns continue to elaborate and expand upon their theoretical orientation to clinical practice. We also hope to increase their knowledge base regarding the scientific basis for a variety of treatments and practices in psychology.
Contact Us
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
133 South 36th Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Hours: 9am - 5pm, Monday - Friday
Emergencies: 215-349-5490 (ask for CAPS Clinician On Call)
Tel: 215-898-7021
Fax: 215-573-8966
Email: caps@pobox.upenn.edu
