Counseling and Psychological Services
Clinical Training Activities
- Individual Clinical Supervision
- Individual Supervision for Group Psychotherapy
- Individual Liaison Consultant
- Supervision of Outreach/Developmental Programming
- Intern Seminar
- Supervision of Supervision Seminar
Individual Clinical Supervision
Interns are assigned three individual supervisors with whom they meet one hour per week. The intern works with the Primary Supervisor for the duration of the internship year, with each Secondary Supervisor for six months, and with the Case Management Supervisor for three quarters. Mid-year (beginning of March) interns are each paired with a new Secondary Supervisor. All matches are determined by the Training Director based on input from the interns, the Training Committee, and the training staff. Primary and Secondary Supervision focuses on developing skills in case conceptualization (including diagnosis), treatment planning and intervention, and professional development of the intern. Case Management Supervision focuses on intake assessment, crisis assessment and intervention, and case management skills.
Individual Supervision for Group Psychotherapy
Interns also obtain individual supervision of their group therapy once a week for 30 minutes. All interns are involved in co-facilitating at least one therapy group during the academic year. Interns meet with their co-therapist following the provision of the therapy group to de-brief the session, discuss group process and conceptualization, and plan for future interventions.
Individual Liaison Consultant
Each intern also works with a Liaison Consultant for the duration of the internship year, with meetings occurring on an as-needed basis. Following the apprenticeship model, the Liaison Consultant advises the intern on consultative responsibilities/assignments. The Consultant introduces the intern to assigned liaison units and their staffs to foster the development of the consultative relationship and may collaborate with the intern on outreach programs.
Supervision of Outreach/Developmental Programming
Interns participate in three quarterly rotations in this area, including one quarter in Media Interventions. Interns learn to provide semi-structured to structured workshops which are conducted during two quarters; workshops are usually a series of 3 or 4 sequenced sessions. Training early in the quarter occurs with the DP Supervisor, involving discussion of issues related to workshop/outreach program development. Once the workshop series commences, in accordance with the developmental/mentoring model, interns co-facilitate the outreach or workshop series. Interns serve as mentors to externs who also participate in each rotation. Interns meet with the DP Supervisor for 30 minutes following the workshop session to debrief, and for input and feedback from the supervisor. The Media Interventions rotation will allow the intern to work on a project with the Assistant Director for Developmental Programming, such as designing an informational brochure, designing a CAPS webpage, or other efforts to disseminate mental health information to the community. Interns also collaborate in presenting at least 6 outreach programs during the year when requested by liaisons or other campus groups.
Intern Seminar
This weekly, one-hour seminar is designed to span a broad range of interns’ learning needs during the internship year. Utilizing a format of case presentations, session recordings, discussion of readings, brief didactic presentations, and utilization of agency data, the seminar exposes interns to in-depth and intensive training in five core competency areas over the course of the year: (a) Psychotherapy and Crisis Intervention, (b) Clinical Assessment, (c) Multicultural and Diversity Issues in Psychotherapy, (d) Legal and Ethical Issues in Psychotherapy, (e) Group Psychotherapy, and (f) Psychiatric Consult.
The fall quarter’s Brief Psychotherapy Module corresponds with the first core area. It is aimed to broaden and deepen interns’ theoretical knowledge and enhance their skills in psychotherapeutic interventions and conceptualization. It is led by a licensed psychologist at the Chicago CAPS office. Discussion topics include the motivation for change in therapy, intern beliefs about the effectiveness of short-term treatment, differences in the value systems of brief and longer term treatment, developing a focus for treatment, and principles of crisis intervention, transference and countertransference issues, and termination issues. The format includes discussion of various readings, case presentations, use of training videos, and guest presenters.
The Intern Seminar in the winter, spring, and summer quarters continues in Evanston with the first core area with greater inclusion of the remaining core areas. Continuing to address psychotherapeutic competency, relevant topics will be integrated into the seminar, for example, treatment of substance and alcohol, eating disorders, trauma, personality disorders, and anxiety disorders. For Clinical Assessment, interns will learn the assessment of eating disorders, mental status examination, and other topics. The Diversity Module in the winter quarter is a series of presenters and panels who address a variety of topics related to multicultural competency in clinical work. A series of presentations in the Legal/Ethical Module will provide interns a basis for legal and ethical practice in professional psychology. Corresponding to the Psychiatric Consult competency area, a CAPS psychiatrist presents seminars on psychiatric topics such as bipolar disorders, the DSM diagnostic system, collaboration between psychologists and psychiatrists, and psychopharmacology. Finally, in a series of seminars on Group Psychotherapy led by a staff psychologist expert in group therapy, interns further their development of competency in group psychotherapy issues (e.g., stages of group development, curative factors, selection and screening, transference/countertransference, conflict and crisis management, termination) by reading significant articles, and case presentations of various “critical incidents” from each of the interns’ ongoing therapy groups. The Intern Seminar continues through July, with the more attention to interns’ professional development towards its final weeks.
Supervision of Supervision Seminar
Each intern provides clinical supervision to a practicum extern. Interns meet for 1.5 hours in a weekly seminar led by a licensed psychologist to receive group supervision for their supervision of practicum externs. A case conference model is utilized with an emphasis on peer consultation and dialogue. Discussion centers around the process of clinical supervision. Methods utilized include small group discussion and weekly updates by each intern, as well as rotating responsibility for focused case conference presentations by each intern utilizing audio- and videotapes of supervision. Intern supervisors are provided with readings concerning supervision models, research, and legal/ethical issues. Readings are discussed in relation to the interns’ developing model and experience with supervision. It is expected that the analysis and discussion of ongoing and current experiences as a supervisor will be informed by focused reading of the supervision literature.
