PLEASE NOTE: Interviewees will be selected on December 10th. Applicants selected to be interviewed will be notified by e-mail to arrange an interview time. This notification will occur from December 11th through 12th. Applicants not selected will be notified by e-mail by December 12th. Interviews will be conducted by phone or in person in early January 2009.

The University

The University of California at Los Angeles is nestled at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains, five miles from the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by an impressive array of cultural, entertainment and recreational opportunities. Established in 1919 as the second campus of the University of California system, the University enjoys an international reputation for academic excellence. The campus is consistently ranked among the top ten public institutions and research universities in the United States.

UCLA's student population is among the most diverse in the world, drawn from all fifty states and more than 92 countries. More than half of the approximately 36,000 students identify themselves as members of cultural or ethnic minorities.

Now ranked among the top five research libraries in North America, the UCLA library system consists of 13 separate branches, and has more than 6 million volumes. The largest location, the University Research Library, focuses on the special needs of graduate students and faculty.

UCLA has also distinguished itself as a leader in the visual and performing arts. Considered a mecca for local, national and international artists, the UCLA Center for the Performing Arts stages more than 200 public events annually. The Mathias Botanical Gardens, the Carter Japanese Gardens, UCLA at the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center, the Geffen Playhouse, the Fowler Museum of Cultural History, the Murphy Sculpture Garden, the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts and the Wight Art Gallery all contribute to an enriching environment for students and visitors. In addition, UCLA has a long tradition of excellence in athletics and has gained recognition for its strong combination of academics and athletics.

The Staff and the Setting

Student Psychological Services (SPS) is a multidisciplinary mental health center for the UCLA community, offering individual, group and conjoint counseling and psychotherapy to students; outreach, prevention, consultation and education to students, staff and faculty; and training programs for graduates in the mental health professions. We are a multiethnic and multicultural staff of psychologists, clinical social workers and psychiatrists, all of whom have varied training and interests. Our staff is one of the most diverse in the nation.

Students present with a full range of concerns, from normal developmental issues to severe psychopathology. SPS offers a variety of interventions to address these concerns. Each year we provide direct clinical services to approximately 3,000 UCLA students and outreach services to more than three times that number, thus offering an unusually rich opportunity to work with a large and diverse population in a variety of modalities.

Philosophy of Training

The philosophy of the SPS training program is that interns are professionals in training: our full-time predoctoral interns from clinical and counseling programs provide the same types of clinical and outreach services as our licensed supervisory staff. Recognizing that interns begin their internship at varying developmental levels, however, an assessment is made of their training needs at the beginning of the year and expectations are tailored to the individual. After a year of close supervision and support, we expect each intern to have developed an increased level of clinical autonomy, a heightened professional and ethical awareness and an enhanced understanding of self.

We train our interns to be generalists, with particular expertise in working with a college population. Over the course of the year, interns provide individual, couples and group psychotherapy, crisis intervention, emergency response and psychological assessment to university students. In addition, interns perform outreach, prevention and consultation to the university community and supervise advanced practicum students from the UCLA Psychology Department’s APA-accredited Ph.D. program in clinical psychology. Interns are encouraged to develop specific expertise with special populations and these interests are taken into account when making assignments; however, they are considered as secondary to generalist training.  Interns are also encouraged and supported in their research involvement.

An appreciation of human diversity is a cornerstone of our training program. Our highly diverse clinical staff trains interns in the competent provision of services to UCLA's pluralistic student body. The diversity of our staff and our clientele provides interns with an unusual opportunity to gain specific clinical experience and expertise with a broad spectrum of individually and culturally diverse clients across a full range of health and psychopathology.  Over the course of the year, interns are expected to refine their sensitivity and competence in service delivery to students of varied racial, cultural, religious, gender, sexual orientation, physical and age groups. Professional diversity is also valued, as our staff consists of psychologists, clinical social workers and psychiatrists, and trainees from psychology, social work, and psychiatry residency programs.

Intensive supervision is a distinguishing feature of SPS internship training and encompasses a variety of theoretical frameworks. Within our apprenticeship model of training, interns are frequently asked to reflect on personal issues potentially affecting their professional functioning as therapists, trainers, consultants and colleagues. While we strive to respect interns' privacy rights, the disclosure of personal information pertinent to interns' professional roles in the context of their supervision is routine and expected.

Finally, our training program operates in a context of ongoing reciprocal evaluation and feedback. Such periodic evaluation ensures that interns, as well as supervisory staff, are progressing in their individual and professional development goals.

Goals of the Training Program

The goal of the training program is to prepare psychology interns to function as competent, confident and ethical professionals.

The full-time, twelve-month internship in clinical and counseling psychology provides trainees with the opportunity to receive an intensively supervised experience in delivering mental health services. Interns receive training in short and long-term individual therapy, group and couples therapy, emergency response, crisis intervention, psychological assessment and diagnosis, consultation and outreach, ethical and legal regulations and practices, and supervision of practicum students.  Training occurs experientially via clinical work, case consultation, and outreach to the campus community, and in a variety of formal and informal didactic settings.

SPS provides interns with the opportunity to interact with colleagues in other disciplines without the artificial hierarchical constraints present in many other clinical settings. Observing and functioning within the SPS community of psychologists, clinical social workers and psychiatrists is an invaluable experience in the development of interns' professional identity, integrity and independence. Routine interdisciplinary interaction is present throughout the department, in committees, case conferences, staff development activities and training activities.

Description of Training Activities

Individual and Couples Therapy

Full-time interns are expected to carry a caseload of 16-18 individual client hours per week. Most SPS clients receive short-term treatment. Interns, however, have the opportunity to see several clients in extended psychotherapy. They also learn and practice a brief therapy model.

Group Therapy

SPS offers general psychotherapy groups, a variety of theme-oriented groups and specific population-oriented groups. Our Stress Clinic offers structured three- to five-session groups focusing on various stress management techniques and topics, including cognitive-behavioral approaches, biofeedback, procrastination and test-anxiety. Past groups have included assertion training, bereavement, eating disorders, adult children of alcoholics, adults molested as children, personal exploration and students with chronic health problems. Support groups have been offered for ADD/ADHD, HIV infected/affected, women, gay, lesbian, and bi-sexual students, and writers of theses and dissertations. There is a possibility that full-time interns may co-lead one or two groups with a staff member or post doc and have the opportunity to create a group.

Emergency Coverage
When they are familiar with SPS and University and community resources, interns join the staff rotation, responding to students presenting with urgent or emergency concerns. On average, each intern provides walk-in emergency coverage 6 -8 hours each month.

Supervision
Full-time interns receive three hours weekly of one-to-one supervision of their individual therapy cases from two licensed staff members. For each therapy group, the intern receives up to one hour of supervision weekly by the staff co-leader. If the intern independently runs a group, a staff member with particular expertise in the area provides up to an hour of supervision weekly.

Crisis Intervention Group Supervision
For the first two quarters, this meeting is devoted to intensive case supervision of the "Crisis Model", a brief treatment model taught and used at SPS.

Consultation, Outreach, Prevention and Education (COPE)
Serving as consultants, trainers and educators, the SPS staff participates in many efforts to enhance the quality of student life, and offers services not only in our offices but throughout the campus. Members of the staff lead discussions and make presentations to such groups as residence hall advisors, peer counselors, faculty and academic support service staff. Interns are expected to participate in the department's ongoing projects and also to initiate, design and implement others in which they have particular interest. A minimum of three COPE projects are required.

Training Seminars
Interns attend a weekly two-hour Training Seminar led by various staff members and local mental health professionals. These seminars focus on training the interns in the variety of activities they will engage in during the year, such as specialized treatment topics, emergency management and consultation, and designing workshops. The seminars also address an array of clinical and professional issues, such as clinical proficiency in the treatment of ethnic minorities, short term therapy models and mental health law and ethics.  In addition, interns attend a weekly seminar on Psychotherapy Models, which includes exposure to theories and interventions such as CBT, mindfulness, CBASP, group psychotherapy, and psychodynamic and contemporary analytic psychotherapy.

Staff Meetings and Staff Development
Interns attend staff meetings once each month. Additional meetings are devoted to in-service training for the entire staff.

Psychological Assessment
Interns complete a minimum of six psychological assessment reports focusing on ADHD and questions of differential diagnosis.  The weekly ADHD psychological assessment seminar provides an overview of testing instruments and methods typically applied in these assessments.  Interns receive group supervision of assessment cases throughout the training year within the weekly seminar

Supervision of Psychology Practicum Trainees
Each psychology intern provides clinical supervision for third-year practicum students. Oversight is provided during a weekly 2-hour group supervision focusing exclusively on intern's supervision tasks.

Research (Optional)
Interns are provided with 2 hours a week to work on their dissertation or other approved research.

Sample Schedule

Stipend
The stipend for a full-time twelve month appointment is $23,660. Benefits include generous vacation, sick leave, medical coverage and up to 40 professional development hours.

Licensure Hours
SPS is a full time (40 hours per week), 12-month internship, from September 3, 2007 to August 29, 2008. As such, it consists of 2080 hours, including 120 hours of vacation, 104 hours of holiday leave, and up to 96 hours of sick time.

Application Process

Applicants should have completed all required coursework, a minimum of 1000 hours of practicum experience (400 hours of which are face-to-face client hours) and comprehensive examinations in an American Psychological Association or Canadian Psychological Association accredited clinical or counseling psychology program.

A complete application should be mailed in one packet and must include the following:

Please note:

An interview (either in-person or by telephone) will be required of all finalists.

Please note application deadline of December 1, 2007. It is the intern applicant's responsibility to arrange that letters of recommendation and all supporting documents reach us by the deadline. We suggest that you take into account typical postal delays and mail early.

UCLA-SPS adheres to all APPIC internship selection policies.

Please refer to the APPIC web page http://www.appic.org/ for the most recent copy of Internship Offers and Acceptances. The AAPI can be downloaded from an APPIC link http://www.appic.org/match/
5_3_match_application.html.

You can print the Internship Reference Form and Waiver of Access Rights form by clicking on this link: SPS Internship Reference Form (Make copies of each form for each referee.)

In order to view/print the application, you may obtain the FREE Acrobat Reader for your platform (Windows, Macintosh, Unix). Information for downloading and using Acrobat are available here.

Send all application materials to:
Intern Applications Coordinator
UCLA Student Psychological Services
John Wooden Center West
Box 951556
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1556
Fax: (310) 206-7365
e-mail: internship@sps.ucla.edu