OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
Open search box
The OSU academic schedule begins classes the last week in September which allows interns the opportunity to spend the first four or five weeks becoming oriented toward the university, CAPS, and the training program.
The didactic component of our training program utilizes the science of psychology to inform current psychological practice. The goals of these seminars include providing interns with advanced didactic information, facilitating at times "difficult dialogues" and preparing interns for challenges that they may encounter in the future of the profession. Due to our developmental approach, we strive to tailor this seminar to the needs of the current intern class.
Throughout the year, interns participate in training seminars, or related activities, for an average of three hours per week. Many of the seminar topics require readings and most of the presenters provide resources and recommendations for further information.
This three-academic term seminar addresses a wide range of professional issues intended to facilitate entry into the profession of psychology. Common areas addressed include specific clinical issues or special populations, evidence-based theories and treatment approaches, job search strategies, licensure requirements, and reviewing new developments in the field. The following are major areas of concentration for the professional issues seminar:
These topics are designed to assist interns, in different stages of development, with exploring and raising their self-awareness regarding their identity markers and with developing cultural humility. They aim to impact the interns’ work on the therapeutic relationship in addition to awareness and understanding of power, privilege, and systemic inequities that influence their identity markers, their role at CAPS and OSU, and the profession at large. We encourage discourse around issues of diversity to include examining various social identities, intersectionality, and an ecological framework for understanding psychological practices (i.e., counseling, assessment, consultation, advocacy, outreach/prevention, teaching, and research). This is accomplished through personal reflection and assignments, readings, experiential exercises, group discussions, and application of concepts to case presentations.
Objectives include (1) being able to evaluate one’s career journey to date at the entry of internship along with significant milestones and their influence on career decision making, (2) being able to use technology and print media to effectively determine, formulate, and implement a job search post-internship, (3) help with post-doc and/or job interviewing and ways to make yourself stand out when applying to various positions, (4) reflect on post-internship offers and what are the pros and cons of each offer/position.
Interns will discuss how they manage organizational and personal stress throughout the internship. This module may include some self-assessment and goal-setting.
The primary goals of this module are to (1) inform interns about the public health model and best practice development in mental health promotion, (2) collaborate with the Director of Mental Health Promotion of CAPS and/or CAPS liaison and external partners to design and/or facilitate a project that is in line with the mission and priorities of CAPS, and (3) reflect on lessons learned in the process and identify ways that CAPS can utilize the project after the intern completes the program. Interns’ projects will be guided by the public health model, health behavior theories, and the social-ecological model.
This seminar focuses on establishing a comfort level and proficiency in all aspects of facilitating groups including identifying what groups are needed at a counseling center, the referral and pre-screening process, co-leadership, multicultural sensitivity in groups, and dynamics involved in co-facilitating groups. The seminar provides didactic and experiential learning as well as supervision for groups that interns are co-leading.
Our interns are trained in supervision skills and participate in weekly supervision of supervision. The supervisory relationship between the practicum student and the intern will begin in the winter term and continue throughout the spring term. The intern will provide weekly supervision of the practicum student and review practicum therapy tapes. Practicum students are drawn from several regional programs and are selected through a competitive process. Their didactic training will largely occur in their home academic programs.
Interns have up to five (5) days per year allotted for professional development activities. These may be used for attending conferences or workshops outside of the office, going on job interviews, or attending dissertation defense or commencement. Interns are not required to be on-site or in the agency during these hours.
Interns can devote up to 80 hours of dissertation time per training year if indicated.
Interns will have one hour every other week to meet informally as a group. This time can be used for getting to know one another on a deeper level, giving and receiving support, talking about the internship experience, doing some "reality testing" with one another, dealing with conflict, and developing a sense of cohesion as a group. Additionally, every other week interns meet with the Director of Training as a way to "check in" on the internship year to date.