Core Components
UVA CAPS’ American Psychological Association accredited program provides culturally informed and evidence based doctoral internship training in Health Service Psychology (HSP) within a multidisciplinary university counseling center context. Psychologists practicing within university counseling centers are recognized as providing Health Service Psychology if they are duly trained and experienced in the delivery of preventive, assessment, diagnostic and therapeutic intervention services relative to the psychological and physical health of clients. The internship program offers three full-time, 12 month positions.
A Day in the Life
A Look Back
Our internship program provides a structured and progressive training experience within an integrated care setting, with the explicit goals of fostering the development of core clinical and counseling skills as well as professional attitudes and behavior. It is the intention of the training program to develop compassionate and authentic professionals prepared for general health service psychology practice in a wide range of clinical settings, with a focus on individual and group psychotherapy, crisis intervention, supervision provision, and outreach and university consultation. CAPS also nurtures the development of individual interests and beginning specialties, and deeply values an affirming attitude towards all forms of diversity. We fully support the training of psychologists who are competent to serve all members of the public as described in Preparing Professional Psychologists to Serve a Diverse Public as an essential component of our profession.
The internship program is based on a developmental-practitioner approach that builds on the knowledge and skills that interns acquire during doctoral training and prepares them for entry level positions as health service psychologists. Training activities are primarily experiential, supported by didactic material, to facilitate learning in the provision of clinical services to students, outreach and consultation with University community members, utilization of research and scholarly material to support evidenced-based practice, and provision of supervision. Interns further develop knowledge, skills and attitudes to support professional functioning in the areas of ethics, cultural and individual difference, use and provision of supervision, inter-professional and interdisciplinary clinical consultation, communication/ interpersonal skills, and overall professional values and attitudes. Our individual psychotherapy training focuses upon the application of contemporary attachment and emotion informed brief therapy models integrated with skills-based practice as clinically indicated. Group therapy is predominately informed by process and psycho-educational models of treatment.
Noted strengths of our program include training in culturally informed contemporary brief relational and integrated psychotherapies, group therapy, outreach and community consultation, risk assessment and crisis intervention, integrated care within a multidisciplinary setting, supervision provision, and the integration of cultural training into all aspects of the program. In addition, as members of multidisciplinary treatment teams, interns benefit from the opportunity to hone clinical skills in a collegial atmosphere that recognizes the complexity of human experience and values multiple clinical perspectives.
The activities listed are the core training activities required of all interns. Interns are expected to work 40-42 hours per week.
Questions related to the program’s accredited status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation:
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002
Phone: (202) 336-5979
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation