The Doctoral Internship Program
The University of Rochester’s University Counseling Center (UCC) offers a 2,000 hour supervised experience in health service psychology. The aim of the doctoral psychology internship is to prepare psychology interns for postdoctoral or entry level positions in college counseling centers. UCC offers a wide range of psychological services to the University of Rochester community that includes the undergraduate and graduate population and students at the Eastman School of Music and the School of Medicine. Interns will encounter a wide range of presenting problems including depression, anxiety, trauma, identity exploration, eating disorders, substance abuse, and relationship concerns.
The training experience provides a broad range of clinical opportunities within a university setting and is supported by intensive supervision, seminars, and clinical case conferences. These experiences include: time-limited psychotherapy, year-long group psychotherapy, assessment for treatment planning purposes, on-call/emergency services, provision of supervision to psychology graduate students, and campus outreach and consultation, and a research-based group social justice project.
The UR UCC internship supports the interns growing in the profession wide competencies required for all APA accredited doctoral internships: intervention, assessment, supervision, consultation, research, individual and cultural diversity, ethics, professional values, and communication skills. We also place a strong emphasis on our program specific competency of self-reflection, based in a belief of the importance of self-reflection and critical thinking in clinical practice.
A significant strength of the program lies in the trainee’s opportunity to work closely and intensively with licensed psychologists and social workers who are committed to training. On a weekly basis interns receive three hours of individual supervision, two hours of group supervision, participation in several case-oriented seminars and a clinical conference where senior staff present their own work. Additional supervision is available when needed.
UCC has a long-standing commitment to intensive supervision and training. This training is provided to postdoctoral fellows, doctoral psychology interns, practicum programs from local psychology graduate programs, social work interns and fellows, Counselors-in-Residence, and advanced psychiatric residents from the School of Medicine. The full-time supervising staff is composed of licensed psychologists and licensed social workers. The part-time supervising staff includes psychologists who have private practices in the Rochester community.
The Intern Experience: Meet Brianna
Health Service Psychologists
Psychologists are recognized as Health Service Providers 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 consumers based on:
- Having completed scientific and professional training resulting in a doctoral degree in psychology;
- Having completed an internship and supervised experience in health care settings;
- Having been licensed as psychologists at the independent practice level” (APA, 2013).
The University of Rochester University Counseling Center adheres to the principles of the Health Service Psychology Education Collaborative (2013).