Training Philosophy

University of San Francisco Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)

DOCTORAL INTERNSHIP IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: 

Training Philosophy, Goals, and Objectives

The USF Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) has a strong commitment to training that includes participation of all staff. The training program is based on psychological science and is sequential, cumulative, and graded in complexity. The program supports and enhances interns’ knowledge and skills while also providing didactic and experiential opportunities that facilitate development of their professional identities as psychologists. CAPS is consistent with USF’s Core Value of having a commitment to the “full, integral development of each person,” by providing a training program that facilitates the development of ethical, competent, generalist psychologists who can function independently and make positive contributions to the profession.  Best described as a Practitioner Model, an emphasis is placed upon grounding clinical practice in theory and research, in the context of mentoring relationships with supervising psychologists (Peterson, 2000). 

CAPS is committed to a brief therapy approach to clinical practice that is grounded in evidence-based treatment. We believe that the important aspects of training in brief therapy include: 1) an attitudinal shift on the part of the therapist, to see brief therapy as efficacious and oftentimes considered as the treatment of choice; 2) an exposure to a multiplicity of therapeutic frames and methods, with a focus on adapting them to brief work; 3) an insistence, to the extent possible, that therapeutic frame and method be fitted to the client rather than the reverse; 4) an integration of a multicultural perspective into both case formulation and an interactive approach to the client; and 5) an emphasis on continual practice in defining a focus with the client, and in orienting the therapy to that focus and its associated therapeutic goals.

Also in line with our sponsor institution’s “belief in and commitment to a diversity of perspectives,” our training in brief therapy is based on an integrationist approach. Our approach incorporates various theoretical models and interventions, while keeping in mind individual, cultural, and societal considerations. These ideal characteristics of a multicultural, integrationist approach to brief therapy are not simply actualized in some absolute fashion, even by experienced staff members. Rather, they represent orienting considerations that inform our work and training in an ongoing fashion. We see training as a process where we share our struggles and questions, our successes and failures, as a group. In the end, we are committed to assisting interns in developing their own perspectives toward brief therapy and moving closer to the integration of evidence-based frameworks and methods.

Clinical and training activities are structured in a sequential, cumulative, and graded format, consistent with the Revised Competency Benchmarks in Professional Psychology (APA, 2012). Therefore, by the end of the training year, interns achieve advanced levels of competency in clinical assessment, brief individual psychotherapy, crisis intervention and management, consultation and collaboration with campus and off-campus communities, and outreach program development and delivery. Interns will further develop their understanding of and sensitivity to individual and cultural diversity, and will integrate such understanding into all forms of service delivery. In addition, interns will obtain greater awareness and competence in program evaluation, supervision, and the application of ethical principles and laws as well as advancing their professional identity as a psychologist.