University of San Francisco
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
Our training program is developmental and cumulative, supporting and enhancing knowledge and skills that the intern possesses while providing new learning and experiential opportunities that facilitate their professional identity as a psychologist.
The program is designed to facilitate the development of ethical, competent psychologists who can function independently and contribute to the profession. With an emphasis on generalist training, the program focuses on the goal of preparing the intern for a staff psychologist position in a university counseling center.
Our training in brief therapy is not based on a single model or approach. We believe
that the most important aspects of training in brief therapy involve: 1) an
attitudinal shift on the part of the therapist which sees brief therapy as
efficacious and oftentimes 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 our case formulation and our
interactive approach to the student; 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.
The overarching goals for the internship program are as follows:
- To develop clinical skills required for the practice of psychology
- To develop and demonstrate competence in crisis intervention and management
- To develop awareness and competence in the application of ethical principles and laws
- To develop the ability to consult and collaborate with campus and off-campus communities and deliver effective outreach programming
- To develop understanding of and sensitivity to individual and cultural diversity, and integrate such understanding into all forms of service delivery
- To develop a professional identity as a psychologist
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 which inform our work 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 hope that our approach assists trainees in developing their own perspective toward brief therapy and in moving closer to their own integration of available frameworks and methods.
