Post-MSW Internships in Clinical Social Work

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

The University of California, Berkeley is located in the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area. Long noted for its excellence in academics and research, CAL Berkeley has an intellectual and educational community of outstanding depth and achievement. The University has produced a number of Nobel laureates and includes numerous members of the National Academy of Sciences. Enhancing this excellence is the rich cultural, ethnic, social and socioeconomic diversity of the University community in which every state and over 100 foreign countries are represented. Over half the undergraduates are people of color; 5,000 are re-entry students; 2,200 are foreign students; 3,200 are immigrants and refugees; and 68% receive financial aid.

The city of Berkeley is a vibrant, multi-faceted, culturally diverse college town. The campus is close to two beautiful parks offering cycling and hiking trails, picnic areas and scenic reservoirs. Another 5,000 acres of state, regional and national parklands lie within a twenty-mile radius of the campus. The cities of Oakland and San Francisco, with all of their cultural, architectural, sports and culinary delights, are each twenty minutes away by car or commuter train.

COUNSELING SERVICES

As part of a diverse, urban campus, Counseling & Psychological Services provides a wide range of services and programs to meet the academic, career, and personal needs of students. The mission of Counseling & Psychological Services is to support the academic mission of the University by providing comprehensive counseling services to assist students with a variety of concerns including academic success, life management, career and life planning, and personal growth and development. Services include individual and couples counseling; groups and workshops; crisis intervention; hospitalization; as well as consultation, education and outreach for student groups, academic departments and administrative units. The multidisciplinary, multicultural staff includes counseling and clinical psychologists, clinical social workers and psychiatrists. The Testing Center and the Career Counseling Library are integral to the academic and career counseling components of Counseling & Psychological Services. As part of the University Health Services, Counseling & Psychological Services staff work closely with Psychiatry Services (which provides psychiatric evaluations for medication and medication monitoring), medical staff and health educators to provide quality programs and services for the campus community. Staff also collaborates with Social Services, which offers counseling for pregnancy, medical concerns, sexual assault, domestic violence, eating disorders, drug and alcohol problems, and nutrition.

Counseling & Psychological Services focuses on brief models of intervention which integrate developmental perspectives with other theoretical models. A substantial proportion of staff resources are devoted to crisis assessment, intervention and consultation. Outreach and consultation to the campus community are also major components of Counseling & Psychological Services. Interns are considered a vital and integral part of the staff and are involved in all aspects of counseling programs.

SOCIAL SERVICES

Social Services is located in the University Health Services (UHS) on the Berkeley campus. The UHS is a very comprehensive health facility that provides outpatient medical and mental health services for students.

Social services provides individual and couples counseling for students and is located in the medical clinical area of UHS to facilitate ease of communication with medical staff. The medical focus of Social Services' counseling is designed to address the psycho-social effects of newly diagnosed illnesses, recent injuries, chronic or disabling conditions, eating disorders or pregnancy. Counselors help students address issues of sexual and domestic violence. Social Services also specializes in counseling chemically dependent clients and provides assessment, treatment planning and campus consultation.

Medical case management and group counseling are also integral treatment interventions used by the staff. Social services focuses on using brief models of intervention, which integrate developmental perspectives with other theoretical models.

The Social Services staff is a diverse, multidisciplinary team who work closely with the medical staff, and counseling and psychiatry staff (CPS) to provide coordinated quality services to students.

PHILOSOPHY OF TRAINING

The internship program is committed to providing comprehensive training experiences in order to facilitate interns' professional development and personal growth. A primary goal is to help interns consolidate their clinical and consultation skills, and to integrate these into their professional identities as social workers. This training experience marks the significant developmental transition of interns from trainees to well-rounded professionals who are able to function competently and autonomously and who will contribute to the field of social work and to the welfare of clients. Special focus is given to interns' development in the following areas:

1. The development of professional competencies in clinical social work including the knowledge, attitudes and applied skills necessary for work with a broad range of client issues and problems. The integration of academic and theoretical learning with clinical work is an important aspect of this development.
   
   
2. The development of knowledge, awareness, appreciation and skills for work with diverse populations. Interns are taught and encouraged to examine and explore their knowledge of and attitudes towards cultural, racial, sexual, religious, physical, and age differences as part of this development.
   
   
3. The development of a professional identity as a clinical social worker and the evolution of roles from student to professional. This process involves the integration of knowledge of oneself with the ability to work clinically with rich diverse populations. This also involves being able to assume professional and personal responsibility for one's work.

In order to facilitate these goals, intensive supervision, seminars, consultation, and ongoing feedback are provided. The full-time, twelve-month internship provides interns with training in the specific areas of crisis intervention, brief counseling for individuals and couples, groups and workshops, and consultation and outreach.

Interns have the opportunity to work with broad range of student problems encountered in a university setting, and to participate in all aspects of CPS and Social Services including staff meetings, case conferences, and staff development and training.

CPS trains pre-doctoral psychology students, post-doctoral psychology fellows as well as post-MSW interns and the training program is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association. Supervised hours for licensure as a clinical social worker is offered.

FORMAL TRAINING ACTIVITIES

Supervision

• Individual supervision: Interns receive two to three hours per week of intensive individual supervision from one or more licensed senior staff members at CPS or Social Services. Initial supervisory assignments are made by staff responsible for training. Individual intern's interests, training needs, skill level, theoretical orientation and preferences for supervisory style are considered in making these assignments. In order to expose interns to different theoretical orientations and supervision styles, there may be the opportunity to change primary supervisors at mid-year. Additional supervision experiences or case consultation opportunities can be arranged based upon specific training needs and interests.
  
  
• Group supervision: Interns may co-lead psychoeducational or therapy groups and workshops with a senior staff member. In the case of group co-leadership, interns receive one hour per week of group supervision from the senior staff member.

Seminars

Training seminars provide interns with an opportunity to deepen their learning and integrate theoretical knowledge with actual clinical experiences. The following seminars are typically offered each year:

1. Clinical Seminar. The weekly 2-hour clinical training seminar occurs throughout the year and is presented by senior staff members and invited speakers. This seminar is intended to provide interns with information and knowledge essential for clinical work with a student population. Topics and training modules include important areas such as professional and ethical issues in clinical practice, brief psychotherapy, clinical assessment, crisis assessment and intervention, psychopharmacology, substance abuse, eating disorders and incest/abuse issues.
   
   
2. Multicultural Seminar. This seminar combines experiential and didactic components to explore how counselor and client assumptions, backgrounds and training may influence the counseling process. Interns are encouraged to explore and understand how their own training and backgrounds may affect their interactions with clients.
   
   
3. Professional Development Seminar. This seminar provides a forum for interns to discuss issues such as licensure, career decision-making and job search.

Case Conferences

In weekly staff case conferences, interns and staff members present cases for discussion and provide peer support and consultation around clinical work. Interns also have the opportunity to participate in a mini-case conference of their own, with a senior staff member as consultant.

Staff Meetings and Professional Development

Interns participate in monthly staff meetings. In addition, interns attend staff development workshops which are offered regularly throughout the year. These workshops focus on specific areas in which staff receive additional training and information. Examples of recent workshops include: multicultural concerns, short-term psychotherapy, obsessive-compulsive disorder and working with African-American students. Interns are also encouraged to attend national and local conferences.

Specialty Areas

Interns may receive training in specialty areas such as chemical dependency, eating disorders and sexual and domestic violence, as well as, clinical case management for chronic health issues and post-hospitalization. Training includes working with students who have these concerns, participation on treatment teams, as well as supervision by qualified staff members.

TYPICAL WEEKLY SCHEDULE

A typical intern schedule for a 40 hour week:

APPOINTMENTS AND BENEFITS

Internships are full-time (40 hours per week) for a twelve month period beginning in
August 2, 2010. The stipend for the internship is $24,940 for the year. Vacation, sick leave, professional development time, medical insurance and other university benefits (library privileges, access to university recreational facilities for a fee) are provided.

QUALIFICATIONS

Applicants must have a master's degree in social work from an accredited training institution. Course work must include personality development, psychopathology, and theories and techniques of psychotherapy. Applicants must have two years of supervised clinical experience as part of their master's training. Candidates with a demonstrated interest in working with multicultural populations are preferred.

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