Training Activities

Intern Orientation

The orientation program is developed and coordinated by the Training Director with input from the Training Committee and senior staff. Orientation is an ongoing process, and interns are encouraged to consult with their supervisor and/or any senior staff member throughout the orientation period and the internship year.

Individual Supervision
Supervision is one of the primary tools utilized to assist interns in their training and development. As such, it is an important focus of the internship experience. Interns receive two hours of weekly individual supervision from a primary supervisor, who is a Licensed Psychologist on staff. Interns also meet with a secondary supervisor for one hour each week.

The primary supervisor is responsible for overall case management, overseeing intakes and clinical supervision. Primary supervision is rotated once during the year (January). Interns meet with a secondary supervisor for one hour each week. Sessions focus on specific case supervision with an average of two clients per week. Interns may keep the same secondary supervisor throughout the year or rotate at the end of each semester.

 Interns are assigned a temporary supervisor for the first two weeks of internship. To assist in making permanent supervision assignments, interns meet as a group with each supervisor during the first week of orientation to discuss supervision styles, theoretical orientations and expectations for supervision. Supervisory assignments are made by the Training Director with input from both the interns and professional staff. Intern preferences are honored as much as possible.

 At the start of supervision, each intern will be asked to submit a brief outline or statement of his/her training goals which is based on a self-assessment of skills completed by the intern. Together with their supervisors, interns will determine the experiences necessary to attain their individualized training goals.

 Supervision of Couples Counseling
Additional supervision dedicated to couples work is scheduled as interns pair with senior staff psychologists to do conjoint co-therapy with couples.

Supervision of Group Therapy
Interns receive supervision for each group they co-facilitate.

Supervision of Supervision
During the spring semester, interns provide supervision of doctoral practicum students. Interns meet one hour a week in dyads with a licensed psychologist for supervision of supervision. Discussions center on developing supervisory skills, supervision issues, ethics, and viewing recordings of their sessions with supervisees. Since interns are paired for supervision of supervision, they are able to profit from a peer’s experiences as well as from their own.

Intern Case Conference/Supervision
A one hour case conference is scheduled weekly for case presentations by interns and senior staff. A senior staff psychologist presents a case once every five weeks and facilitates a discussion among the interns. Interns are then scheduled in subsequent weeks to present formal case presentations and the same senior staff member facilitates the discussion. This is designed to allow interns the opportunity to receive peer supervision of their clinical work, along with feedback from a senior staff psychologist. It also gives interns an opportunity to have regular contact with a variety senior staff psychologists.

Written case presentations are distributed the day before the presentation. Case presentations include a multiaxial diagnosis and the appropriate application and interpretation of one or more assessment instruments. Interns are encouraged to include assessment materials and selected portions of session recordings as part of their presentation.

Assessment Seminar
Assessment training emphasizes didactic and applied components of assessment instruments specific to the college student population that will be incorporated into comprehensive psychological assessment reports. The Assessment Seminar emphasizes consultation with the external source to create referral questions. Interns are trained to view assessment as a process that integrates information from referral sources, clinical interviews and objective inventories to create appropriate recommendations and diagnoses. Senior staff psychologists supervise and sign-off on intern assessments.

Interns also are trained to provide a clinical interview and administer the Test of Variables of Attention (T.O.V.A.), along with other appropriate diagnostic instruments to assess attention and impulse control in several areas. Interns are trained in interpretation, diagnosis, report writing and communicating results to the Student Health Service psychiatrist.

Psychopharmacology Seminar
The university psychiatrist and psychiatric clinical nurse specialist meet weekly with the interns to review the use of psychotropic medications, emphasizing those most frequently used on campus. Interns have an opportunity to discuss client medication issues.

Professional Topics Seminar
This weekly seminar focuses on exploring various professional topics and provides additional training in several areas. Trainees have the opportunity to request topics for the Professional Topics Seminar during the spring and summer semesters. Some of the topics covered during the Seminar include are listed below.

Diversity Training
The diversity seminar series provides opportunities for readings, experiential activities, client discussion and consultation regarding diverse clients. Diversity awareness, training experiences, and opportunities are also integrated throughout the internship program. Each spring, the interns are invited to the Training Director’s home for Culture Sharing, an all day event that focuses on the intern’s own internal development related to diversity issues.

Ethics Training

Interns are expected to have previous training through course work and seminars in legal and ethical issues. This series includes sessions focusing on APA Code of Ethics, counseling center policy and procedures, as well as Tennessee law relevant to the practice of psychology. Legal and ethical issues also are discussed in supervision and interns are expected to consult early and often throughout the year.

Outreach and Consultation Training
The outreach and consultation training component prepares interns to consult with the campus community about mental health concerns and to provide psychoeducational programs and training to campus constituents. Interns learn about the center’s outreach and consultation program with a focus on designing and presenting workshops and consulting with campus and community entities. Interns may observe presentations by senior staff and/or co-present before presenting on their own. Most interns have broad experience with outreach before coming to the campus and require minimal supervision.

Senior staff members are involved with consultation on campus and in the community. Interns are invited to enter into an apprenticeship role with senior staff members in the area of consultation relationships. Interns also may develop a needs assessment and proposal for addressing either campus or Counseling Center needs, including a proposal for action.

QPR Training: UT utilizes a national suicide prevention/education program called QPR (Question, Persuade, and Refer). Analogous to CPR, QPR provides the life saving skills necessary to effectively and directly ask someone if they are suicidal, persuade them to get help and refer them to the appropriate professional. All UT Counseling Center staff members are certified instructors for the QPR Gatekeeper trainings. Interns will also receive eight hours of training to become certified as a QPR Gatekeeper Instructors and assist in training others. The certification is active for three years.

Training in the Provision of Supervision
Prior to supervising a psychology doctoral student during the spring semester, this series prepares interns for their supervisory role. Didactic and process issues relevant to the provision of supervision by interns are discussed. The goal of this series is to assist interns in the development of intermediate to advanced skills and knowledge in the area of clinical supervision.

Other topics
Later in the year, workshops may be offered on topics related to program evaluation, making the transition to professional life, job interview skills, starting a private practice and/or other topics requested by interns.

Dissertation/Scholarly Activity Research
Interns are expected to engage in scholarly project/research and present the findings to center staff. Although most interns focus on their dissertation research, there are opportunities to engage in other research (e.g., in conjunction with faculty members from the Counseling Psychology doctoral program).

Intern Support Group/Peer Consultation
Interns schedule one hour per week to form their own self-led support group to process their internship experiences throughout the year.  The Training Director is available to join this meeting once a month to address any issues the interns would like to discuss about their personal and professional development and experiences in the training program. Interns are encouraged to schedule this time around a lunch hour in order to have up to two hours to meet each week.

All Center staff and interns participate in a weekly one hour professional development meeting at the center. Speakers from the area are invited to share information about community resources and topics of interest.

Professional Development

Center Meetings
All Center staff and interns participate in a weekly one hour professional development meeting at the center. Speakers from the area are invited to share information about community resources and topics of interest.

Division of Student Affairs Meetings
The Division of Student Affairs schedules a professional staff development breakfast 3 to 4 times a semester, as well as a Coffee House, which also meets several times a semester. These gatherings provide an opportunity for interns not only to hear pertinent issues discussed, often from a nationally known speaker, but also to develop cross-departmental professional relationships.

Professional Conferences
Release time is available for interns to attend workshops and conferences. Some funding is usually available.

Staff Meetings
Interns will participate in weekly staff meetings which include intake assignment meetings and general staff meetings.

Committee Meetings
Interns have the opportunity to serve on one or more of the Counseling Center or University Committees. Center Committees include Clinical, Diversity, Group, Outreach and Training.

Meeting with Training Director
The Training Director meets with the interns on a regular basis to assess how the internship training is meeting the interns’ needs and to solicit feedback about the training program. The Training Director keeps an open door policy and interns are encouraged to meet informally and/or request additional meetings to focus on training concerns.