Doctoral Internship

The internship training program at Counseling & Psychological Services is based on the practitioner-scholar model of training. This model emphasizes continuous instruction and integration of the interplay between practice and scholarship. We emphasize the application of science in professional practice through didactic instruction in training activities and seminars, the use of hypothesis testing in diagnosis, treatment planning, and clinical intervention choices, and through the use of assessment, research data, and clinical literature to inform clinical decisions. We define scholarship broadly to include theory, empirically-based research and analysis of current trends in the profession, and the use of scientific methods and critical thinking in the process of clinical decision making. Internship experiences are designed to integrate this base of scholarship with the practice of psychological intervention.

From this philosophy and model, we have one overall aim of the internship training program:  Produce graduates who are skilled in the interface between science and practice and prepared for entry into the practice of health service psychology. From this overall aim comes a broad array of training activities that will provide opportunities to develop and hone practice competencies.  In accordance with the Standards of Accreditation for APA accredited internships, the training program at CAPS focuses the training components on the nine profession-wide competencies: research, ethical and legal standards, individual and cultural diversity, professional values and attitudes, communication and interpersonal skills, assessment, intervention, supervision, consultation and inter-professional/interdisciplinary skills.

Interns achieve proficiency in these competencies via our twelve-month, 2000-hour internship, consisting of service activities, training activities, and professional development activites.

Individual Counseling and Psychotherapy

Interns spend twelve to fifteen hours each week providing individual counseling to UNC Charlotte students. Counseling & Psychological Services works from a short-term counseling model ( 4-6 sessions per counseling contact) and interns will work with their supervisors to identify clients to work with on a longer term basis.  Interns have the opportunity to broaden their clinical experience base through work with a variety of client issues ranging from developmental concerns such as adjustment to college to more psychologically challenging clinical issues such as working with eating disorders, bipolar and mood disorders and trauma concerns. Among clients presenting with personal concerns, a wide variety of problems are represented, including relationship concerns, stress and anxiety management, and depression.

Initial Consultation

CAPS provides daily intake and on-call coverage to assess new clients, manage crises, and to provide consultation to the University community. Interns participate in this important service by providing one four hour Counselor on Duty shift where they will meet with students for initial consultations.  During the Counselor on Duty shifts, interns will also take responsibility for managing emergencies, crises, and for consulting with faculty and staff who contact the Center.I

Process and Structured Groups

Our group program is central to Counseling & Psychological Services and reflects the most recent advances in best practice guidelines for group psychotherapy. We currently offer five to six process oriented therapy groups each semester (including a therapy group for female survivors of sexual trauma) and numerous structured groups (e.g., Social Confidence, Veteran's Group, Empowered Black Woman, True Selves). We also have a number of workshop offerings that focus on skill building for students presenting with concerns related to stress/anxiety, depression, and relationships. See our current group offerings here and our workshops here.  Interns co-lead one process-oriented and one structured group or workshop with a senior staff member each semester. Interns receive supervision from their group co-leaders and participate in the bi-weekly group case conference, where leaders engage in rich discussions using digital recordings. These meetings provide training on group development, diversity issues, co-leadership dynamics, and a variety of other topics. Leaders rotate presenting group material for peer feedback and discussion.

Outreach and Consultation

Interns are required to participate in a minimum of seven outreach and consultation programs per year and are given flexibility to allow many of these programs to match their specific clinical interests, including particular topics and/or serving particular communities on campus.  In order to ensure the intern has exposure to the various components of outreach and consultation, as reflected in our our Outreach Mission Statement, no more than three of the seven outreach and consultation programs may be tabled events and liaison relationship building.  In addition to the seven outreach and consultation programs, interns will also be required to complete a Wellness Passport Program in the fall semester and a year-long Community In-Reach Project (CIP), both with the mentorship and support of the senior staff.  The CIP is a project in which interns choose a specific campus community, often one that is marginalized or underserved, and take steps to reach into that community to address issues related to well-being and mental health.

Practicum Supervision

Interns will provide individual supervision for a doctoral-level  psychology or counseling practicum student in the Spring semester. This supervision is in turn supervised by a senior staff member.  Supervision of supervision is provided to interns in a supportive group environment, where issues such as supervisor development, learning training concepts, use-of-self in supervision, supervisee concerns, and other relevant issues are addressed.

Psychological Assessment

Although we do not provide extensive training in the use of psychometrics, interns obtain additional experience in the objective assessment of personality, intellectual functioning and symptom inventories. They meet biweekly for didactic instruction and discussion of the theory of therapeutic assessment, each instrument, selection of clients, report writing, and feedback sessions. Instruments commonly used with our specific population include the MMPI-2, NEO-PI, BDI, BAI, TAT, Eating Disorder Inventory, and Trauma Symptom Inventory. Interns are required to complete two assessment batteries during their internship year. Each test battery will include a minimum of two testing instruments.

Counseling Center staff members are committed to providing quality supervision. Interns are supervised closely and in a number of formats​.  

Individual Supervision

Each intern receives two weekly hours of individual supervision by a licensed senior staff psychologist. To allow exposure to alternative styles, interns switch supervisors at midyear. While we believe that our training program satisfies the requirements for licensure in most states, it is the responsibility of the intern applicant to contact the licensing boards in the states in which they desire to practice to determine the specific requirements for supervision.

Intern Case Conference

For one hour each week, interns meet as a group with a senior staff member who provides additional supervision in a case-presentation format. 

Intern Professional Practice Seminar

Interns meet weekly with staff for more in-depth training on clinical topics of interest and relevance to a counseling center population. Typical topics include developmental issues in college students, interpersonal treatment of depression, cognitive treatment of anxiety, substance abuse, sexual assault, and working with individual and cultural diversity. 

Assessment Seminar

Although we do not provide extensive training in the use of psychometrics, interns obtain additional experience in the objective assessment of personality, intellectual functioning and symptom inventories. The assessment seminar meets biweekly for didactic instruction and discussion of the theory of therapeutic assessment, each instrument, selection of clients, report writing, and feedback sessions. Instruments commonly used with our specific population include the MMPI-2, NEO-PI, BDI, BAI, TAT, Eating Disorder Inventory, and Trauma Symptom Inventory. Interns are required to complete two assessment batteries during their internship year. Each test battery will include a minimum of two assessment instruments.

Individual and Cultural Diversity Seminar

The goals of the ICD seminar are to enhance the development of core competencies in working with clients from diverse perspectives related to culture, race, class, sexual orientation, gender, spiritual affiliation, and ability. The seminar will focus on many areas, including counselor self-awareness, awareness of other cultural perspectives, and the exploration and development of culturally sensitive interventions, strategies, and techniques. Self-awareness in this context includes world views, cultural/ethnic/racial identity, values and belief systems, attitudes, levels of acculturation and social justice advocacy in clinical practice. 

Supervision of Group Therapy

Interns meet weekly with their senior staff co-therapist to process their groups. Additionally, all group leaders meet biweekly in group case conference. This meeting is focused on consultation and ongoing growth in the facilitation of interpersonal process groups. This meeting provides a rich training experience through use of recordings, discussion of journal articles, and case consultation. Areas of focus include attending to aspects of cultural identity in group, ethical considerations, managing challenging group dynamics, and group interventions.

Supervision of Supervision Seminar

During the Spring semester, interns meet for 90 minutes per week with a senior staff member. These meetings involve case management, discussion of assigned readings and discussion of personal and professional issues that arise as a result of providing supervision.

Interns engage in a variety of formal and informal professional development activities throughout the internship year.  These activities include:

Clinical Case Consultation

Interns participate in our staff-wide small clinical case consultation groups. These consultation groups each consist of a mix of 4-5 senior staff, interns, and postdocs. The consultation groups meet every two weeks and focus on providing consultation to one another on challenging clinical cases as they arise throughout the year.

Quarterly Diversity Workshops

Senior staff and trainees participate in diversity workshops at CAPS four times throughout the training year. These workshops are focused on discussions related to multiculturalism, social justice, various identities and communities, power, oppression, and privilege. Examples of past workshops have included discussions of micro aggressions in counseling work, micro aggressions in supervision, religion and spirituality, and issues related to ability.

Committees 

Interns each have the opportunity to serve on one or more committees within Counseling & Psychological Services throughout the training year. Those committees currently include Diversity and Inclusion, Outreach, Clinical Services, Training, and Wellness. Our committees are a valuable introduction to the behind the scenes and administrative work that shapes our Center, and we benefit from having our intern’s perspectives represented. Interns may also have opportunities for committee work within the Division of Student Affairs, depending on the needs of the Division and the interests of the intern. Examples of other committee assignments include the multi-disciplinary Eating Disorder Treatment team. Interns participate in the recruitment and selection process of the following year's intern group by reviewing applications and by having contact with prospective intern applicants. 

Professional Development Meetings

All CAPS clinicians (senior staff, interns, postdoctoral fellow, and practicum students) engage in a variety professional development trainings throughout the year. These include twice-yearly meetings focused on staff sharing information from conferences and trainings, a weekly series in the early spring semester dedicated to interns and postdocs doing professional job talks/case presentations, and a series of in-depth professional development on a specific topic in the summer.
 

Training Support

Interns meet as a group with the Training Director every two weeks to discuss issues related to their experiences over the course of the year. Common topics include how to move into the role of a professional, job search strategies and licensure issues, dealing with difficult clients, and how to manage paperwork demands.
 

Mentorship

During the second half of the training year, interns will have the opportunity to connect with a senior staff member in a mentorship role. This may focus on a specific area of professional practice or professional identity development.
 

Research, Professional Writing, and Presentations

The internship sets aside four hours per week for work on doctoral dissertations, other research projects, and preparation for presentations to professional groups.
 

Staff Meetings

Interns participate in monthly meetings of the professional staff throughout the year. These meetings are an opportunity to share information relevant to CAPS services, meet campus partners, get feedback from trainees and staff, and discuss emerging trends in campus mental health.

Internship applicants must have completed at least one year of supervised practica, all required doctoral coursework, and comprehensive examinations in counseling or clinical psychology and have successfully completed their dissertation proposal meeting.. We prefer candidates who have had a practicum placement in a university counseling center, and who share a commitment to diversity and inclusion.

The deadline for applications for the 2023-2024 class is November 1, 2022.
This year the application process will occur online. See the APPIC website for more details and instructions. We will not accept any paper materials.

The electronic application includes: 

• Completed AAPI
• Curriculum vita
• Cover letter explaining interest in this site, how this internship fits with your experience & training goals, how your experience would contribute to our program & how this training experience fits with your longer-term career goals.
• Three letters of recommendation, at least two of which address your recent clinical experience.

We participate in the computer match program through National Matching Services. Our match number is 141111. Intern applicants who wish to participate in this match must complete and send NMS an "Applicant Agreement" form, which can be obtained from the NMS website. Just click on "Applicant Registration" and you will be taken to a form where you can request an application online.

Our Center agrees to abide by the APPIC Internship Offers and Acceptance Match Policies (April 10, 1999), specifically, that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept or use any ranking-related information from any intern applicant. A copy of these policies may be obtained from the NMS website.

In compliance with employment policies of the state of North Carolina, interns matched with our site are required to participate in pre-employment background checks. Applicants for consideration will be sent a Disclosure and Authorization Statement with information and signature to facilitate this process. The checks will be conducted by an agency contracted by the University and the results will be considered before hiring decisions are final. Applicants who match to our program but do not successfully pass the background check will be dismissed from internship (see APPIC Match Policy 6b). Applicants are welcome to discuss any questions about this procedure with the Training Director.

The internship is a twelve month full-time position that begins in early August. Salary will be $35,569 for the 2021-2022 year. Benefits include medical coverage, sick leave, eleven university holidays and 24 days of vacation per year for which payout at the end of the year of half the days not taken. Interns have private offices with telephone and computer (with Internet access), library privilege, and access to the University computer system for statistical analysis. Some financial support and leave time for professional development is also available.