Activities and Schedule

To achieve the goals of the internship experience, all interns participate in the services of Counseling Services and a variety of training activities.

Counseling, Psychotherapy and Initial Consultation

Counseling and psychotherapy activities include individual, couples/relationships, and group sessions. Although the primary emphasis is on short-term treatment, interns also carry long-term cases. Caseloads average 12 client contact hours per week. Video- and audiotaping are used. Interns maintain regular weekly openings for initial consultations. Interviewing skills, diagnostic impressions and appropriate disposition are all considered to be necessary aspects of the initial consultation process. Interns are also responsible for a consistent weekly crisis walk-in consultation time.

Intern Supervision

Quality supervision is viewed as the cornerstone of the training program and is highly valued by the staff. Interns receive two hours of individual supervision weekly for clinical cases and one hour for supervision of the intern’s practicum student by a licensed psychologist. Interns also receive a minimum of 30 minutes of individual supervision for the intern’s group therapy experiences and special focus rotations. Regular ongoing supervision is also provided for the assessment and outreach work conducted by interns. Staff are always available for assistance. Supervisory assignments rotate by semester.

Clinical supervision expectations

  • Prepare for supervisory sessions by having questions and samples of therapy, by being open to feedback and by making available up-to-date files including initial consultations, progress notes, treatment plans, release(s) of information and any test data.
  • Video- or audio-tape all counseling sessions and have them available to the supervisor.
  • Prepare and review audio or videotapes of counseling sessions during each supervisory rotation.
  • Reflectively consider one’s clinical work, including one’s own theoretical orientation, clinical strengths and areas for growth, reactions to clients and client treatment goals.

Supervising Practicum Students

Every semester, each intern supervises a master’s or doctoral level counselor. Supervision is recorded and excerpts are shared by interns during a one-hour group seminar that meets every week. An additional one hour of supervision, provided by the intern’s primary supervisor, focuses on the practicum counselor’s cases and provides additional supervision of the intern’s supervision activities. There is didactic training and a time to informally discuss the supervisory experience.

Assessment

Doctoral interns are introduced to the supervised use of a comprehensive collection of tests to address a wide range of presenting questions. The Assessment program helps UMKC students with academic performance issues by providing a cost-effective assessment service targeted to individual needs and is designed for students who may be experiencing difficulties due to study skills, unique learning styles, test anxiety, learning disabilities, or attention and focus issues.  Among the assessment instruments utilized, the following are currently offered (with other instruments introduced during the internship training year as needed):  Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV (WAIS-IV), Woodcock Johnson-IV (WJ-IV), Nelson Denny Reading Test, Wechsler Memory Scale-IV (WMS-IV), Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA), checklists specific to ADHD symptoms, and instruments to explore an individual’s unique approach to learning. A minimum of five assessment batteries with integrated reports is required during the internship year. In addition to academic performance testing, occasionally needs arise for testing for diagnostic clarity; these requests typically are generated by Counseling Services staff and interns will have the opportunity to conduct these batteries as well. Additionally, a required two-hour group seminar in assessment meets bi-weekly and includes didactic instruction, training in test administration, scoring, and interpretation, supervision, and assessment report writing. 

Group Supervision/Case Conference

This meeting is devoted to consultation on cases brought to the group forum, with the goal of enhancing conceptualization, interventions and application of research to practice. All staff rotate in presenting their cases at case conference, providing opportunities for modeling case presentations and giving and receiving feedback on challenging clinical issues.

Outreach

Outreach training and experience are emphasized in the internship. Throughout the year, all interns participate in structured workshops and training presentations for Residence Life, academic departments, student groups and other organizations on campus. There is an optional rotation in outreach, and there are occasionally requests for consultation and team building with university departments.

Professional Development Training Seminars

Interns attend weekly training seminars conducted by staff and visiting presenters. The seminars are designed to offer perspectives in a number of areas of importance to emerging psychologists.

Examples of past seminars

  • Time-limited therapy
  • Psychological assessment
  • Ethics and legal issues
  • Developmental issues
  • Cross-cultural counseling
  • Organizational consultation
  • Crisis intervention
  • Psychopharmacology
  • DSM-5 criteria
  • Relationship therapy
  • Visits to local treatment facilities and cultural attractions
  • Professional development issues

Training Director Meeting

The Training Director conducts a weekly group meeting with interns during which interns are encouraged to discuss openly any aspect of their internship, and to share their perceptions of their training experience. The Training Director responds to any issues and works for resolution if a problem area should arise.

Special Focus Rotations

Interns also select a special focus area each semester to achieve their own training goals and to broaden their exposure to activities relevant to psychological practice. Two to three hours per week are allocated to the focus area, and a staff member also supervises each area.

Commonly selected special focus areas

  • Trauma
  • Eating disorders
  • Assessment
  • Group
  • Couples
  • Outreach
  • Diversity
  • Administration
  • Specific diagnoses
  • Alcohol and substance use

Evaluation

Interns and supervisors both participate in formal evaluation at the end of each semester, as well as engage in ongoing mutual feedback throughout their work together. Interns are evaluated on a number of performance criteria. Interns meet with the Training Director to review their training needs, progress and evaluations of the program each semester.

Profession-Wide Competencies

The training at our site focuses on the nine profession wide competencies.

  1. Research
  2. Ethical and legal standards
  3. Individual and cultural diversity
  4. Professional values, attitudes and behaviors
  5. Communication and interpersonal skills
  6. Assessment
  7. Intervention
  8. Supervision
  9. Consultation and interprofessional/interdisciplinary skills

Weekly Schedule

To get a better idea of what a week in the life of an intern is like, view the weekly schedule.

  • Clinical services (Individual and couples therapy, assessment): 12 hours per week
  • Initial consultation: 1.5 hours per week
  • Group: 1.5 hours per week
  • Crisis walk-in consultation: 1 hour per week
  • Supervision of a practicum student: 1.5 hours per week
  • Clinical supervision (intern’s clinical work): 2 hours per week
  • Clinical supervision (practicum student’s clinical work): 1 hour per week
  • Group supervision/case conference: 1 hour per week
  • Outreach/consultation: 1 hour per week
  • Supervision of group therapy: 0.5 hours per week
  • Special focus rotation: 3 hours per week
  • Supervision of special focus rotation: 0.5 hours per week
  • Assessment seminar: 1 hour per week
  • Multicultural seminar (every other week): 2 hours per week
  • Supervision seminar: 1 hour per week
  • Professional development seminar: 1.5 hours per week
  • Training Director meeting: 1 hour per week
  • Supervision preparation: 2 hours per week
  • Administrative activities (including clinical notes): 5 hours per week