The Travis County Psychology Internship Program is an APA-accredited program that offers interns the opportunity to strengthen clinical skills and gain exposure to a broad and diverse range of professional experiences. The mission of the Travis County Psychology Internship Program is to prepare interns to enter the field of psychology with the skills and training necessary to provide culturally competent, empirically supported, and clinically effective psychological services to juveniles and families. The overarching goal of the program is to prepare professionals to successfully meet the unique challenges of practicing psychology within a public agency and to ensure clinical competency in working with culturally diverse groups.
All direct care services and internship activities take place through Travis County Juvenile Probation. Interns work with youth who have been placed in the department's detention or residential facilities as well as with youth who are coming to the department to complete psychological evaluations, to participate in Mental Health specialty court, or community wraparound services with a variety of local agencies.
All interns participate a variety of clinical activities to address nine competencies in the areas of: Research, Assessment, Intervention, Ethical & Legal Standards, Individual and Cultural Diversity, Professional Values, Communication and Interpersonal Skills, provision of Supervision, and Interprofessional/Interdisciplinary Consultation Skills. These experiences take place in the department's pre and post-adjudication residential facility. Interns carry a caseload of 2-3 youth and families, lead DBT based group therapy sessions, engage in program development, and participate as members of an interdisciplinary team. Interns have the opportunity to work with mental health court involved youth and families providing therapeutic intervention to include a full DBT model. Interns also conduct risk assessments, mental health assessments and psychological evaluations with opportunity to participate in fitness/competency assessments and psychosexual evaluations. In addition, interns participate in the county's Mental Health specialty court as well as a community-based system of care utilizing the wraparound process. Interns have opportunities to conduct trainings on a variety of topics, incorporate research into their various activities, and provide supervision to practicum students.