The mission of the UNFCC Psychology Internship Program is to provide the training necessary to facilitate the transitional process from graduate student to professional psychologist. The internship has several additional aims:

• To assist interns in developing skills in effectively conceptualizing and implementing psychotherapeutic treatment informed by empirical knowledge.
• To develop skills in providing useful consultation and interfacing productively with treatment team and other professionals.
• To help interns refine their professional identity as a psychologist.
• To model for and assist interns in their development as scientifically informed practitioners.
• To provide interns with a thorough foundation in the basic skills of psychological assessment.

The program also adheres to a competency-based approach and the practitioner-scholar model of training. Clinical and training activities are designed to build knowledge, techniques, and proficiency in regard to research, ethical/legal standards, diversity, professionalism, communication/interpersonal skills, assessment, intervention, supervision, and consultation and interdisciplinary skills. In alignment with the practitioner-scholar model of training, we integrate scientific principles, research, clinical judgment, and client values into all aspects of service delivery.

Our program is designed to be generalist in nature. Interns are expected to be able to take on the multiple roles of a generalist psychologist, which includes therapeutic services (individual and group, brief and long-term), psychological assessment, supervision, crisis intervention, outreach, advocacy, and consultation. With that said, we also recognize that each intern is unique. With the guidance of the TD and other training staff, we support interns in adapting this basic structure to address their unique needs, clinical interests, and professional aspirations. Such customization may inform the types of clinical opportunities that they pursue, and the program development projects that they undertake, for example. Such customization requires ongoing self-reflection, collaboration, and creativity, and the training staff are very committed to supporting interns in these processes.

Our training program operates upon the worldview that the work we do as psychologists is deeply important and that it is a privilege be able to do such meaningful work. As such, it is necessary that we do our jobs well, as psychologists, interns, and trainers alike. We believe that knowledge and awareness of oneself is essential to doing said jobs well. As such, we value self-reflection, authenticity, and curiosity in our practice as well as in our interns. Training staff are responsible for modeling such awareness and use of self and creating a safe environment in which reflection and disclosure on the interns’ part is accessible and supported. Interns are expected to approach supervision, training seminars, and their clinical work with a solid foundation of curiosity about themselves and a commitment to growing as people and clinicians.

We view internship as a rich, yet challenging period of professional growth, in which interns graduate from student to emerging professional. Interns are gradually given more autonomy and independence, with progressively more challenging opportunities in which they are called to “rise to the occasion” as a professional. At the same time, we recognize that interns are still trainees and not yet fully established as professionals and need support as they are being challenged. We also appreciate that interns are preparing to leave one chapter of their lives and enter another. We aim to surround the inherent challenges of the internship year with support and care, not only for the interns as clinicians in training, but also as people, each of whom is deserving of respect, dignity, and compassion. We intentionally provide opportunities for interns to explore, consolidate, and integrate the lessons learned throughout their graduate school programs.