Child & Family Center is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit public-benefit corporation and provides community-based mental health, substance use, and domestic violence services. Its headquarters are in Santa Clarita, California in the County of Los Angeles. It also operates outpatient clinics in Santa Clarita and Palmdale, California and a confidential domestic violence shelter in the Santa Clarita Valley. It is Medi-Cal and Drug Medi-Cal certified in the state of California, Medicare-eligible provider through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and has other various third-party funding arrangements (e.g., grants, Cal OES).

Dedicated to meeting the behavioral health needs of children, adolescents, adults, and their families, a range of services are provided such as counseling, intervention services, and parent education. Professional training is offered to all staff, members of the community, and mental health interns and trainees. The Agency’s mission is to change lives and heal relationships by helping people thrive through education, treatment, prevention and advocacy. The Agency is committed to evidence-based practices, client outcomes, staff training and development, linguistic/cultural competency, and continuous quality improvement.

The mission of Child & Family Center’s Doctoral Psychology Internship Program is to provide comprehensive professional psychology education and training that supports evidence-based knowledge acquisition and exceptional skills development for tomorrow’s psychologists.

By participating in the C&FC Program, Interns acquire requisite clinical skills to change lives and heal relationships while developing their professional identity as psychologists. This occurs through didactic experiences, individual and group supervision, and active involvement in learning opportunities within a multidisciplinary community mental health setting. The Program is designed to broaden the Intern’s experience and build competence with clinical theory and the principles and practice of psychology focusing on these Aims:

• Provide comprehensive, evidence-based clinical training that prepares Interns to become skilled and compassionate clinicians in the professional practice of psychology.
• Offer exposure to varied clinical experiences, structured training, and supervision that support the cultivation of foundational and functional competencies for the successful, ethical and skillful delivery of psychological services. 
• Grow expertise in clinical assessment, diagnosis and treatment, integration of science and practice, and understanding of cultural diversity and individual differences.
• Gain experience in working with diverse populations and specialized service areas to enhance their understanding of themselves as clinicians.
• Prepare Interns for transition from student to professional role so they may possess attitudes essential for lifelong learning, inquiry, and problem-solving as psychologists in the context of an evolving body of scientific and professional knowledge.

*Please note that due to health and safety concerns related to COVID-19 and in adherence to state/federal mandates, some or all of the internship activities may occur through telehealth (e.g., therapy, assessment, supervision, didactic seminars, meetings). Child & Family Center recognizes that the pandemic containment and associated State/Federal responses are ongoing and fluid and the Agency continues to monitor the latest science and requirements put forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), California Department of Health Care Services/Department of Public Health, and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to inform the Agency’s COVID-19 Safety Plan. If you have questions about the nature of training and service delivery at the time of application please email the Director of Training for an update on the Agency’s COVID-19 Safety Plan.