Pre-Master’s Mental Health Internship – Santa Clara

We are committed to nurturing and integrating diversity training into all aspects of our training program by:

Providing interns with opportunities to work with patients who represent various aspects of diversity, including age, religion, gender, disability status, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, values, and lifestyle.

Placing a high value on interns’ willingness to engage in self-reflection, and supporting the exploration of attitudes, beliefs and therapeutic postures that could impact clinical interactions.

Maintaining a consistent focus in clinical supervision on expanding interns’ multicultural awareness and competence in the provision of psychotherapeutic services and cultivating a sense of inclusion and belonging in the workplace.

Encouraging interns to participate in the Regional Mental Health Training Program Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Committee’s seminars related to cultural sensitivity and competence as their schedules permit.

Interns will attend didactic seminars within their clinics and have opportunity to attend regional seminars organized by Mental Health Training Programs as their schedules permit. Didactics will cover a range of clinical and professional development topics as well as explore culturally responsive care. Interns will have access to both live and asynchronous exposure to various speakers and topics which are designed to meet their developmental needs over the course of the training year.

Interns may attend daily multidisciplinary treatment team rounds, clinical shift reports, and the social services “huddle.” As schedule permits, Interns may also attend Regional MHTP Seminars on various topics, in either live or pre-recorded format.

Weekly 1-hour Individual Supervision:
All interns are supervised by licensed clinical social workers who are responsible for overseeing the direct delivery of clinical services. The supervisor takes a role in developing the intern’s learning plan, monitoring their progress, and evaluating their training schedule. The supervisor is also responsible for completing the intern’s evaluation.

Weekly 1 hour Group Supervision:
Interns will also receive group supervision 1 hour each week from a licensed mental health professional which may include case consultation, and topics related to professional development, interdisciplinary communication and systems issues, and multicultural competence and diversity awareness.

The PHF is a 24-bed inpatient psychiatric unit for Kaiser members who require locked mental health treatment due risk of danger to self, danger to others, and/or grave disability. Most patients arrive to the PHF on a 72-hour psychiatric hold, although some arrive as voluntary patients or on conservatorship. The mental health diagnoses treated at the PHF include Mood, Anxiety, Thought and Personality Disorders. The PHF also treats patients with Dual Diagnosis substance use disorders, however, the primary diagnosis is mental health, rather than substance abuse. Interns co-facilitate psychotherapy groups with licensed mental health professional using EBPs (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy), coping skills groups using the Illness Management and Recovery Model, conduct initial biopsychosocial assessments, generate individualized treatment plans, and develop discharge plans, including linkage to aftercare and recovery resources. Interns will attend the daily Multidisciplinary Team meeting to provide input on patient progress, concerns and treatment planning.

The CSP is a 6-chair, 23-hour stabilization program for Kaiser members that provides an opportunity for patients experiencing a mental health crisis to be clinically assessed for presenting symptoms, immediate safety, and appropriate level of treatment. Interns participate in conducting initial clinical assessments, making collateral contact with support symptoms and providers, providing case presentations to psychiatrists/treatment team, and determining care dispositions that may include transfer to the inpatient unit or referral for other psychiatric services in the community.

Inpatient Psychiatric Case Managers act as the direct liaison between patient support systems, outpatient providers and the PHF treatment team. CMs gather collateral information around presenting concerns, strengths, and treatment history, while collaborating with support systems and providers around care recommendations. CMs provide psychoeducation around diagnosis, treatment recommendations and safety provisions. Linkage to Kaiser and community programs to support patient mental health stabilization, as well as caregiver needs. Assist in with problem-solving around employment and family care needs that may impact connection to treatment.

During the second semester of internship, and per individual interest, interns rotate with the Psychiatric Case Managers to develop skills and knowledge of resources, as listed above.