Doctoral Internship – San Rafael

The Kaiser Permanente San Rafael Training Program has a long-standing commitment to Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity. Diversity training and consultation is a major component of our training tracks and curricula, encouraging our staff and residents to foster cultural humility, understanding, and competence.

Our Kaiser Permanente San Rafael Training Program provides a Cultural Diversity Case Consultation for all trainees twice a month. The goal of the cultural diversity case consultation is to provide trainees with a safe environment where they can bring in clinical cases and practice case conceptualization and treatment planning from a cultural diversity lens.

At the clinic level, Kaiser Permanente San Rafael also has a Diversity and Inclusion Committee where all staff are encouraged to attend monthly meetings designed to identify, problem-solve, and implement plans for addressing various diversity issues in our workplace and service system. Our Diversity and Inclusion Committee also hosts advanced trainings for all staff on topics designed to promote cultural competence and cultural sensitivity in the workplace.

The Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) Mental Health Training Program’s Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (EID) Officers organize monthly forums that are designed for mental health trainees only. Forums are held with experts from the community, within Kaiser Permanente, and national leaders on EID topics impacting trainees’ clinical work and personal development. Examples of forum topics include immigration, micro-aggression, unconscious bias, Black maternal mental health, white privilege, and gender-affirming care. In addition to the forums, the KPNC Mental Health Training Program EID Officers also provide optional monthly consultation sessions for trainees.

Regularly scheduled weekly didactic seminars are organized and administered by the Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) Mental Health Training Program. Interns are required to attend the two-hour weekly seminar, which focuses on aspects of clinical practice that the interns may not regularly encounter.

Diversity issues are always integrated into seminar presentations. Seminar topics include Frontiers in Trauma Treatment; Advanced Risk Assessment; Updates in Substance Abuse Research & Treatment; Advancements in Psychopharmacology; Cognitive Processing Therapy; Technology and Mental Health; Trans/Nonbinary Mental Health; Building a Better Brain through Exercise, Nutrition, Sleep and Stress Management; and Self-Compassion.

The KPNC Mental Health Training Program also sponsors professional training courses for continuing professional development. These courses and presentations are offered at select times during the year for all KPNC mental health trainees and medical center staff. The KPNC Mental Health Training Program brings in national experts and keynote speakers on a variety of cutting-edge topics in mental health treatment and research. Interns are expected to attend all MHTP Speaker Series seminars. Current seminar schedules and a list of speakers and topics can be found on the KPNC Mental Health Training Programs website. In addition, many of these lectures are recorded and available on this website under the Continuing Education Seminar Library.

Doctoral interns participate in weekly multidisciplinary team meetings, Feedback Informed Care case conferences, monthly All-Staff meetings, and a monthly All-Staff Education Series. In addition, interns, along with postdoctoral residents, practicum students, and postmaster fellows, participate in a cultural diversity case consultation that takes place twice a month.

All doctoral interns are supervised by licensed psychologists and are assigned to a primary and secondary supervisor. These two clinical supervisors meet with their assigned intern one hour per week for individual face-to-face supervision, for a total of two hours of individual supervision per week. The primary and secondary supervisor in each training track is responsible for supervising the direct delivery of clinical services. The primary supervisor takes the lead role in developing the intern’s learning plan, monitoring their progress, and evaluating their training schedule. The primary supervisor is also responsible for supervising the intern’s clinical work and completing quarterly evaluations after gathering input from the other delegated supervisors and staff who have worked with the intern.

Doctoral interns are also provided with weekly clinical group supervision and group supervision for psychological assessment. During clinical group supervision, interns learn how to conceptualize treatment plans and frame interventions through a cultural framework that considers age, gender identity, race and ethnicity, family systems, socioeconomic status, work and school history, and other cultural factors. Interns also gain experience presenting clinical cases, as well as giving and receiving peer feedback. These feedback interactions help interns to develop both collegial and supervisory aspects of their professional identities as psychologists. Assessment group supervision provides support for interns gaining proficiency conducting psychological evaluations. During assessment group supervision, interns have an opportunity to discuss several aspects of the assessment process, including how to interpret test results, formulate clinical impressions, and plan patient feedback.

Reflecting Kaiser Permanente’s core commitment to mental health and wellness in our communities, each intern is required to spend at least 32 hours during their training year on a Community Partnership Project that focuses on improving mental health in the local community beyond our Kaiser Permanente patient members.

The goal of this project is to provide outreach to underserved populations in the community to promote healthy behaviors. Anchors for this project include: developing alliances with individuals and/or systems to improve the lives of those served; providing education and training based on the empirical literature; collecting, analyzing, and presenting relevant outcome data to partnership stakeholders.

The scope and focus of the projects are site specific, reflecting the unique opportunities available in each community to develop meaningful partnerships. Projects are developed in conjunction with the site training director and can take a wide range of forms. Many Community Partnership Projects entail psychoeducational programs at local high schools or community centers, with emphasis in such areas as mindfulness, stress reduction, parenting education, anger management, or communication trainings. Other projects have involved staff consultation at county or non-profit agencies (e.g., homeless shelters, community mental health clinics, prisons, etc.).

All doctoral interns complete psychological testing as part of the internship training program, with a minimum requirement of four evaluations by the end of the training year. During the training year, interns further their knowledge about test battery design, administration of various tests and measures, interpretation and integration of test results, and communication of test results. Interns will complete two psychological evaluations featuring full batteries and two shorter, specialty evaluations (e.g., ADHD and ASD assessment). Interns primarily receive assessment training support in a group supervision format with additional modalities of support available as needed.

Each doctoral intern is required to undertake a program evaluation project during their training year. The project is selected based upon the intern’s interests and skill set and should fall within the regular scope of departmental services.

Program evaluation may involve collecting and analyzing data to improve administrative operations, or a quality improvement project aimed at improving or assessing a treatment program or process. Examples include developing and evaluating a treatment group, intake procedure or other new programming; evaluating factors associated with treatment outcomes; or a needs assessment of a service that may be enriched by psychological consultation. Interns meet regularly with their program evaluation supervisor as a group over the course of the training year to review progress on their projects.

12-month track

The doctoral intern in the Adult track will work in a multi-disciplinary team including therapists, psychiatrists, RNs, and pharmacists to treat patients, 18 years and above, on a wide range of diagnosis and presenting problems. Interns will provide a range of clinical services including intake assessments, individual therapy, psychological assessment, and co-facilitation of groups.

We host over 50 groups each week for various populations and presenting problems including Depression and Anxiety management, Trauma Recovery, DBT, Bipolar, Mindfulness, Couples Work, Self-compassion, ACT, and many more! Assignment of groups will be based on the doctoral intern’s areas of interests and clinical need.

Candidates who apply and are accepted into this track will complete their internship within this track for the duration of the training year.

12-month track

The doctoral intern in the Child track will work in a multi-disciplinary team including therapists, psychiatrists, RNs, and pharmacists to treat patients, 18 years and younger, on a wide range of diagnosis and presenting problems. Interns will provide a range of clinical services including intake assessments, individual and family therapy, psychological assessment, and co-facilitation of groups.

There are over 20 Child groups each week for various populations and presenting problems including Depression and Anxiety management, DBT, Stress Management, Parent Support group, and many more! Assignment of groups will be based on the doctoral intern’s areas of interests and clinical need.

Candidates who apply and are accepted into this track will complete their internship within this track for the duration of the training year.

12-month track

Kaiser Permanente San Rafael Addiction Medicine and Recovery Services (AMRS) is an outpatient treatment program providing recovery services for adults and adolescents with substance use disorders and co-occurring psychiatric disorders.

We work closely with the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) team as well as Kaiser Permanente’s nearby hospital emergency department, chronic pain center, and medical offices.

Adult Programming

• Outpatient Abstinence-based Program (OP)
• Psychoeducation and Relapse Prevention
• Continuing and Long-Term Recovery
• Harm Reduction and Controlled Use Support
• Dual Diagnosis
• Men’s & Women’s Recovery
• Codependency/Family Support

Adolescent Programming

• Teen Early Intervention
• Harm Reduction programs
• Abstinence-based programs
• Family Therapy and Psychoeducation

Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT)

• Detoxification and Withdrawal
• Anti-craving (Naltrexone, Campral, Antabuse, Buprenorphine)
• General Psychiatric Medication Support

AMRS doctoral interns receive advanced training, supervision, and clinical experience in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of substance use disorders. Approximately 20 hours per week are dedicated to direct patient care through individual and group therapy and psychological assessment.

Candidates who apply and are accepted into this track will complete their internship within this track for the duration of the training year.