Doctoral Internship – South San Francisco

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

• Providing interns with opportunities to work with diverse patients who represent various aspects of diversity, including age, religion, gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, values, and lifestyle
• Placing a high value on interns’ willingness to engage in self-reflection and learning and supporting the exploration of attitudes, beliefs, and therapeutic postures that could have a negative impact on clinical interactions
• Maintaining a consistent focus in clinical supervision on expanding interns’ multicultural awareness and competence in the provision of psychotherapeutic services and by providing guidance, suggestions, and resources on topics related to diversity
• Providing formal in-person or online training on diversity topics such as discovering and mitigating unconscious bias, respecting every voice, and cultivating a sense of inclusion and belonging in the workplace
  Encouraging interns to participate in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California
• Mental Health Training Program Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Committee’s advanced trainings on topics related to cultural sensitivity and competence alongside a forum to reflect on and discuss their varied experiences in a safe environment

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 are expected to attend weekly team staff meetings and case consultation. During case consultation, interns practice creating a working hypothesis for a diagnosis and treatment plan and learn how to incorporate Feedback Informed Care (FIC) and symptom management in their plan. Additionally, interns learn how to align their patient’s cultural background and values system with their treatment plan.

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 doctoral intern will 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 Kaiser Permanente patient membership.

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. 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 psychodiagnostic evaluations featuring a full battery of tests and addressing associated differential diagnoses. Opportunities exist for interns to develop proficiency in specialty ADHD evaluations and ASD screening as well, depending on the track and clinic need. Interns primarily receive assessment training support in a group supervision format with additional modalities of support available as needed.

At the beginning of the training year, the site training director works with each doctoral intern to determine which research-based training activity they will engage in over the course of the training year. Interns may choose to collaborate with local department staff to develop a site-specific program evaluation project, collaborate on a program evaluation project with the MHTP Evaluation and Quality Improvement Lab (EQI Lab), or join the MHTP Journal Club.

• Site-Specific Program Evaluation: projects are focused on existing clinic service lines, treatment programs, or patient care workflows and should fall within the regular scope of departmental services. Projects may involve collecting and analyzing administrative data to improve operations, or they may be a quality improvement/assurance project whose purpose is to improve or assess existing Kaiser Permanente programs or procedures (e.g., evaluation of factors associated with treatment outcomes or an empirical needs assessment of a clinical area that would be enriched by psychological services). Interns meet regularly with training faculty over the course of the training year to review progress on their projects.
• MHTP EQI Lab Program Evaluation: projects are guided by quality improvement goals that extend beyond local, site-specific programs. Projects may focus on outcomes of training program models, the impact of MHTP specialty training, the effectiveness of MHTP-sponsored treatment programs, or the incorporation of outcomes measures into clinic workflows. The EQI Lab holds weekly, 1-hour meetings throughout the training year to coordinate MHTP program evaluation projects and monitor progress. During these weekly lab meetings, interns receive consultation from MHTP clinical supervisors to ensure that their projects are relevant to current clinical work, integrated into clinical care, and appropriate for dissemination.
• MHTP Journal Club: research training consists of reviewing and critically evaluating research within a select subfield of psychology and developing a didactic tool for other clinicians to use to augment their clinical practice during the delivery of services within KP Mental Health. The primary expectation for interns in the Journal Club is to prepare brief presentations that take place during the last month of each quarter. The Journal Club holds monthly, 1-hour meetings in addition to weekly presentations during the last month of every quarter.

12-month track (candidates who apply and are accepted into this track will complete their internship within this track for the duration of the training year)

The Adult Psychiatry track offers education and training in an integrated healthcare system. This track is designed to provide a breadth of training experiences with the purpose of developing a generalist practitioner in health service psychology. Doctoral interns will work within a multidisciplinary team, providing empirically supported treatments to a wide variety of patients.

Training in individual psychotherapy primarily occurs within the Focused Virtual Therapy program for anxiety, depression, and trauma. Interns will evaluate and diagnose mental health disorders based on DSM-5-TR and ICD-11 criteria. Interns will also learn how to collaborate with patients for treatment planning purposes and gain proficiency utilizing evidence-based interventions within a feedback informed care framework.

Depending on the intern’s interests, opportunities are available to complete a rotation in the Adult Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) as well as co-facilitate evidence-based psychotherapy groups and classes. For interns with Spanish language proficiency, there are opportunities to train with licensed staff in La Clinica, a program that provides Spanish-speaking individual and group therapy for children, adults, and families.

12-month track (candidates who apply and are accepted into this track will complete their internship within this track for the duration of the training year)

The Child and Adolescent Psychiatry track offers education and training in an integrated healthcare system, within which doctoral interns work on a multidisciplinary team utilizing multimodal treatment options with children, teens, and their families. This track is designed to provide a breadth of training experiences with the purpose of developing a generalist practitioner in health service psychology.

Interns will have an opportunity to provide empirically supported treatments to a wide variety of patients. Training in individual psychotherapy occurs primarily within the pediatric Focused Virtual Therapy program for depression. Interns will evaluate and diagnose mental health disorders based on DSM-5-TR and ICD-11 criteria. Interns will also utilize evidence-based interventions within a feedback informed care model with the use of outcomes monitoring at each session.

Depending on the intern’s interests, opportunities are available to complete a rotation in the Teen Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) for teens as well as co-facilitate evidence-based psychotherapy groups and classes. For interns with Spanish language proficiency, there are opportunities to train with licensed staff in La Clinica, a program that provides Spanish-speaking individual and group therapy for children, adults, and families.

12-month track (candidates who apply and are accepted into this track will complete their internship within this track for the duration of the training year)

The Behavioral Medicine Services (BMS) track offers excellent training in Health Psychology while working within a tight-knit team. Behavioral Medicine Services are embedded within the primary care department, which is located in the main medical center. Interns are integrated into these respective clinics and cultivate support and collaboration throughout the training year. Interns also attend weekly BMS staff meetings and case consultation.

In this track, interns will have the opportunity to diagnose, develop treatment plans, and care for patients within the partnering departments of medicine. Interns assist medical care providers and their patients by addressing behavioral and psychological factors that contribute to overall improved health outcomes. Interns will be exposed to a wide range of presenting problems that are intertwined with mental health, including chronic conditions such as diabetes mellitus, chronic pain, headaches, insomnia, and irritable bowel syndrome. In addition, interns will be integral in treating adjustment disorders that are often related to challenges coping with medical diagnoses. This track broadens and deepens brief assessment and intervention skills across many diagnoses with a very diverse group of patients.

The BMS model allows for warm handoffs from physicians for patients who may be ambivalent about treatment engagement or likely to benefit from brief interventions. Interns will collaborate with physicians on the evaluation of psychotropic medications within their scope of practice. Interns serve as a liaison between the patient and physician, especially in monitoring patients’ response to medications. Interns will also aid in general medication compliance with the goal of optimizing overall health. An additional responsibility in the BMS track is performing brief cognitive screenings as requested by the primary care physicians.

This track requires autonomy and flexibility in fast-paced medical settings. Candidates with education and previous experience working in behavioral medicine or health psychology settings strongly preferred.

12-month track (candidates who apply and are accepted into this track will complete their internship within this track for the duration of the training year)

The Addiction Medicine and Recovery Services (AMRS) Track offers training experiences in adult recovery services, ongoing recovery groups, harm reduction treatment, dual diagnosis treatment, medication assisted treatment, adolescent treatment, and codependency treatment on an outpatient basis. Over the course of the year, doctoral interns will gain expertise in utilizing evidence-based substance use and dual diagnosis treatment modalities. Interns will work with patients of various ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds who present with a range of dual diagnoses and personality disorders. Other treatment strategies utilized in AMRS include elements of dialectical behavior therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and compassion-focused therapy. Interns will also have an opportunity to co-facilitate psychoeducational, skills-based, and process-oriented groups.