Pre-Master’s Mental Health Internship – Oakland
Oakland is a bustling, diverse metropolitan city 10 miles from San Francisco, and adjacent to Berkeley. It offers the best of both worlds – the cultural opportunities of an urban environment and uniquely beautiful natural parks and open spaces. The climate is temperate with mild winters and abundant sunshine. The East Bay Regional Parks around Oakland encompass 59 parks with more than 91,000 acres for hiking, running, swimming, and other outdoor activities. Nearby Jack London Square offers fine dining and shopping and Piedmont Avenue, which is within walking distance of the medical center, also boasts numerous restaurants and stores. The city hosts a Farmer’s Market on 9th Street every Friday.
The Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center is the flagship facility of the entire Northern California Kaiser Permanente system. The Permanente Foundation opened its first hospital in Oakland in 1942. A new hospital of 346 beds was constructed in 2009, with three nearby office buildings providing outpatient services. All facilities are located in the central portion of the city and accessible by public transportation. Kaiser Oakland provides primary care to 32% of the surrounding population and tertiary care to three million health plan members in Northern California. It is a regional referral center for specialty services, such as genetics, spine surgery, pediatric neurosurgery, and transgender care.
The Psychiatry department serves a large urban and suburban community, extending from Richmond, Pinole, and Albany to the city of Alameda and San Leandro, with Oakland and Berkeley in between. Our patient population reflects the unique ethnic and cultural diversity of the region with members identifying as African American, Asian, Caucasian, Latino/a and other. Common languages spoken include Spanish, Vietnamese, Cantonese, and Mandarin. Our membership also includes Medicare/Medi-Cal enrollees, who comprise 11% of the population cared for in our service area. Oakland and its surrounding cities are home to one of the largest sexual and gender diverse populations in the US. Kaiser Oakland Psychiatry has been a mental health training site since the 1980s.
Program Curriculum
Equity, Inclusion & Diversity
| The Kaiser East Bay Hospice Department is committed to providing culturally- and linguistically-responsive patient care and is continuously working to improve the ways we can best serve our community.
Bereavement services include support groups, workshops, individual grief counseling, and outreach to adults. Grief services are free of charge and are available to both Kaiser members and community members. |
Didactic Training
Regional hourly didactic trainings on a variety of mental health topics and modalities. Student intern will also participate in one hour long weekly Grief Educational Workshop series to deepen their knowledge of grief and loss.
Seminars and Meetings
Intern will attend daily Hospice Department staff huddle, monthly regional bereavement meeting, quarterly Hospice staff meeting, and will be encouraged to attend the weekly MHTP seminar.
The intern would be given time to watch recorded trainings offered by MHTP if their internship days do not align with the days the seminars are offered live.
Supervision
Weekly individual supervision
Tracks and Rotations
Hospice Bereavement
The Bereavement Department offers services to the identified bereaved (i.e. the family, friends, and caregivers) of patients who pass away while enrolled in Kaiser East Bay Hospice services. The Bereavement Department provides proactive outreach to these bereaved including offering a compassionate presence, mailing educational materials throughout the year following their loss, support groups, weekly workshops, and individual grief counseling. Grief services are free of charge and are available to both Kaiser members and community members.
The pre-master intern would participate in the provision of all of these services, including co-facilitating grief support groups with a licensed clinician, presenting at a weekly grief educational workshop attended by 50+ participants, and providing adult clients with short-term individual grief counseling.
The intern would work with the Training Director to assess and identify individuals who are appropriate for short term grief counseling vs requiring a higher level of care for long-term therapy support. The intern would provide individual grief counselling to a maximum of five clients per week. The intern would assist in planning an annual memorial for hospice and community bereaved. The intern would assist with additional programmatic duties as appropriate/desired. The intern is also encouraged to identify and implement additional grief support programs and ideas in collaboration with the Training Director.
Schedule
Hospice Bereavement
2-3 days/week in accordance with graduate school schedule; hybrid
