Psychology Practicum Extern – Richmond
The city of Richmond is a port city located on a peninsula separating the San Francisco and the San Pablo bays. Located 16 miles northeast of San Francisco and on the western shore of Contra Costa County, the city has approximately 116,000 residents. Established in 1905, Richmond has been one of the fastest growing cities in California. In recent years, it has transformed from an industrial city (with the Chevron refinery being a major employer) to becoming a new home for high-tech and biotechnology companies.
The city of Richmond has a rich history. The Kaiser Richmond Shipyards was one of the biggest WWII wartime shipbuilding operations on the West Coast. Rosie the Riveter WWII National Historic Park highlights the city’s role in the home front effort. Richmond has over 32 miles of the Bay Trail, a 500-mile walking and biking route encircling the San Francisco and San Pablo bays. The community is ethnically and culturally diverse. Large percentages of the population are of African American, Latin American, European, and Asian descent, with Native American and Pacific Islanders also represented. One third of the community is foreign born, with 45% of residents speaking a language other than English at home.
The Kaiser Richmond Medical Center – with 41 department and services – opened in 1995 and serves 77,000 health plan members. Our Kaiser Richmond Psychiatry department has supported a mental health training program since the 1990s.
Program Curriculum
Equity, Inclusion & Diversity
Our clinic at KP Richmond is social justice oriented and we offer multiple spaces for peer support and clinical consultation. Culturally humble care is our priority. We currently offer the following as spaces for staff support and clinical consultation:
- Collective Health for AAPI+ (CHA)
- Affirmation for Your Ancestors (AFYA – Black providers)
- Queer & Trans Coalition (QTC)
- La Clinica
- Culturally Responsive Care (CRC) work group
We are committed to nurturing and integrating diversity training into all aspects of our externship program by:
Providing externs 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 externs’ 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 externs’ 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.
Didactic Training
Regularly scheduled weekly didactic seminars, formerly held at the consortium level, are now organized, and administered at the regional level for all KP NorCal trainees. Doctoral externs are required to attend the one-hour weekly seminar. Diversity issues are always integrated into seminar presentations.
Didactic topics include:
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Adverse Childhood Experiences, How Wonder Makes Us Happier, and more.
Our Regional 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 KP mental health trainees and staff at Kaiser Northern California Medical Centers. We bring in national experts and keynote speakers on a variety of cutting-edge topics in mental health treatment and research. Externs are required to attend these monthly regional trainings in addition to the weekly didactic seminars. Training course dates and a list of speakers and topics can be found on the Regional Mental Health Training Programs website. In addition, many of these lectures are recorded and available under the continuing education lecture library.
Seminars and Meetings
Practicum Externs are expected to attend weekly team meetings as a part of their training depending on their current rotations. There will also be opportunities to attend various professional development seminars throughout the year and regular check-ins with their training director. Examples of meetings include:
- Adult Team Meeting
- Case Consult Meetings
- Program Development Committee (optional)
- Assessment seminar
- All Staff Meetings
Telehealth Training:
Kaiser Permanente has greatly expanded its’ virtual presence, which will allow residents to fully train and practice in a variety of trailblazing platforms in telemedicine to provide accessible mental health care.
Supervision
Each practicum extern is supervised by a licensed psychologist who meets with the extern for one hour a week in individual face-to-face supervision. This supervisor takes the lead role in developing the extern’s learning plan and schedule, supervising their clinical work, and helping them navigating the KP mental health system. This supervisor additionally is responsible for completing the extern’s evaluation after gathering input from other staff members who have worked with the extern. At some practicum training sites, externs may receive supplemental individual supervision from Psychology Postdoctoral Residents.
Practicum externs also receive 1 hour of group supervision per week for case presentation and consultation. Depending on the training site, externs may also participate in group supervision for psychological testing/ADHD assessment and in a cultural conversation/diversity seminar. Group supervision allows for vicarious learning and modeling as well as giving and receiving feedback. These experiences help the extern to develop both the collegial and supervisory aspects of their professional identity.
Psychological Assessment
Practicum students will conduct adult ADHD assessments and can complete 2-5 full assessment batteries (based on interest).
Tracks and Rotations
PTSD Track
The PTSD treatment track utilizes a phase-based approach. The phase 1 treatment program us focused on education and stabilization before patients can move on to trauma processing. Phase 1 treatment includes grounding skills, trauma education, STAIR, CBT, and DBT-informed skills. Phase 2 treatment includes CPT, PE, and EMDR. Practicum students will begin their training with phase 1 work and will likely have the option of learning CPT, PE, or EMDR depending on training opportunities and supervisor competency in these treatments.
Team Meeting: Thursday 1:00 – 2:00 PM
Depression Track
Depression Track: The depression treatment track is for patients who are experiencing moderate to severe symptoms of depression. We provide weekly individual therapy using various modalities such as, CBT, ACT, IPT, and behavioral activation. Most of the patients in this track have co-morbid diagnoses that can be integrated into the treatment plan. Alongside the main depression track, practicum students will have the option to work with our perinatal wellness team to support patients with postpartum depression and anxiety.
Team Meeting: Tuesday 2:30 – 3:30 PM
La Clinica Track
La Clinica is a culturally and linguistically responsive mental healthcare program. It is also a consultation space for therapists who are providing bilingual therapy and work with the LatinX population.
This is an excellent opportunity for practicum students who conduct therapy in Spanish and they will be matched with a bilingual supervisor. Trainees will work with Spanish speaking patients who have a range of clinical diagnoses and depending on scheduling, will co-facilitate one Spanish speaking group.
Team Meeting: Tuesday 1:30 – 3:00 PM
Wellness Community Track
The Wellness Community program is designed for our patients who have tried other treatment tracks and evidence-based treatments but have not had significant symptom reduction.
The focus is on community building and on-going mental health support.
Patients participate in the program for 6 months and they attend a weekly process group and have individual case management sessions. Patients have a diverse range of mental health diagnoses in this program and the focus is on community building. Practicum students will have the opportunity to practice different evidence-based treatments and get a breadth of experience with clinical presentations.
Team Meeting: Tuesday 9:00 – 10:00 AM
Schedule
All clinical tracks offer in person and virtual components and a flexible 4 day work week schedule option (no more than 10 hours per day).
- Direct Patient Care: 8-13 hours (individual therapy, group therapy, assessment)
- Supervision: 3-4 hours
- Didactics: 1 hour
- Indirect patient care: 5-7 hours
- Approximately 20 to 24 hours total
- Mandatory Program days: Wednesday, and the remaining days will depend on the treatment teams you will be working with
