Psychology Practicum Extern – San Rafael
San Rafael is located in Marin County, home to well-known landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge, Mount Tamalpais, Muir Woods, Sausalito, and the Green Gulch Zen Center. Marin County is also well known for its open space and miles of hiking and cycling trails and is geographically positioned for easy access to urban areas of San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland. The Golden Gate Bridge and Pacific Ocean beaches such as Stinson Beach and the Point Reyes National Seashore are less than an hour away.
The Kaiser Permanente San Rafael Medical Center is located in Terra Linda, a residential community in the Las Gallinas Valley, approximately 14 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Established in 1976 the medical center has steadily grown to serve over 100,000 health plan members from Marin and Sonoma counties. Satellite clinics are located in Petaluma, Novato, Downtown San Rafael, and Mill Valley.
The Kaiser Permanente San Rafael Department of Mental Health, located on Smith Ranch Road, provides a range of diagnostic and treatment services and is organized into 5 teams: the Adult Team, the Child and Family team, the Intensive Outpatient Program, the Eating Disorder program, and the Addiction Medicine Recovery Services (AMRS). The department also provides for 24-hour psychiatric emergency services for acute psychiatric or addiction medicine needs.
Program Curriculum
Equity, Inclusion & Diversity
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. The Diversity and Inclusion Committee also hosts advanced trainings for all staff on topics designed to promote cultural competence and cultural sensitivity in the workplace.
At the regional level, our Mental Health Training Program’s Regional Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Committee organizes monthly forums that are designed for 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. Example of forum topics include immigration, micro-aggression, unconscious bias, Black maternal mental health, white privilege, and gender-affirming care. In addition to the forums, our Regional EID Officers also provide optional monthly consultation sessions for trainees.
Didactic Training
Weekly didactics are now organized and administered at the regional level for all KP NorCal trainees. Practicum externs are required to attend the one-hour weekly seminar, which focuses on different aspects of clinical practice. 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. Practicum 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:
- Multidisciplinary Team Meetings
- Feedback Informed Care Case Conference
- 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 externs at Kaiser San Rafael have the option of participating in ADHD assessments as part of their clinical work. Externs will receive training and weekly group ADHD assessment supervision.
Tracks and Rotations
Adult Track
The Adult Track offers externs the opportunity to work on a multidisciplinary treatment team utilizing evidence-based and multimodal treatments with adults. Externs are assigned cases from a diverse patient population presenting with a range of treatment issues. Externs will evaluate and diagnose mental health conditions based on DSM-5 and ICD-10 criteria, develop treatment plans, and learn how to articulate those plans to their patients.
Externs will deliver interventions within a feedback informed care model that includes the use of outcomes monitoring. Training in evidence-based group therapy will consist of co-facilitating groups under the supervision of licensed therapists. The clinic hosts over 50 groups each week 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 extern’s areas of interests and clinical need.
Child Track
The Child Track offers externs the opportunity to work on a multidisciplinary treatment team utilizing evidence-based and multimodal treatments with children, teens, and their families. Externs are assigned cases from a diverse patient population presenting with a range of treatment issues. Externs will evaluate and diagnose mental health conditions based on DSM-5 and ICD-10 criteria, develop treatment plans, and learn how to articulate those plans to their patients.
Externs will deliver interventions within a feedback informed care model that includes the use of outcomes monitoring at each session. Training in evidence-based group therapy will consist of co-facilitating groups and classes under the supervision of licensed therapists. The clinic hosts over 20 Child groups including Depression and Anxiety management, DBT, Stress Management, Parent Support group, and many more! Assignment of groups will be based on the extern’s areas of interests and clinical need.
Eating Disorder Track
Practicum externs on the eating disorder track will be an integrated member of our close-knit multi-disciplinary team of specialists including mental health providers, dietitians, adult medicine physicians, pediatricians, and Hospital-Based Services. Together we treat patients of all ages and genders with a range of eating disorder symptomology (AN, BN, OSFED, ARFID). Externs will get training and practice in the provision of evidence-based treatment models for EDOs, including FBT, MI, RFBT for ARFID, and CBT. Our EDO team meets 2-4 times a week to round on our patients, collaborate, and get support. As a trainee, you can expect to:
• Conduct 1:1 and family therapy
• Co-lead groups
• Treat patients at all levels of programming: Early Recovery, Outpatient, Enhanced and Inpatient Medical
• Collaborate extensively with various members of our multidisciplinary team and colleagues
• Assist in ongoing program development and refinement
• Receive extensive training, supervision, and support
Addiction Medicine & Recovery Services Track
Kaiser 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’s nearby hospital emergency department, chronic pain center and medical offices. Practicum externs in the Addiction Medicine track will receive advanced training, supervision, and clinical experience in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of substance use disorders.
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, and abstinence-based programs; Family therapy and psychoeducation
Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT)
Detoxification and withdrawal, Anti-craving (Naltrexone, Camphral, Antabuse, Buprenorphine), General psychiatric medication support
Schedule
16-20 hours weekly, usually spread across 2 days
- Direct Patient Care: 8-14 hours (varies by program)
- Indirect patient care: 4-8 hours (varies by program)
- Didactics: 1 hour
- Individual Supervision by licensed psychologist: 1 hour
- Individual Supervision by post-doctoral resident: 1 hour
Program Graduates
2022-2023 Cohort
Graduate | University/Institute | Track/Specialty Rotation | Current Position, Specialty & Location |
---|---|---|---|
Jadasey Pivin | Wright Institute | Adult Outpatient/ADHD Assessment | |
Lisa Vassiliadis | Alliant University | Child and Family Outpatient Psychiatry/ADHD Assessment | |
Cedi McCorkle | Palo Alto University | Adult Outpatient/ADHD Assessment | |
Noah Anderson | Palo Alto University | Addiction Medicine Recovery Services/ADHD Assessment | |
Nathaniel Sawyer | Alliant University | Addiction Medicine Recovery Services/ADHD Assessment |