Doctoral Internship – Walnut Creek

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 Regional 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 at the regional level for all KP Northern California doctoral interns. 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.

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 Northern California mental health trainees and staff at Kaiser Northern California Medical Centers. The Regional 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 required to attend these monthly regional trainings in addition to the weekly didactic seminars. Course dates and a list of speakers and topics for the regional trainings can be found on the Regional Mental Health Training Programs website. In addition, many of these lectures are recorded and available on the regional website under the continuing education lecture library.

In addition to the regional didactic seminars, Walnut Creek also provides site-specific didactics for the specialty services provided within the training rotations.

Interns are provided with opportunities to take part in several departmental meetings and seminars throughout the training year. The list below features prominent meetings available to trainees.

• AMRS Case Conference
• Professional Development Seminar
• ADHD Process and Competing Diagnoses Lectures
• Neuropsychological Assessment & Testing for Adults and Pediatric Patients Seminar
• Supervision Models and Competencies Monthly Series
• Feedback Informed Care Case Consultation
• Mood Management Team Consultation
• Medical team huddles
• Provider Continuing Education

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 rotation are 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. Time allotted for all group supervision ranges from 3-4 hours per week depending on the time of year and the training schedule dictated by the specific rotations and tracks.

Reflecting Kaiser Permanente’s core commitment to mental health and wellness in our communities, each 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.

Walnut Creek enjoys community partnerships with Trinity Center, Dozier Libbey Medical High School, KP Launch Summer Internship, and other local organizations.

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. Opportunities exist for interns to develop proficiency in neuropsychological assessment and specialty ADHD evaluations. Interns receive assessment training support in group supervision, and a supplemental assessment lab is available as needed.

Each 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.

It 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 with the program evaluation supervisor as a group regularly over the course of the training year to review progress on their projects.

All assessment and health psychology tracks are incorporated into all rotations and available at all training locations.

Interns will select their rotations at the beginning of the training year, choosing their preferences for one 6-month major rotation and two 3-month minor rotations based on their individual content interests. Interns will have a total of 3 rotations reflecting their areas of interest. All of the rotations have been devised to accommodate either a 3 month or 6-month time frame in clinical scheduling, so it is possible for each intern to have at least one their top choices among their rotations for the year. Since all supervisors will be part of one faculty, we will build and preserve an emphasis on developing competencies for clinical psychology throughout the training year.

Due to our specialized training rotations and other unique program features, interns will be able to observe and function in widely varied roles of an emerging mental health professional. They will work alongside psychologists on diverse teams with custom treatment models. Additionally, interns will be exposed to many patients of varying ages and with broadly ranging presenting problems, whom they will treat using both individual and group modalities. Owing to the nature of the populations treated across training rotations, interns will also work with an unusual set of medical and comorbid presenting problems. All this in addition to what they were expecting at the outset of their year!

3- and 6-month rotations

This rotation offers clinical training within a multidisciplinary team utilizing Exposure Based Family Based Therapy at the highest level of care in an outpatient setting. Interns will be involved with the provision of family groups, peer groups, meal groups and individual treatment based on multidisciplinary treatment team assessment and treatment planning. Emphases are placed on multicultural competency and sensitivity in the milieu and in provision of care. Opportunities exist for multidisciplinary collaboration with adolescent medicine specialists, physicians, and registered dieticians. Additional opportunities are available to interns for shadowing medical treatment in adjacent inpatient adolescent eating disorder unit.

3- and 6-month rotations

This rotation is based in the Addiction Medicine and Recovery Treatment program with an emphasis on medical team management with individualized psychological treatment occurring at varying times during the cognitive recovery process and across several levels of care. Interns will participate in a wide range of treatment modalities in a truly multidisciplinary, integrated medical team. Interns will have the opportunity to work with patients through a long-term course of treatment or assist with patients’ family members’ acceptance and recovery.

3- and 6-month rotations

This rotation offers clinical training opportunities embedded within primary care settings with children and families where the emphasis is on prevention, early detection, and normalization of mental health and wellness. Interns will be involved in the treatment of emerging disorders as well as collaborate with psychiatry departments to provide mental health services to patients who need a higher level of care. Interns will gain clinical experience in the provision of group, individual, family, and parenting therapies across settings. Additional clinical opportunities exist for interns to join Teen IOP and Teen Addiction Medicine treatment teams.

3- and 6-month rotations

This rotation offers clinical training within a multidisciplinary team at the highest level of care in an outpatient setting. The Intensive Outpatient Program is a unique placement for teen or adult patients stepping down from hospitalization or increasing the level of care from standard outpatient treatment. Interns will be involved with treatment planning for psychiatric patients of all ages, with separate teen and adult treatment and training components. Interns will also gain experience with evidence-based treatments for patients with serious and persistent mental illness, including DBT and milieu therapy. Treatment modalities in this rotation include group and individual psychotherapy.

3- and 6-month rotations

This rotation offers clinical training with specialized treatment pathways for adult patients utilizing evidence-based treatments. Interns will develop treatment plans that integrate individual psychotherapy, psychoeducational groups, and therapy homework, all with an emphasis on ongoing feedback informed care. Treatment pathways in this rotation consist of focused approaches to presenting problems for our adult population; intern training will primarily feature the Depression and Anxiety series. Interns may also have an opportunity to gain experience with the Trauma History series depending on availability at the time that the intern is in this rotation.

Available at all locations

Interns will have the opportunity to conduct ADHD evaluations with our pediatric and adult populations. Training includes the interpretation and integration of ADHD testing results followed by the provision of feedback and recommendations to patients.

Available at all locations

Interns will administer various neuropsychological tests via flexible batteries to address a broad range of presenting problems for our pediatric and adult populations. Training includes reviewing test data and discussing clinical impressions and conclusions followed by the provision of feedback and recommendations to patients.

Available at all locations

This training opportunity is embedded within our OBGYN Departments under the Health Psychology Service. Services provided include treatment of peripartum mood disorders throughout pregnancy and into infant’s first year of life.

There are also opportunities for hands-on training with infants and their parents in our collaborating pediatrics departments. The MIR approach aims to ameliorate the intergenerational impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and their attendant negative health consequences through early intervention. Consultation services, brief treatments, and psychoeducational groups are provided to patients in their preferred primary care settings.

Available at all locations

This training opportunity includes consultation, collaboration, and group intervention with medical providers aimed at improving patients’ health outcomes through an integrated approach in primary care and other specialty medicine clinics. Interns will receive additional didactic training for specialized documentation and clinical considerations unique to these medical settings.

Available at all locations

This training opportunity includes the provision of peer supervision to practicum externs, which offers opportunities to practice skills of consultation and peer guidance using various supervisory models.