Pre-Masters Mental
Health Internship

The Department of Psychiatry in Oakland is committed to culturally and linguistically responsive patient care and is continuously working to improve the ways we can best serve our community.

Kaiser Permanente aims to facilitates access and provide high quality mental health services for all our Patients, better responding to our Patients’ needs.

For this reason, the Multi-Specialty Transitions (MST) Department for gender-affirming medical care for youth and adults was created, and the La Clínica program, a multi-disciplinary team of clinicians who provide culturally and linguistically client-centered mental health care for Latinx-identified clients, centering culture and the needs of both our clients and providers through advocacy, innovation, and collaboration.

We are seeking premaster fellows who are organized, flexible, have good time management skills, can work independently but also enjoy being part of a team, who are eager to learn and are willing to be challenged.

We will have 4 adult track premaster fellow position in the Bilingual Spanish track (adult Patients) two positions in the MST track and one position in the child and family track.

This specialty program prepares future clinicians to provide evidenced based clinical services of high quality for both the Latino and the Anglo-Saxon population. Training components include individual supervision in Spanish, introduction and immersion in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques,

Mindfulness based therapy interventions, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy learnt directly in both languages. We are seeking interns who are fluent in both English and Spanish, who are enthusiastic to learn how to better serve thew Hispanic community, who are organized, flexible, have good time management skills, can work independently but also enjoy being part of a team, who are eager to learn and are willing to be challenged.

We will have 4 premaster placement positions in this track.

The child team provides individual, group, and family treatment for a variety of psychiatric disorders as well as case management and Teen and young teen Intensive Outpatient Services and Gender Care. Premaster fellows will have the opportunity to co-facilitate child/teen/multifamily groups based on their area of interest.

Our most successful premaster fellows are flexible, open and willing to incorporate feedback into their work, self-sufficient but willing to ask for assistance. Our multidisciplinary team is eager to help and provide support. We have one premaster placement position in this track presently.

The Multi-Specialty Transitions (MST) Department at Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center is a regional hub for gender-affirming medical care for youth and adults in Northern CA. The clinic’s mental health model is rooted in self-determination and informed consent, and providers on this team support patients holistically as they pursue gender affirming medical care.

The mental health service in the clinic also closely collaborates with medical providers to offer a range of services that support patients’ emotional and psychological well-being. These services are affirmative, sex-positive, respectful and culturally sensitive.

The clinic team consists of mental health providers as well as clinicians from surgery, internal medicine, endocrinology, gynecology, social work, and nursing, who work together to provide comprehensive healthcare for Kaiser Permanente members needing gender-affirming health care services.

A mental health clinician in this role has the opportunity to provide the following services:

• Conduct informing sessions for gender affirming medical care including hormones and surgeries for youth and adults.
• Provide ongoing support for patients as they prepare for and recover from gender affirming surgeries.

Facilitate support groups:

• Short term psychotherapy with youth and adults
• Present mental health and wellness material at surgical education classes
• Provide support for youth and families navigating decisions related to medical and social transition
• Coordinate care across an interdisciplinary team of providers
• Develop patient education material and resources

Schedule depends on the school requirements for the premaster students.

Schedule can include:

• Direct Patient Care 14 hours max (can be a lot less, it depends on the student’s readiness for clinical patient work)
• Non-Direct Patient Care 4 hours
• Individual Supervision 2 hours
• Group Supervision 2 hours
• Didactic Experiences 2 hours