Our focus is to give all trainees a strong clinical experience that promotes their training as mental health professionals while also meeting all academic requirements of your graduate program.  For Practicum, independent of any hours you will commit to your academic program (coursework or supervision provided by your program), students generally work 10 hours a week during regular business hours (Monday – Thursday 7:30 am – 5:00 pm and Friday 7:30 am – 12:30 pm). We strongly prefer accepting practicum students who plan on completing their internship at our center as well.

Trainees are required to attend one full day of training prior to the beginning of the semester. This training consists of an overview of the Counseling Center’s policies and procedures, as well as an overview of the Electronic Medical Records software (Titanium). Typically, you will receive a minimum 1 hour a week of individual supervision and 1 hour of group supervision on an every-other week basis.

Additionally, practicum students will develop and lead workshops on various academic and personal issues. Trainees will be expected to do at least 3 outreach programs a semester. This type of activity is typically expected of most clinicians in a college setting and it is an important skill to develop. At times, therapy and psycho-educational groups are offered at the Counseling Center, and if appropriate, Practicum students can participate as co-facilitators with senior staff.

Once you have been oriented to the system here and your skills have been assessed, you may be provided the opportunity to observe and possibly co-conduct intake sessions (later in the training cycle). This training begins with a didactic component and progresses to role play, observing intakes, and then being observed conducting intakes before the practicum trainees are “cleared” to conduct intakes independently. Cases assigned are somewhat dependent on interest and skills, but typically during a beginning practicum you will work with students on academic issues (study skills, time management, procrastination, etc.) and mild personal issues.

Group supervision is a time where all trainees meet together with one or more senior staff. This time is used in many ways, from orientation and explaining procedures, to allow time for questions, to provide time to process experiences related to your work and professional development, and many sessions will be dedicated to specific topics, often relevant clinical issues and treatment techniques. Trainees have an opportunity to influence the topics selected for group supervision.

Del Mar College Counseling Center offers clinical internship training experience for student-clinicians in Counseling. We strive to accept two students from a Master’s level Counseling Program each year. You must reapply every semester. Because the student-clinicians work with Del Mar College students, Counseling Services asks our student-clinicians to be on-site through the end of each semester; the end of the semester is defined as the last day of final exams.

This internship attempts to provide student-clinicians with a broad range of experiences typical of working in a college counseling center. Additional highlights include the diversity of Del Mar College’s student population, the opportunity to collaborate with both counseling and campus personnel, and an emphasis on multicultural competence.

The training program adheres to Del Mar College’s academic calendar for beginning dates, end dates, breaks, and holidays. Student-clinicians are expected to work a total of 10 hours/week during regular business hours (Monday – Thursday 7:30 am – 5:00 pm and Friday 7:30 am – 12:30 pm).

Training 

The Del Mar College Counseling Center requires two full days of training prior to the beginning of the semester. This training consists of a variety of didactic sessions as well as practice sessions on conducting intakes. This training is designed such that student-clinicians are ready to begin to see clients the first week of classes. 

During both the fall and spring semesters, student-clinicians participate in every-other-week in-service trainings. Some of these trainings are designed specifically for the student-clinicians while other trainings are developed for all Counseling Services clinicians. 

Time Commitments

Orientation: Two day orientation program, depending on the trainee’s experience, coursework, and progress during orientation.

Fall Semester: 10 hours per week (with the opportunity for additional hours), MUST be available either Tuesday or Wednesday from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm for case consultation, supervision, and trainings. Position ends the last day of final exams.

Spring Semester: 10 hours per week (with the opportunity for additional hours), MUST be available either Tuesday or Wednesday from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm for case consultation, supervision, and trainings. Position ends the last day of final exams.

Program Objectives

Student-clinicians will participate in a variety of activities intended to develop knowledge and skills in the following areas: 

• Counseling skills 
• Comprehensive intake interviews 
• Case conceptualization 
• Treatment planning 
• DSM-5 diagnoses 
• Clinical documentation/SOAP notes 
• Theoretical orientation 
• Cultural competency 
• Issues unique to a college population 
• Professional ethics and behavior 
• Effective use of supervision 

Supervision and Taping Sessions 

Each student-clinician receives one hour of individual supervision per week with their clinical supervisor. Most academic programs have specific taping requirements. We work with these requirements to the best of our ability. Your clinical program may require additional audio or video taping to be reviewed as part of the supervision process. These requirements may vary depending on the developmental level of the student-clinician. More advanced student-clinicians may be required less taping than more novice counselors. The client must sign a taping consent form. This form is provided to the student-clinicians by the Counseling Center. Some recording equipment is available at the Counseling Center for student-clinicians to use. Student-clinicians will want to ensure that the equipment available meets your needs. Student-clinicians are also responsible for working out a schedule for the use of the audio/video equipment if necessary.  

In addition to the one hour of individual supervision, all student-clinicians at the Counseling Center receive one hour of group supervision on an every-other week basis. Student-clinicians also participate in one hour of case conference twice a month with the Counseling Center clinicians. During Case Conference, clinical staff, including the student-clinicians, discuss client situations for which clinicians would like peer input. The Counseling Center promotes an open door policy for everyone, including student-clinicians and trainees. Thus, consultation with a staff member is always available. 

The training program at the Counseling Center operates within a developmental model. From this perspective, all student-clinicians begin the training year seeing low intensity, low acuity clients. As the student-clinicians demonstrate improvement in clinical skills, they see more intense, more complicated, and/or higher acuity clients. Student-clinicians are provided the opportunity, later in the training cycle, to observe and possibly co-conduct crisis interventions including working with suicidal clients.

Individual counseling 

Individual counseling is the most common treatment modality at the Counseling Center and student-clinicians typically schedule 5 individual counseling clients per week. Clients at the Counseling Center are exclusively undergraduate students attending Del Mar College. The Counseling Center utilizes a short-term treatment model, but student-clinicians may be allowed to work long-term with a small number of students. As noted above, student-clinicians begin the academic year working with low intensity, low acuity clients and progress to seeing more intense, more complicate, and/or higher acuity clients as the student-clinicians demonstrate needed clinical skills. 

Intakes 

At the beginning of the semester, all student-clinicians receive intensive training on conducting biopsychosocial intakes. This training begins with a didactic component and progresses to role play, observing intakes, and then being observed conducting intakes before the student-clinicians are “cleared” to conduct intakes independently. 

Scheduling and Documentation 

The Counseling Center recognizes that each training program differs in their weekly and/or semester required hours. Each student-clinician is responsible for providing sufficient availability to help ensure that mandatory hours are met. The Counseling Center will do our best to accommodate each student-clinician’s schedule. Student-clinicians are encouraged to monitor their hours and to consult with their supervisors on a regular basis about any issues in accruing sufficient contact hours. 

The Counseling Center utilizes Titanium Schedule for scheduling clients and for documentation. Student-clinicians receive training on Titanium and on documentation including utilization of note templates. Student-clinicians maintain their own Titanium schedules. This allows student-clinicians to best manage their time at the Counseling Center in order to meet the student-clinician’s goals. Once a client is assigned to a student-clinician, the student-clinician is responsible for further scheduling of sessions, including contacting clients who cancel their appointment or who do not show for their appointment. 

Student-clinicians maintain appropriate and timely documentation to ensure quality control and appropriate communication. Therefore, student-clinicians are asked to balance their client commitments with sufficient opportunities to ensure timely documentation. 

Crises

Student-clinicians are expected to identify psychiatric and mental health emergencies and to intervene in order to promote the safety of clients, students, and others. Intervention will always begin with the student-clinician consulting with the student-clinicians’ supervisors or with an available staff member. The role of the student-clinician in further interventions will vary depending on the need of the client and the competence level of the student-clinician. 

Other

In addition to the above activities, student-clinicians are provided opportunities to participate in outreach events such as presentations and tabling. Student-clinicians will also make one formal case-presentation to the Counseling Center clinicians each semester. As with most university and college counseling centers, the Counseling Center clinicians cannot anticipate every possible situation a student-clinician may encounter. Thus, student clinicians may have other responsibilities not indicated above.