Frequently Asked Questions

UC Irvine is one of 10 campuses in the University of California system, located in the City of Irvine, near Newport Beach, and 40 miles south of Los Angeles. Irvine is the number one master planned community in America and perennially ranks in the top three safest cities in America with a population of over 100,000. UCI is among the fastest-growing campuses in the UC system with approximately 37,629 students enrolled in undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs.

The UCI counseling center offers many exciting opportunities to develop and deliver workshops. Our Center receives close to 100 workshop requests throughout the year. We deliver workshops to UCI students, faculty and staff. Common workshop requests include stress management, diversity issues, learning styles, relationships, etc. The Center’s staff also work in various consultative roles throughout the University. Interns will work to develop both outreach and consultation skills during the year.

Our Counseling Center prides itself with the diversity of the staff. Our staff is diverse with respect to age, gender, ethnicity, ableness and sexual orientation. In addition, theoretical orientations and areas of expertise vary among staff members.

The Counseling Center provides direct services and outreach to an ethnically diverse group of students. The UCI campus is fairly diverse and is represented by about 36% Asian Americans, 13% Caucasians, 26% Chicano/Latinos, 2% African Americans and 17% International Students. We also work with gay, lesbian, and bisexual clients and students. Last year over 50% of the UCI undergraduate graduating class identified as First-Generation college students! The Counseling Center offers services to both undergraduate and graduate students.

The Counseling Center is extremely supportive of interns who are working on their dissertations or research projects. Some of our staff have active research interests and may be of assistance to interns. The training program provides interns with professional development time for interns to dedicate to their research or other professional development activities. Access to the UC Library system is also available to interns.

The city of Irvine is centrally located in Orange County. Irvine is about 50 minutes south of Los Angeles and about 90 minutes north of San Diego. Beach communities are about 10 minutes away and ski resorts are about 2 hours away. Most interns have lived within 15-20 minutes away from Campus in the surrounding communities such as Tustin, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. Generally, affordable housing may be found in these and other nearby communities.

During orientation, interns have the opportunity to meet with the different supervising staff. This gives interns the opportunity to get to know the different supervisors and supervising styles. Subsequently, the interns rank the supervisors and discuss their preferences with the training director. The training director will make final assignments, taking into account the preferences of interns.

Currently, interns are involved in the supervision of peers in our COACH program, Peer Educator Program, and LGBTQ Mentor Program.

There are multiple opportunities for supervision in addition to working with your two individual supervisors. The interns participate weekly in group supervision, and can also work with other staff psychologists by co-facilitating a group, and providing joint couples or family therapy. There will also be consultation and supervision from the back-up supervisor during the interns’ urgent care/crisis intervention shifts. In short, all members of our clinical staff are involved with the training program.

Initially, interns may spend the greater part of the day in training seminars and meetings. The training director also spends time in orientating interns to the Counseling Center and the University. Eventually, the interns are involved in providing direct services and workshops. Although there is some degree of overlap between the interns schedules, much of the day depends on the interns individual interests and commitments (i.e., type of workshops, groups, etc.).

The Counseling Center encourages and supports the professional activities of interns. For example, the interns have attend the Couples Conference in San Mateo, CA and National Multicultural Conference and Summit in Houston, TX. In the past, the Center has provided some financial support for conferences and other professional activities. The interns also have the opportunity to attend professional development activities that are presented to the Center’s professional staff.

The Counseling Center offers a variety of groups to UCI students. The center offers therapy, support, and psychoeducational groups. For example, our staff offers support groups such as International Coffee Hour, Wabruda, and Estamos Unidas. In addition, the Center offers therapy groups such as Overcoming Social Anxiety, Family of Origins group, Graduate Student Therapy group, and Interpersonal process groups.

Currently the stipend for our 12 month full-time internship, for the 2021-2022 year is $37,400. Medical coverage is offered to our interns. In addition, interns will have receive vacation and sick time as well as holidays.

Currently, the internship is set up as a full-time internship and we do not have the accommodations for part-time or half-time interns.