Program Philosophy & Training Model

Program Philosophy & Training Model

Our training model might best be described as a Practitioner-Scholar Model in that we focus on clinical practice informed by scholarly inquiry. Underlying and infused within this model is our program’s value for celebrating and honoring multiculturalism in our relationships, practices, policies, and procedures while also striving to create a multi-culturally sensitive and supportive environment in which to work and to train. Intertwined in our training is the center’s commitment to practice as agents of social justice, including scholarship and professional action designed to change societal values, structures, policies, and practices, such that disadvantaged or marginalized groups gain increased access to these tools of self-determination (Goodman et al, 2004). We have adopted the value statement on training and diversity endorsed by the American Counseling Center Training Agencies (ACCTA), the Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs (CCPTP), and the Society for Counseling Psychology (SCP).Our Center’s training program was recognized by the American Psychological Association Suinn Minority Achievement Program Award for our commitment to the training of ethnic minority students.

In keeping with the Practitioner-Scholar Model, training is conducted by staff who are themselves seasoned clinicians. Our staff enriches training seminars by incorporating their sophisticated clinical understandings to topics of interest; likewise, they bring a wealth of practical experience to the close clinical supervision they provide interns. In addition to practical “know how”, our staff integrates scientific thinking into our training seminars and modules. Moreover, our internship promotes the integration of theory and practice through professional development speakers, scholarly reading assignments, and conferences.

Our overarching goal is to help interns incrementally progress from the trainee position into that of functionally competent professional. By the end of the internship, we expect our interns to be able to provide a full range of professional activities for diverse populations. Throughout the training process, we encourage the development and refinement of several core skills including: clinical interventions, the integration of theory and research into clinical practice, multicultural conceptualization and awareness, outreach and consultation, and the provision of training/supervision. Training is organized in a sequential and cumulative fashion. While all interns are expected to meet certain core training requirements and time commitments, there is some room for individualization in order to meet interns’ specific training interests and professional goals.

Lastly, inherent in our program’s philosophy is a belief that education is dynamic and life-long. We value and are committed to an on-going process of self-assessment, education and review of our training program. This process is vital to our continually updating and changing the program in directions that will be of greatest benefit to our interns and the field of professional psychology.

Committment to Diversity and Social Justice

The Counseling Center at UCI is highly invested in providing services that are dedicated to issues of social justice and respectful of the broad diversity of the UCI campus as well as the greater community. Our training program seeks to provide education and training which reflects a sensitivity to, and appreciation of diversity that is conceptualized broadly across many dimensions.

The Counseling Center at UCI is committed to maintaining a diverse staff whose members appreciate and respect diversity in others; therefore, our policies are in alignment with the code of ethics of both the APA (2017) and the ACA (2014). It is our expectation that our trainees will develop competencies to treat diverse populations, including individuals whose worldview, identity, beliefs, or cultural background are different than, or create conflict with, the worldview of the trainee.

In support of the values and goals of our training program we have adopted the American Psychological Association’s guidelines and policies related to preparing trainees to effectively provide services with diverse populations: Preparing Professional Psychologist to Serve a Diverse Public.