Clinical Internship Program
The internship program is a valued part of the Counseling Unit at LFCS. Students help keep our professional discussions lively and productive, and they enable us to serve many people that we would not otherwise be able to help. Our interns learn how to do psychotherapy in a challenging and supportive environment. Many go on to pursue careers as therapists. For more information on our Clincial Intership program, contact Lynn Duffield, 314-754-2816 or send an email.
EXPERIENCE
Interns begin working with clients in the second week of the program. Their clinical workload increases steadily during the first semester. By the holidays, students are typically seeing five to ten cases. Interns provide individual, couples and family therapy. Practice settings include both in-office and in-schools. Interns frequently work with middle-school age children and uninsured adults. Although any Best Practices theoretical framework may be utilized, attachment theory, trauma-focused C.B.T. and multi-model emotion-focused therapy are utilzed most frequently.
SUPERVISION
Peer Consultation:
In our Tuesday morning meeting the staff and the interns take turns presenting cases for discussion. This context supports lively conversations, which do a better than average job of keeping hold of both the theoretical issues and the nuts and bolts of the clinical situations.
Individual Supervision:
Each intern is matched with a supervisor for the academic year. Each week, interns meet individually for one hour with the supervisor. Since interns take responsibility for their own cases right away, the beginning focus of supervision is on details of the clinical situations. As the interns progress, they take increasingly more responsibility for assessment and planning, and supervision becomes a context for conversation about their observations and their work.