Department of Psychology -
APPIC & CAPIC Internships
Overview
The internship is CAPIC approved and an APPIC member training program. The curriculum is designed to train clinicians to become competent geriatric mental health professionals. The American Psychological Association and other professional boards are now recognizing that geropsychology is a specialist discipline, requiring specific training and experience. Our program focuses on providing pre-doctoral psychology interns with those skills. In addition, we have recently expanded our mission to include the provision of mental health services to a younger, chronically ill patient population. Training geared toward meeting the specific needs of this population will be a component of the internship experience. All of our programming looks at how to build good clinical skills and how to apply them to the specific needs of the older or vulnerable adult.
The internship is open to students in good standing enrolled in Ph.D. or Psy.D. clinical level APA-Accredited psychology graduate programs. Applicants must have completed all necessary training and coursework, and be certified by their department or school as having advanced to candidacy and ready to begin a pre-doctoral internship.
Interested applicants are encouraged to apply through the APPIC match, as it is the earlier of the two formal Internship matching programs in which we may participate. Our program will also participate in the later CAPIC match if any positions remain unfilled after the APPIC match has concluded. In addition to contacting us directly, please also refer to both the APPIC and CAPIC websites current information about our training program and application procedures.
*Please note that, beginning with the 2008-2009 training cycle, opportunities to do Neuropsychological Assessment will no longer be a component of the training experience at the Institute on Aging. The focus of the training experience will be exclusively on provision of Individual and Group therapy to an older adult population.
The Training Year
Internship training at the IOA involves a 12-month commitment that begins the first week in July and ends the final week of June the following year. Interns will be allowed 2 weeks of vacation over the course of the year. However, vacation time may not be used during the first 3 weeks or final 2 weeks of training. There is no stipend available for these positions.
Internship Training Goals
At the conclusion of the training year, Interns should expect to have gained the following knowledge and experience:
- A solid understanding of the aging process and its related developmental challenges.
- A sophisticated understanding of the major medical and psychological problems faced by older adults as well as younger adults coping with chronic illness or other disabilities.
- The development of skills in providing psychotherapy for older adults as well as younger adults coping with chronic illness or other disabilities, and an awareness of the unique psychotherapy needs of these populations.
- An in-depth understanding of the ethical and legal issues that come with the practice of geropsychology and provision of services to dependent adults; including issues related to elder and dependent adult abuse, evaluation of competence and capacity, appropriate level of care, and conservatorship.
- An expanded sensitivity to the issues sometimes faced by older and dependent adults from non-dominant cultures.
- The ability to work comfortably and to consult with other professionals and with non-professional caregivers.
- Comfort working in non-traditional settings, such as residential communities, patients' homes, and day programs.
Internship Responsibilities
As part of the requirement for successful completion of our internship training, interns have a number of responsibilities. There is a minimum time commitment of 40 hours per week for 50 weeks in a calendar year. Specific responsibilities include the following:
- 30 hours per week providing individual psychotherapy in patient's residences (private homes, residential care facilities, skilled nursing facilities) or at our clinic. Maximum caseload of 18-20 patients (transportation time is factored in to contracted hours).
- Participation in 5 hours of training per week; including didactics, case conference, and administrative meetings.
- 2 hours per week of individual clinical supervision.
- Accurate and timely completion of necessary paperwork.
- Consultation with other professionals.
Application Procedures
Applicants must have an interest in geropsychology as demonstrated by completion of appropriate graduate studies/internships. Application procedures and deadlines will strictly follow official APPIC and CAPIC guidelines. Please consult the APPIC and CAPIC program directories for further details about application procedures and deadlines. All materials should be submitted to the address listed below. Please feel free to contact the Director of Training if you have any questions.
This internship site agrees to abide by the policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept, or use any ranking-related information from any intern applicant.
Tom Cicciarelli, Psy.D.
Director, Department of Psychology
IOA – Department of Psychology
3330 Geary Blvd., 3-E
San Francisco, CA 94118
Or call (415) 750-4180, ext. 209
Email: tcicciarelli@ioaging.org