Internship Activities

The goal of the internship program at Bowling Green State University is to prepare interns to function as generalist psychologists. While the program is individualized where possible, there is a core set of expectations:

• Work with a variety of clients, addressing diverse presenting concerns and dimensions of diversity. Interns carry a weekly average of 10-–15 therapy hours (individual and group combined), with a mix of short-term and long-term clients.
• Provide four hours of initial appointment coverage each week.
• Lead or co-lead at least two therapy, support or psychoeducational groups during the internship year.
• Participate in at least one consultation presentation each semester including topic groups, workshops, or seminars.
• Interns may provide supervision to graduate assistants and/or mental health counseling interns during the second half of the internship year, including weekly supervision meetings, tape reviews and evaluations.
• Interns will be evaluated formally at the end of Fall semester and at the end of internship. These evaluations will assess current strengths and weaknesses within the nine competencies. 
• Spend 2-4 hours per week in training seminars that combine didactic and experiential learning.
• Increase multicultural awareness, knowledge and skills through the year-long diversity and social justice seminar, staff discussions and outreach to diverse student populations.
• Interns will receive four hours of supervision a week. Two hours will be individual supervision with a licensed psychologist. 

Provision of psychological services
These service activities reflect the typical duties of a psychologist in a university counseling center and are carefully balanced to provide both experience and training.

Intake appointments
Interns typically provide four hours per week of intake appointments, gaining experience in intake assessment, referral, short-term interventions, crisis intervention and psychiatric consultation.

Individual therapy
Interns work with students presenting with a wide range of concerns, including depression, anxiety, relationship difficulties, grief and loss, suicidal ideation, trauma, identity concerns, self-esteem, personality disorders and personality development. Typical caseload is 10-15 clients per week.

Group therapy
Interns co-facilitate a process-oriented or structured/support/psychoeducational group during the fall and spring semesters. Interns will usually be paired with a senior staff member to co-lead group in the Fall. Past offerings have included time-limited interpersonal process groups, general therapy groups and psycho-educational groups. Interns may also propose a group based on campus needs and personal interests.

Crisis intervention and consultation
Interns provide daytime on-call crisis intervention and consultation services to students, faculty, staff and families. This is typically 2-4 hours per week and includes crisis intervention, consultation, referral and psychiatric consultation. Interns may also assist with crisis postvention services in the event of campus tragedies.

Assessment
Interns may have the opportunity to conduct a couple psychological evaluations during the year at the Psychological Services Center (PSC). The Counseling Center has partnered with the PSC, which is the BGSU Department of Psychology Clinic for Psychology Ph.D program, in order to give interns assessment experience in ADHD assessment. At times, interns may also use assessment measures with their individual clients such as the BDI-II, CCAPS, and MMPI-3. 

Alcohol and other drug (AOD) assessment and education
The Counseling Center has a dedicated AOD counselor who provides assessment and education. Interns may choose to work with the AOD counselor as part of their training.

Consultation Presentations
Interns actively participate in the center’s consultation activities. Interns are required to complete at least one outreach presentation per semester.

Provision of supervision
In the spring semester, interns may have the experience to provide supervision to a doctoral student in clinical psychology or a master’s student in mental health counseling. Additional supervision opportunities may be available in the summer.