APA Doctoral Internship Program*
Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC)
Doctoral Psychology Internship Training Program

Training Year 2023 - 2024


CHAC’s Doctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology is fully APA accredited as of 8/15/14, and our next site visit for reaccreditation will be in 2029.

To verify the APA-accredited status of CHAC’s Doctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology, please check the American Psychological Association website: APA Accreditation or contact the APA Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation.

Address:

750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
Phone: 202-336-5979
Email: apaaccred@apa.org

The program is a member of the Association of Psychological Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC), so these positions will be offered through the APPIC match. To view the Implementing Regulation (IR) C-27 Table: "Internship Admission, Support, & Initial Placement Data", please click here.

CHAC’s MISSION

The Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC), located in Mountain View, California, is a non-profit community mental health clinic that has served the local schools and communities since 1973. Our mission is to improve lives and strengthen communities through access to comprehensive and culturally responsive mental health services in northern Santa Clara County.

The agency began as a grass-roots movement in 1973, led by parents and community leaders concerned about a growing problem of adolescent alcohol and drug use in Mountain View, Los Altos, and Los Altos Hills. The original partnership included the governments of these three cities and their respective school districts. These partners provided the original funding for CHAC services. Since then, the demand for, and variety of CHAC’s services have grown considerably. We now have Masters and Doctoral level trainees in schools including all the schools in the above communities, and in addition, most of the schools in Sunnyvale. We also provide services in our outpatient clinic, which includes an Assessment Program, Latine Program, Substance Abuse Program for teens and their families, parenting groups and numerous therapeutic and psycho-educational services. CHAC programs address a wide range of emotional and social problems affecting children, teens and families. These problems include academic pressure, bullying, drug and alcohol abuse, racism and discrimination, physical and psychological abuse, depression, anxiety, self-esteem issues, pregnancy, and many others.

The Doctoral Internship Program

CHAC offers a one-year Doctoral Internship Training Program accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) for doctoral students in clinical psychology. We are exclusively affiliated with Palo Alto University and the Wright Institute. We offer four internship positions to students from Palo Alto University and four internship positions to students from the Wright Institute. Based on applicant qualifications and preferences, student can be placed in Latine, Main or Assessment Clinic Tracks.

The Psychology Internship program advances CHAC’s mission by extending the range and depth of services that are available to our populations, while at the same time developing a work force of professionals capable of contributing meaningfully to the field.

Doctoral Interns provide therapeutic and assessment services in the main outpatient clinic. They also provide and participate in community engagement projects. Our Latine program, extends our range of services to Spanish speaking populations. Interns also gain experience and training in supervision.

Students accepted into the Doctoral Internship contract for a 12-month, 40-hour per week commitment. The Internship begins August 8, 2023 and ends August 3, 2024.

Since Santa Clara County may still be affected by COVID-19 during this training year, part of the training and clinic services may be conducted remotely; however, the Assessment Clinic will be primarily in person with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

The purpose of the internship training program is to prepare psychologists to enter the field of clinical psychology as competent, ethical, collaborative, and culturally aware practitioners who are able to integrate science and practice. CHAC is a community mental health center. Interns see clients for psychotherapy and assessment at the agency outpatient clinic exclusively. Interns develop skills in assessing and treating children, adolescents and families, adults and couples who are experiencing a wide range of problems. Interns also acquire experience in community engagement and outreach. We believe that psychologists play a unique role among mental health professionals in community settings because of the depth and breadth of their training in the science of psychology. We expect our graduates to be able to evaluate psychological interventions on the basis of the underlying evidence and science as well as engage community members with presentations and conversations about topics salient and central to their lived experience.

Internship Training Aims and Competencies

The overarching aim of the Doctoral Internship Training Program is that by the end of the training year, interns will demonstrate the awareness, knowledge and skills required for assessment and treatment of children, adolescents and adults within the context of a community setting. This overall aim is encompassed in the APA Profession Wide Competencies, as follows: 

  • Research

  • Ethical and Legal Standards

  • Individual and Cultural Diversity

  • Professional Values, Attitudes, and Behaviors

  • Communication and Interpersonal Skills

  • Assessment

  • Intervention

  • Supervision

  • Consultation and Interpersonal/Interdisciplinary Skills

Training Model

The Doctoral Internship Program subscribes to a practitioner-scholar model. Training components are organized to build on previous experiences and learning to maximize the transfer of theoretical understanding to practical application. Teaching occurs through a combination of supervised professional experience including didactics, seminars, case-based presentations, observational learning, community engagement and supervision guidance to increase clinical understanding and professional development.

The training year begins with an orientation period, designed to help the interns acclimate and integrate into the agency, and acquaint themselves with the agency’s philosophy, policies, and procedures.

During the orientation period, the Doctoral Internship Program Director and training faculty review expectations, feedback, evaluations, grievance procedures, due process, and other relevant areas. This is a time also to begin to build Intern caseloads and plan community engagement projects with direction and guidance from clinical supervisors.

Interns’ level of knowledge and experience in testing, scoring, interpretation, and report writing is assessed through the Assessment Program’s Orientation, which includes the completion of a mock assessment administration reviewed via videotape and a scoring assignment. In your initial clinical supervision sessions, a self-evaluation is completed. All of this information is gathered as aids in understanding each intern’s skills, as well as to establish a group baseline used to calibrate the teaching level for supervision and seminars.

We see training as a developmental process and seek interns who are open to learning, collaboration, service and supervision guidance. We look for interns who are comfortable working clinically with children, youth, parents, and other caregivers; have training and experience in psychological assessment; have experience and interest working in community systems and outreach; have good writing skills; and are or have been in their own psychotherapy.

The Doctoral Internship Program at CHAC is committed to developing psychologists who expand their own and others consciousness with regard to the nature of mental health and healing, diversity, social justice, and working with vulnerable populations to provide care in communities where clients live, and advocating for clients when needed. We work with children, youth and families who often have very difficult life circumstances and may have very serious symptoms. We work primarily from a systems perspective which incorporates trauma theory and research within the context of cultural, racial and individual diversity.

8.30.20 Final 2020-21 CHAC Internship Brochure 4.jpg

Integration of Service and Learning

Our training program integrates training and direct service, combining experiential learning and didactic training. Interns are provided weekly with 2 hours of individual supervision, 2 hours of group supervision, 2 hours of Evidence-Based/Informed Practice Seminars, 1.5 hours of Case Consultation and Professional Identity Development Seminars, 2 hours of Assessment Group Supervision and ongoing as needed Individual Assessment Supervision. In addition, we seek to enhance self-awareness of facilitative interpersonal skills, which have been found to increase efficacy across theoretical models. Diversity and intersectional awareness are foci of training for interns to develop awareness of their own cultural lenses and to be sensitive to the implications of culture in the context of treatment. All supervision and training are provided by licensed clinical psychologists and a post-doctoral fellow.

These aspects of the program provide opportunities for interns to examine what they do in treatment, how to employ evidence in clinical practice, how to collaborate in learning from supervisors and cohort members about relevant recent findings from psychological science, and to practice the skill of presenting and receiving feedback and support on case material and when presenting in community settings.

Interns gain experience with short and longer-term psychotherapy with children, adolescents and adults, families, couples and, when possible, psycho-educational groups.

Outpatient Clinic

Interns are referred clients for treatment from the population served by our agency. We serve clients on a sliding fee scale. Many individuals self-refer and others are referred by professionals and agencies in the area. We provide individual, couples, and family therapy to clients with a full range of diagnoses. Clients come to us with a wide range of diagnostic presentations, including depression, anxiety, effects of maltreatment, personality or behavior disorders, family dysfunction and substance abuse. Many of our clients have histories of trauma and/or abuse. We see clients with long term mental health struggles, but not with long standing Severe Mental Illness.

Clients are screened in an intake interview, and then presented in a meeting of supervisors and clinical directors, who seek to fit clients to interns’ developmental level.  Over the course of the year, interns are provided cases of increasing complexity, in accordance with their increasing clinical skills. Interns carry 15-18 cases at any given time in our outpatient clinic.

Interns who are bilingual English-Spanish may apply for the Latine Track Program.

Community Engagement Project

Our Community Engagement Project is an intensive learning experience. This project provides interns the opportunity to provide a minimum of three (3) presentations focused on community outreach and advocacy. These presentations provide opportunities to build research, inter-disciplinary, interpersonal and teaching competencies. Within the context of the local clinical scientist model, applying psychological science to local challenges with the aim to reduce suffering and provide community support, CHAC has many opportunities for presenting research in local settings, remotely during COVID Shelter in Place. This may be in the form of being on an expert panel speaking with parents and/or local stakeholders about any number of concerns ranging from child and/or adolescent anxiety, depression, vaping, drug use, crisis intervention, cultural and diversity considerations, trauma, racism, healthy coping skills, etc.  Interns may choose to present their own dissertation research as it applies to the context and/or collaborate with staff on creating specific presentations based in relevant research literature. 

Thus, interns contribute to the value of our programs while learning essential community outreach, presentation and engagement skills. CHAC provides training and support for the development of each presentation.

Supervision

Licensed psychologists and mental health professionals provide all clinical supervision. Specialized consultation is also made available as needed. Each intern receives two hours of live individual supervision and two hours of group supervision per week. Video and or audio taping of sessions, live supervision, and review of documentation/case reports are some methods used in supervision.

Interns receive training in providing supervision during the first half of the training year. During the course of the year, they have the opportunity to provide supervised individual and group supervision for less experienced clinicians with a licensed psychologist or LMFT acting as the primary supervisor.

Integrated Clinical Assessment Services 

Psychological assessments at CHAC are viewed as both a diagnostic evaluation and as an avenue for collaborative therapeutic intervention. We believe that a competent psychologist must be familiar with the major assessment tools and the ability to construct assessments that can be used therapeutically. Each intern is expected to conduct at least 2 integrated batteries during the year and to present the findings of each assessment in a therapeutic context.

CHAC aims to incorporate sensitivity to the impact of racial, ethnic, and cultural identity, environmental factors, and other aspects of performance and behavior in our selection of instruments and interpretation of data. Interns participate in the weekly Assessment Group Supervision and additional didactics in accordance with these goals. An understanding of current research on a variety of topics as it relates to psychological assessment and overall cognition is also an important part of our training model. Throughout the course of the training year, as part of the weekly Assessment Group Supervision interns are asked to present research on relevant topics related to their assessment cases. Such research may be to better understand the effects of a medical condition or medication on one’s cognitive functioning or behavior (e.g., Turner syndrome or effects of growth hormones), or it may be to better understand a condition (e.g., the expression of autism in women as it is different than the “typical” presentation). Interns are expected to be doing research on a variety of issues with the goals 1) to provide the most comprehensive understanding of their client’s testing results in the context of the client’s life, and 2) to help determine the best possible treatment recommendations for clients (e.g., does video game training really help with an adolescent’s attention if they have ADHD?).

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, CHAC will be adapting certain measures to be provided via virtual testing sessions. However, certain measures are to be administered in-person. COVID-19 precautions have been adopted by CHAC and fully enforced for the safety of our clients and staff.

Applicants are expected to be familiar with the components of a standardized test battery for adults, and appropriate measures for assessing children. Interns participate in assessment training and consultation group each week. Minimum proficiency (i.e. administrating, scoring, interpreting with several integrative reports in clinical settings) in the following tests is expected: WAIS, WISC and/or WASI.

This component is led by a licensed psychologist highly experienced in the administration and analysis of psychological tests. This consultation group provides the opportunity to gain increasing competence in the selection, administration, and interpretation of instruments, report writing, and the therapeutic use of assessment findings. Required Assessment Group Supervision provides didactic training on the use of these tools, both for adults and for children, and serves as a basis for consultation on ongoing assessment cases. During the course of the internship, each intern will conduct at least 2 integrated test batteries. Interns who have extensive training in assessment and want to specialize in psychological testing may apply for the Assessment Clinic Training Track.

Evidence-Based/Informed Practice Seminars and Didactics

Interns participate in a weekly 2-hour Evidence-Based/Informed Practice Seminar and Didactics (EBIP). They are designed to introduce interns to recent advances in psychological care; provide updates on scientific advances that affect the practice of psychology; and provide a forum for discussion of topics that strengthen the relationship of psychology to the broader community. A distinguished group of experts, including professors from Palo Alto University, Stanford, University of California Medical Centers, and other scholars provide these seminars and didactic trainings. Topics progress in level of complexity and depth, and interns are expected to integrate the information and recent advances in their clinical work with clients.

Past training topics have included:

  • Multicultural trainings with a focus on race, ethnicity, ability and sexual minorities

  • School based interventions

  • Telehealth approaches to play therapy

  • Intersectionality and cultural responsiveness with Latinx populations

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with children and adolescents

  • Trauma based approaches

  • Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)

  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

  • Issues of child abuse and mandated reporting

  • Family systems and therapy

  • Working with parents and caregivers

  • Art and play therapy

  • Polyvagal theory and complex trauma

  • Acute care and risk assessment

Case Consultation Review/Professional Identity Development Seminar

This seminar seeks to promote excellence and quality in clinical care. It is an opportunity for interns to provide consultation in cases that are complex, need in-depth clinical review, or require specialized care. As an invitation to agency wide clinicians, interns would provide clinical guidance assuming the unique roles that psychologists have in interdisciplinary collaboration and consultation. This seminar provides opportunities to practice consultation skills, evaluate the evidence base, and formulate ways of adapting such practices to contexts which may differ from those from which the evidence was derived.

For the first part of the seminar, clinicians would be assigned psychotherapy cases and discuss possible treatment interventions, as well as identify issues that might arise, such as need for comprehensive or specialized care, or need for a broader participation of other professionals (i.e., speech therapists, psychiatrists, case managers, etc.). The second part of the seminar provides an opportunity for interns to integrate literature and practice, including an opportunity to understand their cultural selves and explore intersectional identities held by clients and clinicians, as well as evaluate client-clinician match. Interns would also provide case conceptualizations that include comprehensive treatment modalities, such as psychiatry care, psychological testing, specialty mental health (i.e., eating disorder specialists, dementia care professionals, etc.), and other specialists with whom psychologists interact to provide high-quality and well-rounded clinical care. Other medical and applied professionals will be invited to provide consultation and expert recommendations.

This seminar is open to all CHAC clinicians and staff however, cases will be limited to one per week, to maximize the ability to provide the clinician with the necessary consultation, resources, and support.

Intern Peer Support Group 

Interns meet for one hour each week in an informal peer group. The purpose of the group is to facilitate bonding and cohort cohesion among the interns and encourage processing and mutual support without staff present. The intern group will elect a representative in the event the group wishes to present any concerns about their experiences in the program to the Director of Training.

Distribution of Training Hours

The following is a typical breakdown of weekly activities, as they are distributed in the one-year full-time internship: Additional time (but not to exceed 44 hours a week) may include: community outreach and education; supervision experience; teaching experience; additional research opportunities.

Typical breakdown of interns’ weekly activities:

2021-22 CHAC Internship Brochure.jpg

Interns are assigned cases based on an on-going assessment of their developing competencies. Outpatient assignments are made by a treatment team consisting of associate clinical directors and the intern’s primary supervisor. As the year progresses and the interns’ skills develop, they are assigned cases increasing in complexity.

Training Tracks

 Main Track

 Interns who are interested in gaining a broad array of skills, professional roles, skills, and methods to assist and empower clients may apply for the Main Track Training Program. Interns in this track participate in all the aspects of the internship program, including community outreach projects, supervision training, assessment clinic, and outpatient clinic services. Interns in this track would be trained on community psychology principles and would be able to train on different treatment modalities and orientations. This track encourages the development of multicultural competence in strength-based, systems-oriented, and trauma informed interventions. This track offers an emphasis on becoming generalist psychologists, who can provide services to a broad range of clients in different settings.

Latine Track

Interns who are bilingual English-Spanish may apply for the Latine Track Training Program. All Spanish language supervision is provided by bilingual licensed psychologists. Clinical training in the Latine Track encourages the development of multicultural competence in strengths-based, family-oriented, and trauma-informed interventions that address the effects immigration, acculturation, and socioeconomic disparities. Through guided practice, bi-lingual supervision, readings, program evaluation and didactic/EBIP trainings, this track offers a particular emphasis on cultivating awareness, knowledge and skills in navigating intersectional identities when working with Latine communities.

Interns receive individual and group supervision in Spanish and have opportunities to provide bilingual consultation to multicultural clients and colleagues at CHAC. Interns will be able to deliver high-quality services to under-resourced communities with the goal of becoming culturally informed Health Service Psychologists. Interns in this track may focus their Community Outreach Projects on issues related to Latine communities.

The program is ideal for students with different levels of Spanish proficiency as it encourages the cultivation of multi-cultural and professional Spanish language competencies. Although many of their cases are with Spanish-speaking clients, Interns in the Latine Track spend significant clinical hours also working with English (and other languages) speakers and participate with those in the main track program in the assessment clinic, didactic and EBIPs trainings, and peer support group.

Assessment Clinic Track 

Interns who are seeking to specialize in psychological testing and assessment may apply for the Assessment Clinic Track. Though psychological testing and assessment will be the main components of this track, the intern is expected to participate in all other areas of training so that the intern’s competency skills are well-rounded, including the provision of psychotherapy and participation in community outreach projects. The track includes working alongside the Assessment Clinic team to provide high-quality, relevant, and necessary psychological assessments to provide psychodiagnostic results and comprehensive clinical reports. Interns will become proficient in the administration, interpretation, and report writing of cognitive and personality measures. This track is ideal for students who have extensive psychological testing and assessment experience, and who are committed to supporting the access to these specialized services to communities who are under-resourced. 

Program Policies

Non-Discrimination Policy

CHAC is a learning community, where integrated personal and professional development are pursued in order to match our clients’ desire for change in their lives.

Respect for cultural and individual diversity is reflected in the program’s policies for recruitment, retention, and development of staff and interns, and in didactic and experiential training. The program has nondiscriminatory policies and operating conditions and avoids any actions that would restrict program access on grounds that are irrelevant to success in an internship or the profession.

The Doctoral Internship Program is an integral part of Community Health Awareness Council. Interns are selected for merit, qualification, and competence. Training practices are not unlawfully influenced or affected by a person’s ethnicity, religion, color, race, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, medical condition, marital status, age, gender or sexual identity. Additionally, it is the policy of CHAC to provide a work environment free of sexual and other forms of unlawful harassment. This policy governs all employment, including hiring, compensation and benefits, assignment, discharge and all other terms and conditions of internship.

CHAC is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to diminishing the influence of privilege and discrimination in our field and our workplace relating to differences in age, race, ethnicity, creed, disability, gender, genetic information, marital or parental status, medical condition, national origin or ancestry, religion, registered domestic partner status, sex, sexual orientation, and veteran status.

Program Admission Requirements

Main Selection Criteria

The internship program’s selection process is designed to identify doctoral candidates who are comfortable providing individual and group psychotherapy in the context of community mental health clinical practice. Interns shall have completed a minimum of two years of practicum. At least one year of practicum, or practicum-equivalent work experience must consist of treating children and/or adolescents. They must demonstrate that they have experience working with diverse clientele, are familiar with evidence-informed/based interventions, and have experience providing multiculturally informed, thoughtful case formulation and interventions as well as a record of meeting legal and ethical standards in prior practice.

Applicants are expected to be familiar with the components of a standardized test battery for adults, and appropriate measures for assessing children. Interns participate in assessment training and consultation group each week. Minimum proficiency (i.e. administrating, scoring, interpreting with several integrative reports in clinical settings) in the following tests is expected: WAIS, WISC and/or WASI. They are required to have conducted and written at least two integrated psychological assessment batteries, and must submit one written report with their application.

Academic Standing: all interns must be enrolled in the Palo Alto University/Pacific Graduate School of Psychology APA-accredited Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology or in the APA-accredited Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology at the Wright Institute. 

Prior to Start of Internship: Interns must have advanced to candidacy. They must be prepared to submit fingerprints for clearance through Livescan.

Health Clearance: All interns are required to have the physical and mental ability to perform the essential duties of the internship in both clinical and community practice settings with reasonable accommodation if applicable. Interns are required annually to provide evidence that they are clear from infection with tuberculosis.

Other Helpful Qualifications

  • Spanish language fluency a plus

  • Flexibility to work in various environments

  • Ability to collaborate and work with a multidisciplinary team

Selection Process

Our internship program is exclusively affiliated with Palo Alto University and the Wright Institute. As affiliated programs, all applicants are required to be doctoral students who have been advanced to candidacy at Pacific Graduate School of Psychology at Palo Alto University or at the Wright Institute. Applications are submitted through the APPIC Portal. Selected applicants will be interviewed by the Training Director, the Latinx Program Director, and/or supervisors as appropriate.

Internship Progress and Completion 

In order to successfully progress through and complete the program, interns must complete the following forms of evaluation and meet acceptable standards for completion on each.

Initial Assessment of Competencies (IAC)

During the first weeks of the training program, the intern completes, in consultation with supervisors, an Initial Assessment of Competencies. This assessment identifies the intern’s experience and reported level of competence at entry in terms of Profession Wide Competencies and Program Specific Competencies. The initial assessment helps identify specific clinical competency domains where an intern needs more training, experience or confidence.

Individual Training Contract (ITC)

The Individual Training Contract is developed using the Initial Assessment and information gained during orientation about training expectations and opportunities. In the training contract, the intern and his/her supervisor define action plans to address specific competency areas that should be a focus for development. The intern also uses this form to list specific competency areas on which he/she may want to obtain extra supervision or training opportunities during the year. The training contract identifies primary and delegated supervisors, and lists responsibilities and expectations for the training year. The contract is kept with signed copies of the Supervision Agreement Form required by the California Board of Psychology and secured in the intern’s file. 

The Progress Rating Form (PRF)

The PRF is completed by the primary supervisor, in consultation with all other supervisors, at mid-year and the end of the training year. The PRF monitors progress on competency objectives across foundational and functional clinical domains. Evaluations are typically done in February, after the first trimester is completed and in June as the summer term begins. To successfully complete the internship, an intern must achieve ratings of “3” or higher across all domains of competency by August 1.

Certificate of Completion

To receive a Certificate of Completion at the end of the training year, the intern must attain a score of “3” (Meets Expectations) or better for each competency domain on the PRF by the fourth quarter of the training year. The intern must also have accrued 2000 hours of supervised training by the end of the training contract. The Certificate of Completion confirms the intern’s successful completion of 2000 hours of supervised professional experience and capacity to demonstrate competencies related to the goals of the program.

Stipend and Benefits

Interns receive a stipend of $25,000 plus $1200 in benefits from their respective doctoral programs. Time Off: 2 weeks of paid vacation plus sick time accrual at 8 hours per month and 10 CHAC Holidays.

Application Process

Applicants must register for the Match using the online registration system on the Match website at www.namatch.com/psychint (No paper applications will be accepted).

For the online application process, please submit:

  • A cover letter describing your interest in the position and why you think it is a good match for you

  • The APPI

  • Your curriculum vitae including your email address (we will communicate with you primarily by email to schedule interviews)

  • A redacted psychological assessment report

  • Three letters of recommendation

For More Information

If you have any questions regarding accreditation, please contact:

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 2002-4242
Phone: (202) 336-5500
TDD: (202) 336-6123

If you have questions about the Doctoral Internship Training Program and/or the contents of this brochure, please contact:

Jorge Wong, Ph.D.
Doctoral Internship Program
Community Health Awareness Council
590 W El Camino Real
Mountain View, CA 94040
jorge.wong@chacmv.org
Phone: (650) 965-2020

Or, for questions specific to the Latine program:

Elisabet Revilla, Ph.D.
Director Latine Track, Clinical Supervisor
Community Health Awareness Council
590 W El Camino Real
Mountain View, CA 94040
erevilla@chacmv.org
Phone: (650) 965-2020 ext 115