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Family & Children Services embraces its position as a community leader in Mental Health treatment as it trains students and interns seeking licensure in the fields of Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology, and Social Work. Internships are available in both our Palo Alto and San Jose offices.
The Family & Children Services Clinical Internship
The California Board of Psychology and the Board of Behavioral Sciences require interns to provide clinical services in pursuit of licensure. Interns provide approximately 20 hours of unpaid clinical work per week in an effort to accrue the required 3,000 hours of supervised experience necessary to obtain a license. Our comprehensive clinical intern training program begins in September and concludes at the end of August.
The Family & Children Services Clinical Internship meets the requirements for CAPIC eligibility for post-doctoral, doctoral, and master's level clinicians. Clinical training consists of a didactic seminar, group, and individual supervision. Training modules include, but are not limited to, assessment, diagnosis, theory, treatment planning, and law and ethics.
Approach to Clinical Training
The overriding philosophy of the clinical training program is to provide a comprehensive, well rounded clinical training regimen that will train individuals to appropriately manage and treat a wide range of clinical issues, ranging from anxiety and depression, trauma, substance abuse, personality difficulties, relationship problems, family issues and issues pertaining to children. An eclectic approach to theory is embraced, and interns are encouraged to draw from several disciplines as they develop their own theoretical orientation. To ensure the quality and breadth of clinical training, interns are required to participate in weekly individual and group supervision, and in clinical training seminars.
Selected interns are expected to sign a contract prior to the beginning to the internship, agreeing to abide by the legal and ethical regulations of their discipline. Interns are responsible for maintaining compliance with all school requirements and appropriate and timely submission of paperwork required for licensure.
Opportunities for Advanced Interns
Upon mutual agreement, interns may extend their placement at Family & Children Services for an additional year or longer. Many interns elect to remain beyond their initial year in order to take advantage of the additional opportunities afforded advanced standing status at the agency. Advanced standing allows interns to become employed at paid internship sites, including various schools and mental health clinics in the area.
It is the intent of the agency to offer these positions to qualified interns as demonstrated in the following information:
1. 54% of our current paid, licensed clinical staff started at the agency as unpaid clinical interns.
2. 55% of our paid school counseling staff started at the agency as clinical interns. With the exception of one high school, all of our paid school positions are open to unlicensed, post-Master’s clinical staff.
In addition, we have former interns who now have paid positions in our Positive Solutions program, our Substance Abuse Treatment program, and in our contract with San Mateo County to provide HIV/AIDS counseling.
How to Apply
Applications are accepted from January through March for the fall.
Palo Alto Site: Contact David Sitzer, Ph.D., at (650) 326-6576, x 5405.
San Jose Site: Contact Michelle Jani, MFT, at (408) 292-9353, x 8622.
Continuing Education Units
Family & Children Services also offers Continuing Education Units to both interns and clinical staff. F&CS is approved to provide MCEP, as well as continuing education for LCSWs and MFT.
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program Internships
Fall internships are available for Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and Master of Social Work (MSW) students who are fluent in American Sign Language (ASL). Interns work out of our San Jose office. Visit the Deaf and Hard of Hearing program page for more information on our services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. Contact Michelle Jani (above) for information.
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