Pacific Institute provides a unique 1-2 year internship - with possibilities to extend it to the second year and post-doctoral- program designed to promote a developmental and enriching process in which interns and trainees move into the role of existential facilitator and therapist. Pacific Institute offers full-time and part-time pre-doc and post-doc positions.

This internship is an important stage in the process of becoming a professional therapist, healer, and elder. Interns and Trainees are encouraged to take an active role in carrying out the program’s research, and educational goals.

The Internship can be fulfilled at our AgeSong Institute of Elder Wellness or at the Awakenings Institute of Mental Wellness.

At both institutes you could work with people experiencing non-ordinary states of consciousness due to dementia processes -including Alzheimer’s disease or so-called mental illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorders and others. At Pacific Institute, although we use these labels to name the phenomena, we see it as a way of expressing oneself, a different language of some sort. You will also being able to be a catalyst for those people in search of meaning during enduring times by supporting family members, friends, and residents in distress.

The population that Pacific Institute covers in these Institutes is dependent adults -from 18 to 64 years of age with any disability- or the elderly > 65 all with double or triple diagnosis.

To better serve these individuals in their journey of aging, dying, and woleness we have designed specialized programs that include:

Expressive Arts Therapy
Gero-Psychological Research and Care
Transpersonal Psychotherapy and Spiritual Care
'Dementia' Research and Care
End of Life Program (in collaboration with Zen Hospice Project)

The Socratic dictum 'know thyself' is in many ways the primal motivation to become a clinician in the human services field. Having said that, knowledge of self is inter-related to knowledge of other. Along with developing clinical and assessment skills and professional expertise, Pacific institute draws from the rich tradition of human thought and experience the help we need to struggle with the fundamental questions of being a human being: Why are we here? How are we here? What does life want from us? What do we want from life? Interns and Trainees from both the Doctoral and Master level are trained in the phenomenological-existential and process-work approaches to therapy within which they are encouraged to develop and grow their own style of care and clinical support.

In order to facilitate these goals, intensive supervision, seminars, consultation, staff meetings, case conferences, professional development, training and on-going feedback are provided.

Pacific Institute is a member of CAPIC - California Psychology Internship Council

Formal Clinical Activities

Formal Training Activities

Supervision

All Interns receive three hours per week of group supervision and one to four hours (only post-doctoral fellows - see below) of individual supervision from one or more licensed senior staff members. Initial supervisory assignments are made by Pacific Institute supervisors and the Director of Training while considering Individual interns' interests, training needs, skill level, theoretical orientation and preferences for supervisory style.

In order to expose interns to different theoretical orientations and supervision styles, there is the opportunity to change primary supervisors at mid-year. In addition, secondary supervision may be provided in the fall or spring semesters. Additional supervision experiences or case consultation opportunities can be arranged based upon specific training needs, internship level (practicum, 1^st year internship, etc) and interests.

Practicum Level Seminars

The practicum level students are expected to start unfolding their style of working with clients, to know the basics of clinical work, and address psychosocial issues at a very entry level. For the Practicum level the interns receive the following clinical seminars along with the cited supervision.

Clinical Seminar: The weekly 2-hour clinical training seminar occurs throughout the year and is presented by senior staff members and invited speakers. This seminar is intended to provide interns with information and knowledge essential for clinical work with geriatric populations. Topics and training modules include important areas such as professional and ethical issues in clinical practice, brief psychotherapy, clinical assessment, crisis assessment and intervention, psychopharmacology, substance abuse in old age, eating disorders and elder abuse issues.

Gerontology and Gero Psychiatric I: This bi-monthly 3-hour seminar places special emphasis on issues of aging, and co-morbidity of mental health issues and mental disturbances presented by the elderly. Special attention is given to the treatment of Dementia and special activities to work with this population.

Multicultural and Professional ethics Seminar: These quarterly seminars combine experiential and didactic components to explore how clinician and client assumptions, backgrounds and training may influence the clinical process. Interns are encouraged to explore and understand how their own training and backgrounds may affect their interactions with clients.

Internship pre-doctoral Level Seminars

For the Internship ?first and second year-level the program provides interns with an opportunity to deepen their learning from either a previous practicum or their first year at pacific Institute and to integrate theoretical knowledge with actual clinical experiences

Clinical Seminar: The weekly 2-hour clinical training seminar occurs throughout the year and is presented by senior staff members and invited speakers. This seminar is intended to provide interns with information and knowledge essential for clinical work with geriatric populations. Topics and training modules include important areas such as professional and ethical issues in clinical practice, brief psychotherapy, clinical assessment, crisis assessment and intervention, psychopharmacology, substance abuse in old age, and elder abuse issues.

Gerontology and Gero Psychiatric II: This bi-monthly 3-hour seminar places special emphasis on issues of aging, and co-morbidity of mental health issues and mental disturbances presented by the elderly. Special attention is given to the psychotherapeutic and assessment activities like Individual Psychotherapy, Group Psychotherapy, Cognitive Vitality Training, Psychological Assessment, and Cognitive Testing. At the Internship Level students are expected to take an important role in the Institute?s research program and activities on dementia and Gero-psychology Issues.

Clinical Models and Supervision Seminar: This bi-monthly seminar reviews theoretical models of supervision and provides a forum for interns to share and discuss their experiences as supervisors of master's level students in social work and counseling. It also includes the Supervision of Supervision seminar where interns present their ?supervisory experience? and gain knowledge on how to conduct individual psychotherapy supervision. Training includes didactic teaching as well as actual clinical practice in supervising a practicum student on one to two psychotherapy cases. In their roles as supervisors, interns are expected to function as representatives of the institution and as members of the Pacific Institute?s supervisory team.

This seminar will familiarize interns with ethical, legal, and cross-cultural issues specific to the practice of psychotherapy supervision. Interns gain experience with doing clinical supervision during the second part of the second year internship or the last year pre-doctoral level. This is open to post-doctoral level interns as well when they supervise a psychology graduate student for one hour each week. In conjunction with the Supervision of Supervision seminar interns are exposed to the supervisory literature and receive supervision in a group setting for their own supervisory activities.

Professional Development Seminar: This quarterly seminar provides a forum for interns to discuss issues such as licensure, career decision-making and job search.

Post-Doctoral Internship - Associates - Training Activities

Usually a second year program, the postdoctoral associate is designed to build on the foundation of general skills developed in the internship year.

The Post-Doctoral Training Program is to prepare associates to function effectively and autonomously in priority areas of care for the elderly. To that end, clinical opportunities and didactic experiences are designed to facilitate the development of competencies, professionalism, and advanced knowledge and skills that are necessary for the delivery of quality patient care in complex psychological arenas. Post-doctoral associates are encouraged to develop their professional roles as clinicians, mentors, supervisors, consultants, team members and researchers. On-going supervision and didactic experiences are a yearlong process with emphasis in Geropsychology and Neuropsychology, and End of Life Issues.

Didactic Seminars: There are a wide variety of required seminars for Geropsychology/ Neuropsychology, Dementia, and End of Life Issues associates throughout the year. Associates with the emphasis area of Geropsychology/Neuropsychology are expected to teach seminars on neuropsychological aspects of assessment and treatment of the elderly and associates with the emphasis area of End of Life Issues are expected to teach seminars related to disease and decay management. Associates are expected to attend pre-doctoral case conferences throughout the year. Post-doctoral associates may choose to attend optional seminars that include ongoing post-doctoral seminars not in their emphasis area, pre-doctoral seminars and public programs offered by the Institute. Additionally, the associates will be responsible for organizing a weekly presentation alternating topics between the two areas of specialization (Geropsychology/Neuropsychology, Dementia, and End of Life). Practicum students, interns, and members of psychology staff will attend this presentation. It may also be attended by interdisciplinary team members in specific disciplines related to the areas of specialization.

Supervision: Associates will have 2-4 intensive hours of individual supervision to debrief and assess progress, challenges, and discuss models of intervention. Associates conduct weekly Supervision of Supervision.

Research: Research is an integral component of the mission of Pacific Institute?s mission and is reflected in the training of Psychology post-doctoral associates. The overarching goal of the research portfolio is to produce more effective treatment modalities for the care of our elderly population. Currently, our research focus is on new ways of dealing with dementia, effect of psychotropics, absorption, and metabolism for the treatment of elderly patients, perspectives on aging, metacognition, memory functioning, emotional factors affecting neuropsychological test performance, traditional and alternative medicine options to treat elders, process work in coma and altered state of consciousness.

Associates will be involved in a research project from the beginning of the year under the direction of a mentor with similar interest and background as the project. The expectation is that the associate, working with the mentor, will complete a project (usually archival in nature), write and submit it for presentation at a national meeting such as American Psychological Association, American Society of Aging, Gerontological Society of America, and the Society of Behavioral Medicine. Finally, associates will be expected to co-facilitate at least once-a-year a Continuing Education Credit for psychologists, mental health professionals, and staff related to their research project(s).

Clinical and Research Competency Evaluations

Documentation of clinical and research competency is necessary for the successful completion of the post-doc training program. The associate presents a diagnostic evaluation, including original data, and a written case formulation prepared on a patient seen during the past 12 months. In addition, the associate presents an audio or videotape of representative psychotherapeutic interventions with this patient. These materials are reviewed by a faculty committee and discussed with the associate. The associate is required to demonstrate an advanced and sophisticated understanding of diagnosis, assessment, and psychotherapy as well as an ability to critically and sensitively use information derived from the empirical literature to guide the development of the treatment plan and selection of clinical interventions.

Research competency is demonstrated at the conclusion of the associate?s year by the presentation of a research paper/ project or empirical study at one of the didactic seminars ?for all- session. Associates are encouraged to work with their research mentor to develop an independent investigation during the associated year. The research mentor serves as a discussant for their presentation. Each associate is required to submit an article to a refereed journal by the conclusion of the year.

Professional Psychology Internship at a Glance

Specialized Seminars
Psychology Interns and Post-Doc

Professional Development and Supervision - Dr. Tessa ten Tusher - 1 session
Assessment Seminar II - Dr. Ede Thomsen + Institute On Aging
Supervision Seminar - Dr. Brant Corthright + Dr. Kirk Schneider
Professional Development and Supervision - Dr. Nader Shabahangi + Dr. Doris Bersing
Ethics in Research - Dr. Doris Bersing + Dr. Elizabeth Shaver
Advanced Psychopharmachology - Dr. Padma Catell
Expressive Arts - Dr. Mary Watson, Dr. Kate Donohue, + Anin Utigaard, MFT
Transpersonal and Existential - Dr. Stan Grof, Dr. David Lukhoff; Bran Corthright + Dr. Kirk Schneider.
Process Work and Altered States of Consciousness - Dr. Salome Schwartz + Dr. Nader Shabahangi
Treatment Planning and Reporting - PI clinical team
Post-doctoral employment (meetings with prior interns)
Complex Case presentations - clinical team
GeroPsychology II - Dr. Doris Bersing
End of Life Issues and Palliative Care - Zen Hospice Personnel Dementia Research and Care - Dr. Nader Shabahangi + Dr. Doris Bersing
Memory Enhancement Research and Activities - Dr. Jane Mahakian
Empirically Supported Treatments - Dr. David Donovan
Assessment - Dr. Ede Thomsen + Institute On Aging
Cultural Diversity and the Elderly - Dr. Fahmida D’Sousa + Dr. Bill Bruff