Information for Prospective Psychology Interns, Externs and Practicum Students
Prospective trainees should review the personal counseling program brochure, which provides a general overview of program services. The following additional information may answer some of your questions about the college, the personal counseling program and the practicum/internship.
About Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College, one of the senior colleges of the City University of New York. It has a distinguished 80-plus-year history of providing high-quality, low-cost education for a cross-section of Brooklyn and other New York City residents. The college has served as a principal means through which its students have achieved their aspirations for upward economic, social and educational mobility.
The college's undergraduate Core Curriculum has been cited by the American Association of Colleges, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, The New York Times and Time magazine as one of the most rigorous in the nation. Brooklyn College has long been ranked among the top 10 institutions in the nation in the number of graduates going on to earn the Ph.D.
Among the college's approximately 15,000 undergraduates and 3,000 graduate students, the vast majority are first-generation college students. Nearly half are drawn from ethnic minorities, economically disadvantaged families, and recent immigrants. There is a large complement of international students. The ethnic composition of the student body is wonderfully diverse, representing all components of the Brooklyn community. There is no majority cultural group on campus. The student body includes both those continuing their education directly from high school (the majority) as well as older students returning after some years of work experience or starting a family.
What Is the Personal Counseling Program?
The personal counseling program provides intake assessment and referral, crisis intervention, brief and longer-term individual counseling, group counseling, and counseling workshops for students at the college—traditional college-age and some older adults. Trainees also have the opportunity to provide longer-term counseling/psychotherapy. Presenting problems range from serious disorders to problems of normal development. We also provide consultation and referral for faculty and staff members. Over 4,000 sessions of service are provided each year to more than 700 clients.
The primary focus of the personal counseling program is mental health services to college students. Applicants need to have training and/or experience that will prepare them for this type of work (e.g., psychotherapy and assessment). If you are looking for a different kind of college counseling experience, focused on academic or career issues, you should look for a different placement. (If you are interested in career services and counseling, e-mail us.)
Who May Apply?
We consider applications from psychology and counseling master's and doctoral program students; social work master's program students; and postdoctoral (including re-specialization) professionals. You must be enrolled in a program leading to eligibility for New York State licensing in an appropriate profession or otherwise eligible to conduct clinical / counseling work under supervision in New York State. In recent years we have had very few places for trainees from master's programs, so unless they have exceptional background, experience and preparation, they are unlikely to be accepted.
Applicants need not have prior clinical experience, but strong preference is given to those with experience, and all applicants must have sufficient prior instruction (including concurrent course work) and/or other preparation to permit them to begin assessment and counseling / psychotherapy work with clients under supervision without extensive additional didactic instruction.
Approximately 12 to 16 trainees, interns and postdocs participate from eight to 12 different home programs, bringing diverse academic and personal perspectives and prior training and experiences.
Who Are the Supervisory Staff Members?
Members of the full-time personal counseling supervisory staff include:
- Dr. Margery Frosch, Psychologist, Training Director, and Training Coordinator
- Dr. Adriana DiMatteo, Psychologist
- Dr. Sally Robles, Psychologist
- Dr. Greg Kuhlman, Psychologist, Director (and also director of the Psychology Department M.A. Program in Mental Health Counseling)
- Dr. Damien Tilliman, Psychologist
Full-time supervisors are psychologists and social workers (most in private practice) and other faculty from the Psychology Department.
Orientations
A variety of professional interests and approaches are represented on staff, including psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, gestalt/experiential, and other (e.g., Gottman, attachment, and systems-oriented couples work) perspectives. Group psychotherapy is a very substantial part of our service delivery program for ongoing treatment here.
Most supervisors have a psychodynamic foundation perspective, so even if the clinical approach is CBT in a particular case a trainee will be expected to understand dynamic / developmental issues in the case as well as clinical CBT interventions and framework. For this reason, this is not a good placement for trainees who wish to work exclusively in a CBT approach or are averse to a psychodynamic orientation. At least 50 to 60 percent of clinical work is conducted from an eclectic psychodynamic approach.
In addition to the above personal counseling staff, you would also work closely with other counseling interns/externs, and sometimes with staff from affiliated programs, including the Health Clinic, Academic Advising, Student Affairs, Disability Services, the Magner Career Center, and the Women's Center, as well as with the faculty and staff of other college departments.
What Is the Work Schedule?
Trainee positions require a minimum two-day (at least 16 hours total) per week work commitment by arrangement (and at least part of a third day is strongly suggested). We also ask that trainees work until 7 p.m. at least one day per week. Schedule is arranged by negotiation. No specific days are required. Scheduling tends to be tight, so once you commit to a work schedule it may be difficult to change.
There are several intersession and holiday periods (in January and for 10 days during early spring) when staff provide coverage by rotation.
The basic schedule issue is that you need to be here sufficient hours to make the experience worthwhile (for you and for your clients) and workable from a clinical and administrative point of view. By the time you take time out for some supervision, training sessions, writing notes/reports, etc., it can be too limiting on the amount of time you're available to see clients unless you are here enough hours, so you end up only being able to see a few clients and don't get much experience.
Keep in mind that Brooklyn College classes and exams run through the end of May, so you need to think in terms of your commitment to your clients and thus your internship/externship running at least until the end of May, regardless of when your own classes and program finish. Likewise, classes begin in late August, before Labor Day, and trainees are generally expected to attend orientation and begin work by then. Trainees have the option to begin either over the summer (June 1 or July 1) or in late August and may, if they wish, continue work through some or all of the summer. About half continue for some or all of the summer. In general, the Brooklyn College schedule (e.g., semester dates, breaks, etc.) governs trainee work here, not the schedule of your home program.
Case / Workloads
Trainees spend approximately 30 to 35 percent of their time seeing ongoing individual clients, so a two-day per week trainee might build a caseload of about five ongoing clients. We require that trainees keep some time open for conducting intake assessments, following and managing these client until any crisis is resolved and/or they are situated in regular treatment, running counseling groups and outreach workshops, etc., and, of course, supervision. While there is no session limit on necessary individual treatment, individual treatment is reserved for clients in crisis, with significant risk factors, or other contra-indication for group counseling. Group counseling is the preferred ongoing treatment.
Testing
Trainees are not required to conduct instrument-based assessment (testing). Testing clients are available if you need or wish to complete one or more test batteries. Testing instruction and supervision are not provided here, so you must secure these through your home academic program. Sometimes preference is given to a few applicants who can provide testing services for students with disabilities.
Supervision
Trainees receive supervision from a group supervisor and from one or more individual supervisors, so the supervisory experience is diverse. Consistency is maintained, as a specific case is usually followed by a single supervisor.
All trainees attend a weekly supervision group. Each trainee presents one case in their supervision group. Each trainee receives an average of approximately 20 to 30 minutes of supervision in the group. Trainees participate in the discussion of work presented.
Work with additional clients is supervised individually. Individual supervision hours are arranged as case load requires. Work with two to three clients may be supervised in each individual supervision hour. Depending on case load, a trainee may have one, two or more individual supervisors, in addition to the supervision group. Overall, trainees receive one hour of supervision for each two to three cases, depending on need. Each additional hour of individual supervision is provided by a different supervisor whenever possible, so the trainee gets a diverse experience of supervisory styles, orientations, etc.
Didactic Training
Trainees meet for one hour most weeks for didactic training on topics including risk assessment and management, substance abuse, group therapy, couples therapy, etc. Trainees participate in selection of topics and recruitment of presenters, etc. There is also a one-day didactic orientation in late August before the beginning of classes here. In addition, trainees receive a series of articles and other orientation materials to read. Additional didactic instruction is provided in supervision groups, but after the first month to six weeks the emphasis is on clinical experience and supervision. Since we are located in New York City, there are more than ample opportunities for workshop, conference and other training experiences in the immediate metro area. Trainees may submit a schedule of additional local training activities constructed to meet their needs and interests for training approval.
The Peer Experience
An important element of the experience here is a large and diverse trainee peer group. Approximately 12 to 16 externs, interns and postdocs participate from eight to 12 different home programs, bringing diverse academic and personal perspectives and prior training and experiences. While training and supervision are important, a great deal of learning and support results from informal peer discussions, etc.
Application
Prospective trainees may apply at any time (subject to any restrictions imposed by their home academic program). To apply, e-mail (preferred), fax, or mail:
- BCPC Application (pdf),
- your résumé,
- names and phone numbers of up to three references (contact information at least; letters optional, if available), and
- anything else you think would help us assess your clinical experience (e.g., a case report, optional, if available).
You can send reference letters if you have them already or need them for other applications, but it's not necessary to have letters written specially for your application here—likewise, for case report, etc.
Apply to:
Dr. Margery Frosch
E: bcpctraining@gmail.com
F: 718.951.5363
or by mail
Personal Counseling
Attn: Training Coordinator
Brooklyn College
2900 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11210
There is no specific application deadline (subject to any restrictions imposed by their home academic program). We consider applications on a rolling basis as they arrive. We can sometimes consider applicants into the spring (March or April, sometimes beyond).
We ask accepted applicants to let us know whether they will accept our offer as soon as is convenient in consideration of other applicants. Of course, we understand that you may need to wait to hear from and give reasonable consideration to other placement sites that interest you. We can usually negotiate a reasonable decision timeframe for applicants who need additional decision time. We comply with New York City–area psychology training program recommended externship application protocols.
While we are not an APPIC or APA participating site (because we do not offer a stipend), we do offer a quality internship expereince for those who do not require a stipend, don't match, etc. We can provide documentation of program compliance with all other APPIC / APA standards (except stipend).
