Frequently Asked Questions

1. I understand that UC Santa Cruz is based on the College system. What does this mean and how does this system impact interns?
2. How are supervisors assigned?
3. Do I have my own office and computer?
4. Do interns get the opportunity to supervise or teach?
5. What types of groups are offered by Counseling and Psychological Services?
6. What opportunities are available in providing outreach and consultation services?
7. What is the ethnic makeup of the UC Santa Cruz student population?
8. Is there support for professional development activities?
9. What are the stipends and benefits offered by UC Santa Cruz?

1. I understand that UC Santa Cruz is based on the College system. What does this mean and how does this system impact interns and Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS)?
   

   UC Santa Cruz is made up of 10 cluster colleges, with nine of the colleges each having their own separate residential housing. All undergraduates, whether they live on campus or off campus, are affiliated with one of the UCSC colleges (Cowell, Stevenson, Crown, Merrill, Porter, Kresge, Oakes, Eight, Nine, and Ten). Although students take classes in any number of colleges and academic departments throughout the campus, core courses within each college provide a common academic base for first-year and transfer students. Graduate students are affiliated with their academic departments and are not affiliated with a specific college.

   Counseling and Psychological Services has a Central Office in the student health center building on campus. This is our main hub for counseling services for students. Students are seen here by CPS staff and interns for triage and crisis services. Our main group room and general meeting and training room are also at our central office. In addition, the CPS director, an intern, and often a postdoctoral fellow are housed at our Central Office.

   Counseling staff is housed at nine of the ten colleges and in Family Student Housing; we do not yet have staff for College Ten. What can be a bit confusing is that CPS staff provide clinical services to students from any college, not just to students in the college that they are housed because our clinical services operate in a centralized fashion. Students are screened for an appointment by CPS staff and interns in our Central Office, and are then scheduled for an intake appointment with either a CPS staff or intern at any of the colleges. The Counseling Psychologist at each college provides consultation services to the staff and faculty at the college where they are located.

   Interns have the opportunity to be housed either in our Central Office or at one of the colleges directly besides one of the CPS staff. One intern is housed in our central office and two interns are housed out in the colleges directly beside one of our counseling staff for the internship year. The Colleges where interns are located are currently Merrill College and Porter College. Interns in the colleges will have a unique experience working with the CPS staff providing outreach and consultation to the staff and faculty at that college. The college consultation is done in a team, with the intern never having full responsibility for the college consultation. In addition, although interns are housed at a particular college, they also provide general outreach and consultation to a variety of campus units and organizations (examples include: the Women's Center, Disability Resource Center, GLBT office, International Students office, Career Center, and different student ethnic resource centers). The intern housed in the Central Office will have the experience of both working in a centralized counseling center and in a student health center. The intern who is placed in our central office has the same opportunities in providing outreach to the general campus, and will also be paired with the Counseling Psychologist at Cowell College to participate in college outreach and consultation.

   To get a better view of the UC Santa Cruz campus try out the UCSC Virtual Tour.

   Often intern candidates are concerned about how much contact they will have with the CPS staff. Even though we have a decentralized counseling center, an essential component of any APA accredited training program is to provide opportunities for socialization with both staff and peers in the profession of psychology. We provide many opportunities for this to occur. Although a bulk of the staff are housed out in the colleges, interns and staff meet regularly for meetings and collaboration. The CPS staff and interns meet two times a week on Tuesday and Thursday for regular meetings. Interns meet regularly three times a week for training seminars. Interns also meet regularly with different CPS staff for primary supervision, secondary supervision, group co-facilitation, planning and committee meetings, and general consultation. Interns report that they are often in their offices only about 50 percent of the time, with the other time being filled with supervision, trainings, and meetings. Last, interns work very closely with the CPS staff they are housed next to in the college or the Central office.
   

2. How are supervisors assigned?
   
   During the Orientation period, interns have the opportunity to meet with available supervisors to get to know the different supervisors and their supervisory styles. Interns then rank their preferences and discuss them along with their training needs with the Training Director. The Training Director makes the final assignments taking into consideration intern preferences and training needs for the year.
   
   

3. Do I have my own office and computer?
   
   Yes, Interns have their own private offices. They are housed either in our Central Office in the Health Center or out in one of the Colleges. Currently, both Porter and Merrill College have intern offices. Each intern office is equipped with a PC computer that has access to the Internet and each intern has their own e-mail account.
   
   
4. Do interns get the opportunity to supervise or teach?

   UC Santa Cruz does not have a Clinical or Counseling Psychology graduate program on campus, and thus unfortunately there are no opportunities for interns to supervise practicum students.  We do provide a five session training series on supervision that focuses on both the theories and practice of supervision, and integrate a peer supervision model in the seminar.  With regards to teaching, interns have many opportunities to present invited guest lectures to various psychology related courses at UC Santa Cruz, often on topics of depression, eating disorders, trauma, and the mental health issues of college students.  In addition, although these classes are not offered every year, interns might have the opportunity to present a lecture in the class "White Racial Identity in a Multicultural Society" or in an "Academic Success" course.

5. What types of groups are offered by Counseling and Psychological Services?
   
   Counseling and Psychological Services offers a variety of therapy and educational groups throughout the year. Our most common groups include: Adult Children of Alcoholics, Better Relationships, Depression, Eating Awareness, General Therapy, GLBT, Women's Groups (undergraduate and graduate), and Survivors of Sexual Abuse. We also conduct groups for students of color, rape survivors, men, and students with disabilities.
   
   
6. What opportunities are available in providing outreach and consultation services?
   
   There are numerous opportunities available to conduct outreach and consultation while on internship here. Given the cluster college model of UCSC, CPS staff and interns who are housed in the colleges are well situated to provide consultation and outreach programs to College staff and students. CPS staff are very involved in activities in the colleges, from advising residential staff how to deal with student situations, consulting about developing an education program, debriefing a crisis situation, or implementing a variety of workshops to students in the college. Our main office also receives numerous requests throughout the year to provide workshops to students and campus groups, such as from the Women's Center, Educational Opportunities Program, the GLBT Student Office, Disability Resource Center, AOD and HIV program, and International Programs. Some CPS staff are also very active in working with a campus group called Coalition for Student Academic Success, in providing educational programming and consultation to assist in student retention efforts on campus. Interns provide 2-3 hours per week of outreach and consultation activities.
   
   
7. What is the ethnic makeup of the UC Santa Cruz student population?
   
   The total enrollment for fall 2006 was 15,360 students, of which 13,941 are undergraduates and 1,419 are graduate students. The ethnic composition of UCSC's student body as of fall 2006 was as follows:
   
   

   Ethnicity	Undergraduates	Graduate Students
   Euro-American	51.7%	48.8%
   Asian American	19.5%	9.6%
   Hispanic	15.6%	8.5%
   African American	2.6%	1.6%
   American Indian	0.9%	0.7%
   Not Stated	9.1%	17.1%
   International	0.6%	13.7%

   
   In addition, CPS also serves a large number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered students.
   
   
8. Is there support for professional development activities?
   
   Interns are encouraged to pursue professional development activities while on internship. Interns are given five days of professional development during the internship year, and can use the time for conference attendance and professional meetings, dissertation completion, graduation, and job interviewing. Interns regularly attend the annual Northern California Training Directors Conference where they meet trainees from other northern California internship programs. Interns and staff often attend the OCCDHE (Organization of Counseling Center Directors in Higher Education) annual conference, a conference that brings together counseling center staff from colleges and universities in California. In addition, the Bay Area offers a wide variety of workshops and conferences within an easy commute of Santa Cruz.
   
   
9. What are the stipends and benefits offered by UC Santa Cruz?
   
   See Stipends and Benefits for further information.

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