Catalog 2013-2014 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Clinical Psychology: PsyD, San Francisco
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The San Francisco PsyD program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association (750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242; Phone: 202-336-5979; Email: apaaccred@apa.org; Web: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation)
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Goals and Objectives
Goal 1: To produce graduates who have mastered the scientific foundations of clinical psychology and who apply this knowledge to their work.
Objectives for Goal 1: Students will:
- Acquire knowledge of psychology as a scientific discipline that serves as the basis for professional practice.
- Integrate, synthesize, and critique scientific knowledge from multiple sources, taking into account and weighing the significance of multiple determinates of human behavior and cultural influences.
- Apply scientific knowledge to the practice of clinical psychology.
Goal 2: To develop graduates who understand research methods and skillfully apply them to significant human problems.
Objectives for Goal 2: Students will:
- Be knowledgeable about test construction, quantitative and qualitative research methods.
- Be able to critically evaluate literature in terms of its scientific rigor and attention to diversity issues.
- Understand that research informs effective practice and that useful research often arises from clinical work.
- Master the scientific literature on a clinical topic, identify lacunae and then design and execute a scholarly, applied empirical study.
- Communicate research findings to a professional audience.
- Be able to demonstrate in writing and orally the application of research findings to clinical phenomena and/or practice in helping individuals, families, groups, and local communities.
Goal 3: To produce graduates who identify as clinical practitioners and who use ethical and legal principles to guide professional practice, self-evaluation, and professional growth.
Objectives for Goal 3: Students will:
- Acquire knowledge of and adopt values and ethical principles of professional practices as outlined in the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct.
- Understand legal and state regulations pertaining to psychological practice and research.
- Apply ethical principles of practice in the various roles of a clinical psychologist (therapist, manager, consultant, educator, supervisor, and researcher).
- Take responsibility for their own professional behavior and actively seek supervision when appropriate.
- Be able to use supervision in a reciprocal fashion, evaluate supervisory feedback, and select an appropriate action.
Goal 4: To train students to understand clinical phenomena within social and cultural contexts in order to apply this understanding in evaluation/assessment, consultation/education, and supervision/management.
Objectives for Goal 4: Students will:
- Possess an in-depth and integrative understanding of clinical phenomena (i.e., psychopathology, therapeutic processes, and associated phenomena).
- Identify assessment tools appropriate to the clinical questions, be able to administer an assessment battery, interpret results, and complete a psychological report in an objective and accurate manner.
- Understand that assessment is not a discrete event but is an ongoing process informing practice and research.
- Be able to understand the effects of race, class, culture and gender on assessment procedures and outcomes.
- Understand the role of the psychologist in complex systems and the general principles of consultation, education, supervision, and management.
Goal 5: To develop graduates who are able to intervene using multiple methods, with diverse populations, across many settings and in changing and evolving contexts.
Objectives for Goal 5: Students will:
- Achieve knowledge of the theoretical and research bases of interventions in professional psychology.
- Establish and maintain productive and respective working relationships with clients, colleagues, and supervisors from diverse social and cultural contexts.
- Understand the needs of clients on individual and system levels and within social and cultural contexts.
- Demonstrate the ability to create treatment plans that are culturally appropriate and informed by current clinical research and utilize multiple intervention strategies consistent with these treatment plans and with standards of practice.
- Evaluate the efficacy of their interventions and use this information to continuously assess the treatment plan and intervention methods.
Goal 6: To graduate students with the attitudes, knowledge, and skills to work professionally in a multicultural society.
Objectives for Goal 6: Students will:
- Understand the presuppositions of their own culture and attitudes towards diverse others as mediators of their worldview.
- Develop knowledge of themselves as cultural beings in assessment, treatment, consultation, and all other professional activities.
- Integrate knowledge, sensitivity and relevant skills regarding individual and cultural differences into all aspects of their work.
- Possess the ability to articulate an integrative conceptualization of diversity as it impacts self, clients, colleagues, and larger systems, and an ability to engage in effective dialogue about multicultural issues.
Goal 7: To train students who engage in lifelong learning and Professional Development.
Objectives for Goal 7: Students will:
- Develop positive attitudes about lifelong, self-directed learning, and take responsibility for their ongoing development as professionals.
- Be able to identify challenges and problems in clinical practice and to undertake self-directed education to resolve these challenges and problems.
- Present the results of self-directed education in educational presentations both verbally and through written documents incorporating scholarly integration of practice, theory, and research findings.
- Inform clinical practice with the results of self-education and using both traditional tools and contemporary technologies.
Training Model: A Practitioner Program
The PsyD program is a practitioner program and was initiated at the San Francisco campus in the fall of 1991. The goal of the program is to educate professional clinical psychologists who bring critical thinking and active problem solving skills to bear on human problems. Students are educated and trained to be able to intervene effectively using multiple methods of assessment and intervention, working with diverse populations, across many settings, and in changing and evolving contexts. We are a practitioner program that follows the Local Clinical Scientist Model that focuses on applying empirically derived knowledge to work with individuals, families, groups, and local communities. The model also utilizes practice based evidence to enhance assessments and interventions.
The PsyD program subscribes to the belief that effective professional psychologists must be aware of and responsive to the broader social and cultural contexts in which they function. Thus, students must attain proficiency in providing services to individuals of diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. To achieve this goal, we infuse multiculturalism throughout our entire curriculum, offer courses focusing on diverse populations, and provide clinical training experiences that provide exposure to a range of populations.
The standard PsyD curriculum is four years, but students may extend their time to take additional courses, complete research work, or spread their internship over two years. Field Training
Beginning in the first year, field training placements are required in order to integrate classroom learning with practical experience. The selection of professional training (practicum) placements for each student is guided by:
- CSPP’s requirement for a broad range of diverse and rigorous professional training experiences;
- CSPP’s commitment to education and training in multicultural competence;
- The rules and regulations of the California Board of Psychology, the body charged with the licensing of psychologists in the State of California; and
- The American Psychological Association’s criteria for practicum and internship training.
The primary criteria used in selection and approval of placements are the quality and rigor of the training experience and the supervision provided for the student.
The San Francisco campus places students in agencies throughout Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Solano counties and programs serving diverse populations including African American, Asian American, Latino, European Americans and LGBT populations. Additional placements are located in some counties outside the immediate Bay Area, including Napa, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, San Benito, and Yolo counties.
Students typically begin the required pre-doctoral internship in the fourth year. Full-time (40 hours per week for 9-12 months) internship options include APA-accredited or APPIC-member training programs, pursued through the national selection process. We strongly support students in preparing for and applying to APA accredited internships. If circumstances do not allow for a national search for internship, students may apply for California-based internship programs that are members of the California Psychology Internship Council (CAPIC) and approved by the CSPP faculty. Students also have the option of completing the internship requirement for the PsyD program by completing two half-time internships, which are APA, CAPIC, or APPIC training programs and have been approved by the CSPP faculty. Research Training
In the second year, PsyD students begin work on their clinical dissertations and are encouraged to complete their dissertation proposal by the end of their second year. Work on the PsyD clinical dissertation proceeds in the third year. The program is designed to allow students to work toward completion of the dissertation in the third year prior to beginning the fourth year internship.
The PsyD dissertation is meant to demonstrate the student’s ability to think critically about clinical and social issues and to make appropriate use of scientific knowledge and psychological research in professional practice.
All dissertations involve a synthesis and analysis of existing literature relevant to a psychological topic; the development of the student’s own ideas, research questions, and/or hypotheses; data collection to test those ideas; and interpretation of the data to draw appropriate conclusions. Types of clinical dissertations include case studies, surveys, program evaluations, educational or clinical interventions, quantitative studies, qualitative studies (often using interview data), and conceptual-analytic studies with content analysis. Specialized Admissions Requirements: Credit for Previous Graduate Work
Entering students may be eligible to receive transfer credit for previous graduate work up to a maximum of 30 units.
1. To be considered for transfer credits in our program students’ graduate coursework:
a. Must have been taken in a regionally-accredited master’s or doctorate program
b. Must have been completed prior to entering our doctoral degree program.
c. Must have resulted in grades of B or better and have been completed within the last seven years
2. The following PsyD program requirements will be considered for credit for previous work: Social Bases of Behavior; Cognitive and Affective Aspects of Behavior; Biological Bases of Behavior and Psychopharmacology; Human Development; History and Systems; Advanced Psychopathology; Observation and Interviewing; Theory & Technique of Clinical Practice (3 units); Psychological Assessment 1: Cognitive and Personality.
3. In addition, students who have met the following requirements may be able to receive 2 units of transfer credits for the required first year practicum. To do so, they must submit proof of their master’s degree and supervised practicum hours. For those who receive this credit, the zero-unit Introduction to Professional Psychology course will be waived.
a. Either have completed a master’s degree in psychology or a closely related field or be currently enrolled in an APA-accredited doctoral program. (Examples of closely related fields include counseling, social work, school psychology, educational psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, or experimental psychology).
b. Have completed and be able to verify 300 hours of supervised practicum or professional experience of a psychological nature. Curriculum and Degree Requirements
The PsyD program requires a minimum of 90 academic units (92 for the Forensic Family/Child Track) and 30 internship units. A minimum of 60 academic units is required pre-candidacy (first/second years) and a minimum of 30 academic units and 30 internship units is required postcandidacy (third/fourth years).
Other requirements:
Preliminary Examinations – Assessment Preliminary Examination taken in January of second year, following completion of Psychological Assessment III: Clinical and Ethical Preliminary Examination taken at end of second year (June). Passing both preliminary examinations is required for advancement to candidacy.
Clinical Proficiency Progress Review, taken at the end of the third year, must be passed before graduation.
Personal growth and professional training psychotherapy requirement: 30 hours of personal psychotherapy with a doctoral level licensed clinician is required before graduation.
The clinical Dissertation must be completed before graduation. Students who fail the writing placement exam must complete a semester-long writing workshop prior to beginning their second year.
Note(s):
See section below for modifications of the requirements shown above for students in Child and Family Track and Forensic Family/Child Track. Tracks
The PsyD program requires a solid foundation in the theory and practice of clinical psychology for all students. Therefore, the initial phases of the curriculum address the basic areas of clinical psychology consistent with the guidelines of the American Psychological Association. Building upon this strong foundation, students may select coursework from Tracks or Emphasis Areas to begin preparation for their future professional roles. Tracks and Emphasis Areas focus on one or more of the following variables: special populations, specific problems, identified theories and techniques, and special settings. As described below, Tracks involve a greater commitment and more specialized training than do Emphasis Areas.
The San Francisco campus offers three Tracks within the Clinical PsyD program. Child and Family Psychology Track
The Child and Family Track is designed for PsyD students who specifically intend to dedicate their careers to working primarily or exclusively with children, adolescents, and their families. In the Child and Family Track, about 50 percent of the student’s coursework and field training focuses on child and family issues, with the remainder focusing on adult-clinical and general psychology.
Applicants interested in being considered for the PsyD Child and Family Track will indicate their interest at the time of application. Those unable to be accommodated in the track due to space limitations will be considered for the Family/Child Emphasis Area in the general PsyD program. Students start in the track during the first semester and commit to being in the track for their entire graduate program. If students’ career goals change, they must formally petition to transfer out of the track.
Students in this track have the same graduation requirements as those for the clinical PsyD program with the following modifications. In the first year, track students take designated sections with an enhanced focus on child and adolescent issues in Observation and Interviewing, Intellectual Assessment, Advanced Psychopathology and a course focused on child development in the family life cycle (to meet the human development requirement). Also, they must complete the first-year Practicum in a Child/Family setting. In the second year, track students take designated sections of Clinical and Ethical Issues and Psychodiagnostic Assessment. To meet the first and second year Theory and Technique of Clinical Practice requirement, track students take a child therapy course in year one and a family therapy course in year two.
In the third year, track students take specified sections of the Advanced Clinical Seminar and complete at least three units of the Advanced Clinical Skills requirement and at least two of the four units of the Supervision/Consultation/Management requirement from Child/Family selections. Either the second or third year practicum must be in a Child/Family setting involving families, children, or adolescents. It is recommended that the internship for Child/Family Track students be in a setting where at 50 percent of clients served are children, adolescents, or families. Also, the student’s clinical dissertation must focus on a Child/Family topic. Forensic Family/Child Psychology Track
The Forensic Family/Child Track is designed for PsyD students whose career goals are to specialize in forensic and clinical work with children, adolescents, and their families. A substantial portion of the students’ training will focus on psychological services to families and children and on the legal contexts in which these clients are involved, with the remainder focusing on adult-clinical and general psychology.
Applicants must indicate their interest in the PsyD Forensic Family/Child Track at the time of application. Space is limited, but those unable to be accommodated will be considered for the Family/Child Emphasis and can pursue forensic work through electives. The track begins in the first semester and students are committed to remain in it until completion of the program. If students’ career goals change, they must formally petition to transfer out of the track.
Students in this track have the same graduation requirements as other clinical PsyD students, with the following modifications. In the first two years, track students take designated sections in Observation and Interviewing, Intellectual Assessment, Advanced Psychopathology, Clinical and Ethical Issues, and Psychodiagnostic Assessment. These designated sections offer track students an enhanced focus on forensic and family/child issues. Track students complete the first-year practicum in a child-related setting. Track students must take a child therapy course in the first year and a family therapy course in the second year to meet the Theory and Technique of Clinical Intervention requirements. A course focused on children’s development in the family life cycle must be taken in the first year to fulfill the human development requirement. Track students also take a two-unit course entitled “Clinical Psychology and Law.”
In the third year, track students take designated sections of Advanced Clinical Seminar. They complete the advanced clinical skills and the supervision/management/consultation requirements through the following specific courses: Court Consultation and Expert Witnessing; Disability, Law and Families; Legal Competencies; Families and Violence; and Child Custody Evaluation and Mediation. Either the second or third year practicum must be in a forensic setting involving families, children, or adolescents. It is recommended that the fourth year internship for Forensic Family/Child Track students be in a setting where at least 25 percent of the work is in a forensic context with families, children, or adolescents. The student’s clinical dissertation must focus on a forensic family/child topic. Social Justice Psychology Track
The Social Justice Track is designed for students who wish to have a concentrated area of study in the provision of mental health services to historically underserved and culturally diverse populations. In the Social Justice Track a substantial portion of the student’s training will focus on understanding concepts of power, privilege, and oppression, and their application on micro (individual)-and macro-systemic levels of intervention. Faculty affiliated with the track have expertise in working with racial-ethnic minorities, in gender studies and LGBT issues, in disability, and in community based interventions and research.
Applicants interested in being considered for the PsyD Social Justice Track will indicate their interest at the time of application and submit a one paragraph statement of interest. Space is limited, but those interested students unable to be accommodated will be considered for one of the affiliated emphasis areas (either the Multicultural and Community, or Gender Studies emphasis area). The track begins in the first semester, and students are committed to remain in it until completion of the program. If students’ career goals or interest change, they must formally petition to transfer out of the track.
Students in the track have the same graduation requirements as other clinical PsyD students with the following modifications. Track students take designated sections of required courses with an enhanced focus on issues of social justice and service delivery to historically underserved populations. In the first year track students take designated sections of the PsyD Practicum and Introduction to Professional Psychology course and Intellectual Assessment. In the second year, track students take designated sections of Clinical and Ethical Issues and Psychodiagnostic Assessment. In the third year of the program students take designated sections of the Advanced Clinical Seminar, Advanced Clinical skills, and Consultation/ Supervision/ Management / Teaching. One of the Advanced Clinical Skills courses required of track students is a two weekend course on Program Evaluation.
Either the second or third year practicum must be in a community setting serving a historically underserved population. The students’ clinical dissertation must focus on a historically underserved multicultural population and must include a plan for the dissemination of results to local relevant community groups or agencies. Emphasis Areas
All of our PsyD clinical students receive generalist training in the foundational areas of psychology and clinical psychology in accordance with the accreditation guidelines of the American Psychological Association. The program engages in actions that indicate respect for and understanding of cultural and individual diversity. Each of our course offerings is infused with multicultural content, and awareness of diversity issues that is consistent with CSPP’s mission statement and specific multicultural competencies in our program, school, and university.
The PsyD program has faculty with particular scholarly interests and high levels of expertise in each of the following more specialized areas of clinical psychology. Family/Child Psychology
The Family/Child Psychology Emphasis Area is designed for PsyD students who have significant career interests in working with families, couples, children and adolescents, but who do not intend to specialize primarily or exclusively in working with child or adolescent populations. In the emphasis area, about 20 percent of the student’s coursework and field training typically focuses on family/child issues.
Students in the Family/Child Area learn to provide a wide range of services including family therapy, child/adolescent therapy, child and family assessment, couples therapy, and community consultation. Special offerings include training in child custody evaluation, treatment of family violence and treatment of diverse populations of couples and families. The general orientation of the faculty integrates family systems and life-span individual development in the multicultural context.
Some major interests of the faculty include family interaction and child psychopathology; healthy/competent families; gender and interaction in couples and families; couples’ transition to parenthood; family and couples therapy process and outcome; Asian families; marital violence; child abuse; divorced and remarried families; family/law interface; interracial adoption; physical disability and family relations; lesbian/gay family issues; attachment throughout the life cycle; play therapy; narrative and solution-focused therapy; family and couples assessment; adults’ caregiving of elderly parents; and families and health. Gender Studies (Psychology of Women, Men, Gender Roles and Sexual Orientations)
The Gender Studies Scholarly/Emphasis Area unites students, faculty, and other members of the mental health community who hold a common interest in the psychology of women, men, gender roles, and lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender issues. This emphasis area sponsors courses, colloquia, forums, advisement, clinical field placements, and research opportunities on these topics. The theoretical orientation of faculty members incorporates feminist, psychodynamic, family systems, and social psychological concepts.
One focus in this emphasis area is how gender role norms, socialization experiences, and social inequality in work and family life shape the lives of adult women and girls, as well as men and boys, in contemporary society. We are particularly interested in the mental health consequences of these social forces (for example, in problem areas such as eating disorders, depression, substance abuse and domestic violence). Faculty members are involved in developing effective clinical services for women and men and producing psychological theory and research that accurately reflects women’s and men’s lives. Research interests of faculty include social construction of gender, women’s lifespan development, teen pregnancy, role strain for working women, and masculinity norms in different racial/ethnic/social class groups.
Another focus of this area is sexual orientation. Through curriculum, field placements, and research students will learn about the lives and mental health needs of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered people. Faculty have research interests in gay/lesbian couples, relationships to family of origin and family of choice, parenting, identity, effects of homophobia, and developmental issues across the lifespan. Faculty members are involved in creating gay affirmative clinical services and HIV prevention programs. San Francisco provides unique opportunities for clinical and research projects on these topics. Health Psychology
Health psychology is concerned with psychological factors related to health, illness, the health care system, health care policy, and health care providers. Students in the Health Psychology Emphasis Area are introduced to this emerging field which deals with the important psychological, behavioral, and social concomitants of physical symptoms, chronic and life threatening illness, and rehabilitation. Faculty have interests in behavioral medicine, family systems medicine, consultation-liaison psychology, psychology’s role in primary care, psychoneuroendocrinology, psychopharmacology, and the role of psychology in prevention and treatment of specific illnesses (cardiac disease, AIDS, cancer), health care policy, rehabilitation, and disability.
Students combine relevant core or elective coursework, professional training placements, and research that develop knowledge, attitudes and skills in preparation for advanced specialized education and training in postdoctoral programs and/or entry level positions in health psychology. Examples of health psychology courses include Introduction to Health Psychology, Clinical Medicine, Medical Family Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches in Health Psychology, Consultation in Health Settings, Neuropsychology, Psychopharmacology, Managed Care, Gerontology, Psychosocial Oncology, Pediatric Psychology, Biofeedback, and Hypnosis. Multicultural and Community Psychology
The Multicultural and Community Psychology Area provides course offerings that integrate knowledge, research and intervention skills necessary for working with multicultural groups. Classes include core, elective and independent study combined with multicultural professional training placements and internship training sites, as well as relevant research activities. Course offerings and areas of focus complement existing emphasis areas so that students can combine the multicultural and community emphasis with another emphasis area (e.g., ethnic minority families, substance abuse among ethnic minority adolescents, or health and mental health services utilization among Chinese Americans). Enrollment in research proposal design seminars and collaboration on dissertation research is encouraged. Students are also urged to develop skills in working with one or more multicultural groups, including the capability to use languages other than English, thereby enhancing the provision of psychological services and information. Adult Psychotherapy
Our special strength in the Adult Psychotherapy Area is our respect for and dialogue about the major orientations in the field today: psychodynamic, family systems, and cognitive behavioral. Faculty are conversant in these three orientations, as reflected in their research, practice, and teaching. In addition, many core and most adjunct faculty maintain a current psychotherapy practice and are able to bring immediacy to their teaching about psychotherapy.
Students choose this area because they want adult psychotherapy to be the major area of their professional identity and practice. The curriculum includes basic and advanced courses in assessment, formulation, and treatment planning. Later in their program, students can take more specialized courses in one theoretical orientation, which includes the opportunity to present and discuss their current clinical work. Field placements include opportunities for a wide variety of populations, problems, and settings in which adult psychotherapy is practiced. Clinical PsyD Program Faculty: San Francisco
Core faculty for the San Francisco PsyD program are listed below:
Diane Adams, PhD, Associate Professor
Stephen Blum, PhD, Professor
Edward Bourg, PhD, Professor
Tai Chang, PhD, Associate Professor
Eddie Yu-Wai Chiu, PhD, Assistant Professor
Michael Connor, PhD, Professor
Harriet Curtis-Boles, PhD, Professor
Samuel Gerson, PhD, Professor
Frederick Heide, PhD, Associate Professor
Valata Jenkins-Monroe, PhD, Professor
Gerald Michaels, PhD, Associate Professor
Valory Mitchell, PhD, Distinguished Professor
Yuki Okubo, PhD, Assistant Professor
Rhoda Olkin, PhD, Distinguished Professor and Program Director
Elena Padrón, PhD, Associate Professor
Patrick Petti, PhD, Assistant Professor
Stefanie Smith, PhD, Associate Professor
Alan Swope, PhD, Professor
Daniel Taube, PhD, JD, Professor
Randall Wyatt, PhD, Associate Professor and Director of Professional Training
For a detailed description of program faculty background and research interests, please see the alphabetical listing of faculty for the California School of Professional Psychology. APA Education and Training Outcomes
The CSPP San Francisco Clinical Psychology PsyD program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association (APA) and publishes the following outcome data as required by APA:
- Time to Completion
- Program Costs
- Internship Placement Rates
- Attrition
- Licensure
Please visit the “About CSPP Programs” section of our website to view these data.
Questions related to the program’s accredited status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation:
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002
Phone: (202)336-5979
Email: apaaccred@apa.org
Web: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation |
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