To be an effective therapist you must have the right knowledge, the ability to collaborate with your colleagues and an overall strong sense of self. You will gain all of that and more during your required clinical training with The Family Institute.
As a therapist-in-training you will be a member of the clinical team at one of four satellite clinics of the Bette D. Harris Family & Child Clinic where you will:
Immerse Yourself in Clinical Services
At least 125 of your 400 clinical hours (COAMFTE accreditation requirement) will be spent working with couples and families, immersing you in the therapeutic process with diverse clients who are dealing with a wide range of problems and issues. Your clinical hours working with clients begins at the end of the Fall quarter your first year.
Receive Extensive Supervision
We are with you every step of the way as you will receive more than 250 hours of supervision with live, video and audio taped recordings of your therapy sessions. You'll meet weekly during your clinical training with your individual supervisor to review and critique your sessions. In addition, 200 hours of group supervision are provided in three-hour sessions with a group supervisor and four students.
Join A Supportive Community
A sense of community is a powerful part of your training and we place a special emphasis on that ideal. By fostering community through our intimate class sizes, low student-to-faculty supervisor ratio and weekly participation in small groups, we strive to enhance your ability to work effectively with colleagues and help you understand the importance of connecting with your professional peers.
Experience Specialized Therapies & Programs
Your clinical experience allows you to expand your access to The Family Institute's specialty clinics, where you may also apply to participate in the following specialized programs: the Community Program, Dialectical Behavior Therapy and the Child & Family Anxiety Clinic. You may also take part in Project Strengthen.
Project Strengthen is a unique program that partners students with experienced staff in co-therapy to provide high quality relational behavioral health services to underserved individuals and families who suffer from multiple mental health challenges along with the socio-economic and/or cultural barriers to receiving care. Taking part in this program will give you invaluable experience.
Receive a Foundation for a Successful Future
Your clinical internship with The Family Institute gives you the foundation to build a strong practice, based on a solid theoretical and clinical approach. The senior members of our faculty are at the forefront of psychotherapy integration and have been for more than three decades. They have quite literally written the book on the subject, having published four seminal books on integration and have worked with other faculty to unify these approaches in what is known as Integrative Systemic Therapy (IST). IST asserts that human problems are nested in a biopsychosocial system and can best be resolved by removing the constraints of that system. IST addresses emotional, behavioral and relational problems in the context of both family and larger systems. The influences of biology, psychodynamics, gender, socioeconomic status and culture and life-stage development are explored in the process of helping clients understand and address their problems. IST helps students learn how to systematically integrate strategies and interventions from all of the major models of therapy.
- Pinsof, W., Breunlin, D., Russell, W. Lebow, J., Rampage, C. & Chambers, A. (2017). Integrative Systemic Therapy: Metaframeworks for Problem Solving with Individual, Couples and Families. Washington, D.C.: APA Books.
- Breunlin, D.C., Pinsof, W., Russell, W. and Lebow, J. (2011). Integrative problem centered metaframeworks (IPCM) therapy I: Core concepts and hypothesizing. Family Process, 50: 293-313.
- Pinsof, W. Breunlin, D., Russell, W. and Lebow, J. (2011). Integrative problem centered metaframeworks (IPCM) therapy II: Planning, conversing, and reading feedback. Family Process, 50(4): 314-336.
- Russell, W.P., Pinsof, W., Breunlin, D.C. & Lebow, J. (2016). Integrative problem centered Metaframeworks. In T. Sexton & J. Lebow (Eds.), Handbook of Family Therapy (4th Edition). London: Routledge.