Services provided by CAPS fall into three main categories: clinical, outreach/consultation, and training. Intern activities within each area are outlined below.
Clinical Services
Initial Consultation (IC)
These are half-hour discussions with students within 1-3 days of a student seeking CAPS services. Collaboratively, the counselor and student make decisions about the most effective next steps for support or treatment.
Since referrals to community providers may be necessary as the outcome of an IC, Doctoral interns start ICs in early September, once they have familiarized themselves with the agency, campus and referral resources
First Counseling Appointments (FCA) / First Appointment (FA)
These are 45-minute sessions which serve as a simultaneous process of evaluation and starting the brief counseling/therapy process. Students seen for an FCA usually continue as clients with that therapist.
Ongoing Appointments
The philosophy and policy of CAPS is to provide brief therapy, but there is no set number of or limitations to appointments. Interns, with supervisor consultation, learn to manage their client load to keep direct clinical service at approximately 50% of their work time.
Counselor on Duty (COD)
Each intern provides 2-3 hours weekly of crisis service, which includes walk-in clients and consultations to faculty, staff and concerned others. CAPS does not provide after-hours crisis intervention.
Groups
CAPS has a thriving group program, details of which can be found on https://caps.umich.edu/article/mental-health-student-groups. Interns are invited to rank groups in order of their interests and training needs. The Training Committee then works to pair the intern with a permanent staff member to co-facilitate one process group each semester. Opportunities may also be available to provide semi-structured and/or psychoeducational groups, or single-session workshops. Interns are encouraged to take initiative in presenting their own ideas for new groups, which they can co-facilitate with staff (or other trainees in Spring/Summer).
Specialized Assessments
Interns interns provide screening for substance use/abuse, eating and body image concerns, or attentional difficulties. Following an introduction to assessment options through seminar during the Fall semester, interns will choose one of the tracks based on their interest.
Outreach/Consultation
Outreach activities at CAPS include participating in tabling events at the beginning of each semester, being a CAPS presence at certain events (sometimes on request), as well as participating in specific types of outreach as described below:
Crisis Outreach
All interns may respond as needed to campus crises as part of a CAPS team (on occasion outside of standard work hours).
Outreach Presentations
The intern will respond to requests from the campus community, and/or develop and market programs to address clinical issues or meet community needs.Full-time interns are expected to provide at least 3 outreach presentations per semester.
Training
Supervision
All interns participate in a Supervision of Supervision didactic seminar (December) and a Supervision of Supervision seminar throughout the Winter term. Interns start supervising Practicum students during the Winter semester.
Application Information
Training Philosophy & Aims
Service Delivery
Learning Supports
Sample Schedule
Meet Our Staff
Qualifications/Benefits
Applications Process
Current & Previous Interns
Internship Admissions, Support, and Initial Placement Data