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Other Training Activities

Consultation Teams

Each intern participates in a weekly one-hour multidisciplinary consultation team attended by all CAPS staff. During these team meetings, staff and interns seek both clinical and professional consultation. Clinical consultation may involve a focus on case conceptualization, diagnosis and disposition, intervention and treatment planning, and transference/countertransference issues. Professional consultation may focus on ethical dilemmas, system issues, and emerging topics in mental health and college counseling.

Eating Concerns Assessment & Treatment Team (ECATT)

To cultivate competencies in working with eating and body image concerns in the context of college mental health, interns can participate with staff on ECATT, an interdisciplinary (CAPS clinicians, NU registered dietitian, »¨¼¾ÊÓƵ Medicine Student Health physician) team of healthcare professionals that meets weekly throughout the academic year. Team members engage in consultation to support the psychological, medical, and nutritional treatment needs of »¨¼¾ÊÓƵ University students with disordered eating/exercise concerns, body image disturbance, and medical nutritional issues. Members of the team may also provide community-based intervention/outreach programming to members of the NU community on issues related to disordered eating/exercise and body image. 

Intern Support Group

Interns meet with each other weekly for one hour in a private and supportive space. The meetings are intended to provide the opportunity for interns to deepen their connections, provide mutual support, and discuss their internship experience and any emerging issues or concerns. The agenda and direction of the meetings are determined by the group, as is the level of personal self-disclosure. Once monthly, the training director will join interns during this meeting to address group-level developments, questions, or concerns.

Monthly Meeting with the Training Director

The Training Director meets with interns to discuss general issues related to their experiences in the internship for one hour once a month, or more if appropriate. Issues such as professional development, identity as a psychologist, collaboration within a larger organization, and managing multiple responsibilities and roles may be explored in this meeting. The format is an open discussion with no set sequence of topics. The focus of discussion may be related to interns’ reflections on current events within the the training program, the broader agency, or the university. Concerns and feedback about the internship program may be discussed as well. 

Intern Project

As a cohort, interns collaborate on a group project determined by their interests and agency needs to enhance an aspect of CAPS day-to-day operations and its campus community impact. Objectives for this activity include program evaluation, research, consultation with project stakeholders (in or beyond CAPS), and team collaboration. The actual time required to complete the project will vary depending on its nature and center demands. The training director will serve as a project consultant.  

• The 2006-2007 class made use of the Big Ten Counseling Center Conference hosted by CAPS at »¨¼¾ÊÓƵ in March 2007; they participated in subcommittees that planned and organized events and reviewed submitted proposals for programs.
• The 2007-2008 class created a handbook that provides clinicians with guidance and specific ideas when assessing a vast array of psychological disorders and clinical presentations.
• The 2008-2009 class hosted the summer Midwest Intern Retreat in Monticello, Illinois, where attendees were interns and training directors from seven predoctoral internship programs at university counseling »¨¼¾ÊÓƵ from three states.
• The 2009-2010 class compiled information useful for the orientation of future interns who relocate to Chicago, addressing the work-life balance issues.
• The 2010-2011 class created electronic forms on the center’s scheduling and records software to increase the efficiency and convenience of everyday clinical work.
• The 2011-2012 class compiled the self-help section for students on the CAPS webpage, covering a range of psychological topics and conditions.
• The 2012-2013 class collaborated with »¨¼¾ÊÓƵ University Advanced Media Production Studio to create a short video that provides information about the Doctoral Internship to prospective applicants.
• The 2013-2014 class, in consultation with the International Office at NU, created an information brochure about CAPS in a number of languages.
• The 2014-2015 class created a series of psychoeducational materials on the topics of eating and body image concerns.
• The 2015-2016 class created a pamphlet about resources for socioeconomically disadvantaged students at NU.
• The 2016-2017 class reviewed and selected video recordings of group psychotherapy and compiled video clips into topics for group psychotherapy training.
• The 2017-2018 class compiled psychoeducational resources (documents, links, worksheets, videos) for mental health and well-being to be made available to students on the CAPS webpage.
• The 2018-2019 class, in collaboration with the Eating Concerns Assessment and Treatment Team (ECATT), coordinated a campus-wide outreach campaign on Body Acceptance during Eating Disorders Awareness Week in February 2019.
• The 2019-2020 class collaborated in a professional presentation at the Big Ten Counseling Centers Conference in Evanston, IL, as well as contributed to the CAPS’s planning and execution of the conference.
• The 2020-2021 class, addressing feedback from the campus community, created a visual guide to assist students in accessing services at CAPS that best meet their needs.
• The 2021-2022 class participated on CAPS Anti-Racism Working Group subcommittees.
• The 2022-2023 cohort utilized survey-based date from LGBTQIA+-identified students to prepare recommendations for CAPS to enhance its effectiveness in meeting the mental health needs of the LGBTQIA+ community on campus. Their recommendations were also provided in the form of infographics.
• The 2023-2024 cohort applied decolonizing principles to CAPS, and identified several action steps and care provisions to improve both the office and individual staff members’ competency.