Social Work Internship at Kaiser Permanente
Walnut Creek
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY
1425 SOUTH MAIN STREET
WALNUT CREEK, CALIFORNIA 94596
(925) 295-4145
THE SETTING
The Walnut Creek Area
Walnut Creek is just of short drive northeast of Oakland. Our clinic is conveniently located near both freeways (24 and 680) and near the Walnut Creek BART station, allowing for easy commutes to Oakland, San Francisco, and the North Bay. The service area includes both suburban and semi-rural communities. The clinic is located close to shopping, restaurants and entertainment.
Patient Population
Geographically the Departments of Psychiatry draws it clientele from Contra Costa county, all parts though largely from central county, and, to a smaller extent, Alameda and Solano counties. The patient population consists of Kaiser Health Plan members possessing prepaid psychiatric benefits and covers a broad ethnic, cultural and socioeconomic spectrum. All age groups and virtually all psychiatric categories are represented. The ethnic diversity of these counties is also fairy broad, including monolingual families who speak languages such as Spanish, Tagalog, or other Asian languages.
The Staff
The professional staff consists of full and part-time staff: 9 psychiatrists (three with specialty in child psychiatry), 12 licensed psychiatric social workers and 16 psychologists, 3 Marriage and Family Therapists, and psych nurses. A team of triage staff members provides front line access for patients through telephone contacts. A team of receptionist/secretaries, one medical secretary (transcriptions), and medical records specialists serve the departments on a full/part-time basis.
Services
The Departments of Psychiatry provides individual, group, family and play therapy with children and psycho educational group programs. It also includes an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) that provides services to recently hospitalized individuals or individuals who would otherwise be at risk for hospitalization. The members of the staff represent a variety of theoretical orientations ranging from psychodynamic to cognitive behavioral therapy.
THE TRAINING PROGRAM
General Principles
The Department of Psychiatry is an interdisciplinary department. The basic training philosophy adopted by this department stresses a commitment to a continuous reassessment, modification, and enrichment of counseling techniques. Interns are exposed to a unique and diverse community. There is a clear emphasis on his/her role of a social worker in a multi-cultural community and outpatient setting. Interns are encouraged to become familiar with the demographic composition of the community in which our clients reside.
The internship consists of three components:
- Regular and intensive exposure through active participation to all facets of outpatient services.
- Professional guidance through sessions of formal supervision, staff meetings and informal contacts with staff members.
- Regular weekly training seminars and quarterly regional seminars
Supervision
Interns will receive at least two (2) hours of regularly scheduled individual supervision. In addition, they will be supervised on cases in their seminars. Selection of cases and size of caseload is carefully adjusted to the intern's readiness and training needs as determined by his/her supervisor.
Evaluations
The primary supervisor will be responsible for completing your school evaluation in collaboration with the rest of the training staff. All efforts will be made to provide ongoing feedback to interns throughout the year.
Grievances
Any problem, which might arise, should be addressed with the intern's primary supervisor. If the problem cannot be resolved, then this matter should be taken up by the Director of Training. Ongoing communication between the training staff and the intern's academic program staff is expected. Please consult with the Policy and Procedures manual for a more lengthy description of grievances and disciplinary actions.
Apply To:
Department of Mental Health
Kaiser Permanente, Walnut Creek
1425 So. Main St.
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
Director of Training: Valinda Croxton, L.C.S.W.
E-Mail: valinda.croxton@kp.org