SPS is a half-time Bay Area Practicum Information Collaborative (BAPIC) and Master's level site. Our BAPIC trainees are typically practicum students with at least one year prior practicum experience. Our master's level trainees have seen some clients prior to starting here. Therapists work 20 hours/week. Each new set of trainees begins in early August. Trainees provide individual and couples therapy, as well as educational outreach and prevention services, as part of the clinical and educational services at SPS.

SPS is an exciting site. Trainees are given substantial respect and responsibility. It is a busy setting, so trainees typically carry full caseloads for the duration of the program. Many trainees experience the rich opportunity to practice many therapy techniques with a broad range of generally "higher functioning" clients and discover who they are as therapists in the process. (see below The Services).

Trainees of multiple levels (and our Sport Psychology track) join in any given year’s cohort, greatly deepening learning and mentoring in a collaborative and integrative model. The Training Program at SPS supports the trainees' varied functions, realities and demands, providing in-depth training and support for practicum and intern therapists, creating a rich learning environment fostering the development of solid psychotherapy skills and therapeutic identity (see Philosophy, Training and Supervision).

Experienced, licensed mental health professionals, including Licensed Psychologists, provide weekly individual and group supervision (see Contact/Staff); weekly didactic trainings are given by a range of professionals from the program and the community. The topic of the trainings in the year mirror the developmental needs of incoming trainees, beginning with such topics as Developing Therapeutic Alliance and Crisis Intervention, and moving through a variety of Diagnostic topics, Professional Development issues, and a range of Intervention and stage of therapy skills (See Training Calendar).

SRJC Student Health Services Mission

“To maintain and improve the physical, mental, and social health of students through culturally-responsive care at Santa Rosa Junior College, and to strengthen and inspire the well-being of the diverse college community, towards supporting student success and life-long learning.”

Student Psychological Services (SPS) provides psychological treatment and support as part of this mission. In addition, SPS is committed to supporting each trainee therapist to develop his or her own style of therapeutic interaction within the framework of ethical and professional clinical practice in a collaborative and respectful setting. Within this program trainees learn about their interests, their strengths and limitations as clinicians, and they develop confidence to learn new skills. Supervisors and trainers seek to provide a collaborative environment for growth and learning as well as to provide new information as needed for the range of clinical demands. More importantly, trainees are provided with structure and creativity in supervision and training sessions to discover new ways of engaging and using themselves, following inquiry, expressing empathy, listening deeply, providing support and education, supporting change and growth, and responding to crisis situations. In this process trainees learn about themselves as clinicians and individuals, and how to manage the therapeutic relationship in ways that enhance the experience and growth of the client.

Santa Rosa Junior College serves a large North Bay community, and has 20,000 matriculating students, with campuses in both Santa Rosa and Petaluma. Student Psychological Services, as part of Student Health Services, provides psychological services to enrolled students at both campuses, as a part of the health services made available through their health fee. We also serve students at our auxiliary campuses (Southwest Santa Rosa's Roseland Campus, Public Safety Training Center, and agricultural Shone Farm.) SPS services are designed to assess and treat psychological and mental health difficulties which interfere with the student’s academic, job, or personal functioning. The students who attend SRJC comprise a group with vast diversity, in all respects.

Please be sure to also to look at the other areas of the website for Santa Rosa Junior College to get an idea of the school, atmosphere and culture of the setting.

Many students are negotiating major life transitions, such as re-entry, leaving home, or adaptation to a new culture. Many are juggling academic demands, the responsibilities of family, and work and economic challenge. There are also students who have chronic medical or psychological diagnoses who attend classes and access health and psychological services. SPS is there to meet these varied needs. Demand for SPS services is very high, and trainees typically have full caseloads for the duration of the program. Clients range in age from 16 to 80, and vary widely in ethnicity, clinical presentation, capacity to engage, and needed treatment. In addition to individual and couple therapy, daily crisis Drop-In sessions are offered, which are fully utilized, and offer a single-session modality for trainees to experience. The treatment model is integrative, with a short-term frame and focus. Trainees can expect to encounter the gamut of diagnostic presentations, with about 40% in moderate to severe distress, and about 5% in crisis; most diagnoses tend to fall within the areas of depression, anxiety, relationship issues, trauma, eating disorder, substance use/abuse or dual diagnosis, with more rare instances of very mild or severe diagnoses.

We approach training and supervision from a developmental perspective, meeting each trainee where they are at. We also have as a basic understanding that we learn from one another. In support of this approach, we have adopted and teach interpersonal and program guidelines to facilitate that all trainees get, and give, as much in the program and with each other as possible. Trainees are encouraged to be supportive and engaged, and to receive support and feedback from peers, building a strong sense of interaction and ownership of the functioning of the training community.

The training program provides in-depth training and support to learn solid psychotherapy skills and to develop a personal therapy style within a clinically professional and sound ethical practice. Trainees are expected to see, on average, ten clients per week including two drop-in sessions, and to serve as a liaison to several students clubs and campus organizations.

Trainees learn their strengths and limits as clinicians, and develop confidence to learn new skills in a supportive setting. More importantly, trainees are provided with structure in supervision and training sessions to discover new ways of engaging, providing support and education, expressing empathy, identifying clients strengths and needs, and intervening in crisis situations. Trainees learn about themselves as clinicians, and how to manage the therapeutic relationship in ways that enhance the experience of the client.

Both the training and supervision portions of the program aim to assist trainees with the synthesis of material learned academically in graduate programs and its integration and application into useful clinical practice. Emphasis is given to the development of clinical and therapeutic skills as well as the ethical and mindful use of self in clinical practice. The therapeutic dyad and relationship are highly valued, and clinical decisions are case specific. New materials and ideas are incorporated as is relevant; all SPS staff and trainees are encouraged to enlarge the communal knowledge base by adding to our files and resources, and by communicating responsively to the group as new skills are learned.

Ideas from schools of Developmental Psychology, Mindfulness-based approaches, Psychodynamic Therapy, Psychiatric Psychopathology, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Attachment Theory, Family Systems theory, Humanistic theory and others are all used as they aid in alliance building, assessment and inquiry skills, and intervention techniques to effectively address the particular needs and disorders found in the campus setting. These range from disorders such as depression and anxiety to eating to substance use. Trainees also assist clients with issues of gender identity, sexual orientation, and cultural and relational concerns. Trainees learn to navigate the process of providing treatment from informed consent, to assessment, diagnosis and goal development, to middle intervention and termination phases of both individual and group therapy. Additionally they participate in outreach, preventative and educational activities campus wide, giving short talks on certain topics or outreach promoting topical groups.

The training program works within the frame of an academic setting and calendar, and because demand is so high, individual therapies are on a brief model, with some clients seen only for a few sessions and others for 6-8 or so sessions. (Trainees also may work with one client for a much longer period.) Trainees learn how to differentiate long and short-term issues, and to structure a brief therapy and achieve therapeutic success, often with clients who present with long-term issues. No one model of short-term treatment is required. We use an integrative theoretical model, with an emphasis on thorough assessment and then tailoring the treatment approach to the needs of each individual client. Emphasis is given to initial interview and contact, creating safety and support, building an alliance quickly, establishing a collaborative therapeutic relationship, working in the present moment, and providing coping and self-care skills that lead to progress.

Case formulation is emphasized, including: an overview/thumbnail of the client including current life circumstances and presenting issues and precipitating event(s), health and risk assessment, issues of developmental level and dynamic level of functioning, attachment style, family of origin and historical impact, cognitive functioning, capacity for self-care, strengths and coping capacities, as well as diagnostic considerations using the standard of care model. Short-term work is often solution focused, and skill based, integrating a mixture of supporting, exploring or deepening, educating and clarifying, and reinforcing interactions. The ability to integrate diverse theoretical orientations and to work creatively with patient strengths is highly valued.

An additional approach of the training program is that of integration, which occurs on multiple levels, both clinically and structurally. SPS is a program within Student Health Services, and as such, works within a multidisciplinary cooperative integrative model, with a team comprised of the staff and interns of SPS as well as staff Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Medical Assistants and support staff; we coordinate with SHS staff funded by the county PEI grant promoting prevention of mental health issues through monthly topics and regular presentations and outreach. Trainees have the additional opportunity to provide informal supervision to student peer-support workers. As a result, the SPS Training Program includes an emphasis in Health Psychology and Community Psychology.

Supervision in a developmental model is the primary tool of the training program, both in individual and group sessions. The emphasis is on building a trusting and mutually respectful relationship between and among all SPS supervisors and trainees, and using this to deepen trainees’ sense of professional identity. Group supervision and case settings include an additional layer of modeling and mentoring among the various levels and types of experience within any given year’s cohort, and trainees are actively encouraged to learn from one another and to stretch and express their professional voices. Additionally, supervision is coordinated within the program so that training is titrated and cumulative, based on the level of development of each trainee. Individual training emphasis is within a clinically professional and standard of care approach, under supportive competency-based supervision in a developmental model.

Within individual supervision and case conference alike, an emphasis is put on developing a capacity to be able to identify, track and verbalize the details and progress of cases, to review clinical and ethical issues arising in sessions, to explore transference and counter-transference as clinical realities and tools, and to incorporate additional and new ideas and skills in professional practice. Video recording allows for an enhanced supervision experience.

The SPS Training Program is committed to multicultural and diversity awareness and training on multiple levels. Attention is given to issues of gender, gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, ability, sexual orientation, religious and spiritual affiliation, socioeconomic, college programmatic and diagnostic differences in each and every clinical case, as well as within the cohort and the professional environment. Specific trainings are provided on topics such as working with Latinx and LGBTQ clients; supervision in group and individual formats takes these issues into account each meeting, as applicable, and trainees are strongly encouraged to attend to these issues in working with transference and counter-transference awareness and parallel process in treatment and supervision.

Each week the training program includes a one-and-a-half hour Didactic Training session, given by a range of professionals from the program and the community, and an additional hour plus time of Training and Supervision session in Triage/Current Topics/Outreach Skills. Didactic training is organized within the framework of an integrative model and includes developmental, humanistic, cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, systems, and gestalt orientations. Emphasis is placed on understanding and utilizing transference, counter-transference and cross-cultural issues in a brief therapy model. Trainees are encouraged to participate with current clinical material for each training to integrate theory and practice.

Training topics include brief therapy approaches, working with trauma, anxiety, depression, mindfulness-based approaches, couples therapy, ethics, working with crisis clients, substance abuse, medication issues, sexuality, sexual orientation, and termination issues.

Practicum/MFT internship: 10 months half-time (20 hours) program, Aug 11, 2025 - May 22, 2026.

10 months, 20 hours per week program Aug-May, 4 weeks vacation - meets some state's licensure requirements, including CA

• Orientation Week: Monday - Friday, 10:00am to 5:00pm, August 11 to 15, 2025.
• Weekly Thursday Training Program, 8:30am - 2:00pm.
  • Case Conference / Group Supervision 8:30am - 10:00am.
  • Didactic Training, 10:10am - 11:40am.
  • Training / supervision on Triage, Current Topics and Outreach, 12:45pm - 1:50pm.
• Weekly Individual Supervision (one hour during the week).
• 9-11 clients per week, includes 2 drop-in sessions per week.
• Record all sessions for use in supervision.
• Liaison to student and campus clubs/organizations
• Participate in outreach and prevention presentations.
• Provide informal supervision/mentorship to peer support workers.
   

All SPS Trainees/Interns are provided a $8000/year stipend for the 10-month program. 

SPS is both a clinical placement and a training community. Trainees must have adequate training and experience to support clinical work in a demanding site working with a diverse adult population. Familiarity with DSM diagnoses and standard of care documentation is expected, as well as the curiosity and openness to further professional growth in these areas through training. For BAPIC, SPS prefers trainees who have had at least one prior year of direct clinical service experience, ideally at least one year with adults or high-school aged clients. For MFT interns, SPS prefers those who have worked with clients prior to starting. The personal maturity, psychological mindedness, respect for individual and cultural differences, and life experience of a trainee are all also significant factors. Familiarity with several theoretical orientations and an openness to integrative training is a must.

We seek to create a safe setting where trainees will learn deeply about themselves, as they develop the skills and craft to be a clinician. Thus, SPS seeks competent, motivated, thoughtful, curious, and eager applicants, who are interested in and committed to fully participating in an engaging and open training program to help create an enriching and positive learning environment. Bilingual and bicultural abilities are highly desirable.

Thursdays from 8:30am-2pm are required; the full-time Orientation period in August is required. Beyond this, hours and days are flexible. A commitment of 20 hours each week for practicum/MFT students and 20-24 hours per week for doctoral interns is required, and the program follows an academic calendar with school holidays observed, including five weeks in which the college is on vacation in the 10-month period and seven weeks in the 12-month period. Individual vacations must coincide with the school vacation periods.

Each year Student Psychology Services as SRJC accepts one trainee to its Sport Psychology program. This trainee follows a schedule very similar to the other trainees at SRJC. Most commonly, our Sport Psychology trainees have come from JFK/NU's program in Sport Psychology with a MA already or soon-to-be in this field.

This practicum student obtains all the training as the other trainees (individual and group supervision, and didactics), as well as seeing general therapy and drop-in clients.

Additional hours are used specifically to see student-athletes, either in our athletic facilities in Tauzer Gym or in our regular counseling offices. This work may consist of team and individual performance enhancement training as well as therapy around issues such as dealing with injuries, concussions, and team dynamics. Therapy also addresses clinical issues that student-athletes may be experiencing, such as anxiety, mood and relationship issues. In addition, the Sport Psychology trainee provides workshops and groups to SRJC athletic teams focusing on team dynamics and performance enhancement.

The trainee works closely with SRJC’s Head Athletic Trainer and with the coaches of the 20 official SRJC sports teams, providing consultation and receiving referrals.

Individual supervision is provided by Joe Puentes, PsyD, a sport psychologist, at SRJC. 

To Apply: Follow the standard BAPIC procedures and application instructions as noted in our general materials – and select the Sport Psychology Track. (Note: You may apply to both our Sport Psychology and our Generalist Track if you wish.)

Qualifications: Applicants should have some experience in conducting sport psychology. Other qualifications are the same as those for the rest of our practicum applicants.

SPS follows all BAPIC deadlines and procedures. We take submissions of completed applications starting in February and up through the official deadline(s).

An Application Must Include:

• A letter of intent (cover letter).
  We would like applicants' letters of intent to introduce themselves, to detail what they hope to gain from participating in our Training Program, outlining their interest in the site and reasons why it would be a positive match.
  For MA and BAPIC: SPS Application. (While application requests letters of recommendation, applicants from MA programs only may instead list three references, their connection to you, and their contact information.)
• Your Curriculum Vitae.

All applicants will be notified of received applications, and informed about the procedure ensuing. Applicants are notified as per the BAPIC process if they will not be considered. Applications are reviewed and interviews are begun as soon as is possible and conducted remotely. Interviews consist of the applicant highlighting experience, strengths and limitations, desires and goals for participation in SPS, a role play, brief case presentation, and discussion of the requirements of the program and any questions remaining. Notifications are made per the BAPIC procedures and notification days.

MA-level applicants may apply after their site fair.

Prior to starting the placement, applicants need to have a background check.

Dr. Bert Epstein, PsyD
Training Director
Student Psychological Services
SRJC

bepstein@santarosa.edu

We begin accepting applications in February and encourage early submission.

FOR MA (MASTERS LEVEL) TRAINEESHIPS AND BAPIC PRACTICUM PLACEMENTS

• Applications are due by February 23, 2025

Interviews will take place in late February or in March.

MA/MFT/PCC: March, 2025

BAPIC: April 19, 2025

Dr. Epstein is the Training Director of Student Psychological Services and the Manager, Student Health Services, Mental Health Programs. He also provides clinical supervision. Over 25 years, Dr. Epstein has trained or worked in five counseling centers and supervised over 50 trainees. He received his BA from UC Berkeley and his doctoral degree from CSPP/Alliant, Bay Area. He works from an integrative theoretical perspective and has a background in cognitive-behavioral therapy. He is passionate about diversity in all respects and has organized several conferences on the topic. Areas of specialization include integration of technology and mental health, anxiety and mood disorders, relationship issues, prevention work including outreach presentations, and counseling center administration. Outside of work, Dr. Epstein enjoys film and TV, spending time with his family, and discovering the latest amusing technology.

Dr. Currran is a clinical supervisor of individual and group supervision. Dr. Curran received her BA from UCLA, a MA in Education from San Francisco State University and a doctorate from California School of Professional Psychology in Berkeley, CA. Her internships were at University of San Francisco in the college counseling center, and at the Sonoma County Mental Health Department. Her post-doctoral residency was with Kaiser Permanente and she went on to be a practicing clinician there for 22 years, ten of those as the chief of adult psychiatric services in Santa Rosa. Dr. Curran recently retired from Santa Rosa Community Health where she was the Director of Integrated Behavioral and Mental Health and she has a small private practice.

Throughout her career, she mentored interns and residents providing both group and individual clinical supervision. Her work in primary care with SRCH underscores her passion for social justice and health care as a human right. Dr. Curran promoted the philosophy of integrating mind and body in collaboration with primary care physicians. She works from a Mindfulness-based Cognitive-Behavioral approach and individualizes her care of clients in an integrative fashion.

Dr. Curran specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders using empirically based techniques, trauma recovery using EMDR and Cognitive Processing, borderline personality through Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and strength-based approaches when working with clients on women's issues, self-esteem, and relationship challenges. Outside of work, Maryellen loves to be with family and friends outdoors while appreciating our beautiful Sonoma County landscape. She is an active recreational tennis player and likes to hike.

Dr. Puentes is a clinical supervisor. Dr. Puentes received his doctorate in Clinical-Community Psychology from the University of La Verne in La Verne, CA. He completed his pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship at the University Counseling Center at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN. There he received specialized training in alcohol and drug assessment and treatment and in Sport and Performance Psychology. Dr. Puentes spent the first five years of his career as a staff psychologist at Sonoma State University's Counseling and Psychological Services before transitioning to his current full-time work in private practice in Santa Rosa.

Dr. Puentes’ professional interests beyond his therapy practice are teaching and supervising graduate students, working in the community to promote mental health and social justice, and consulting with athletes, coaches, and teams.  He works from a Cognitive Behavioral and Strengths-based approach and his clinical interests are in the treatment of anxiety disorders, men’s issues, and alcohol and drug abuse.

Outside of his work, Dr. Puentes appreciates being in nature, spending time with friends and family, and watching and playing sports. He loves to hike and plays baseball recreationally in Sonoma County. Dr. Puentes is originally from Illinois and is a lifelong Chicago Cubs Fan.

Dr. Dreifuss is a clinical supervisor. Dr. Dreifuss graduated from New York University with a BS in Psychology and earned a master's and doctoral degree from the California Institute of Integral Studies. He did pre-doctoral Internships at Mnt. Zion West Side Crises Clinic, and Haight Ashbury Psychological Services. He continued post-doctoral work as a psychological assistant with local psychologists in Sonoma County. Work experience includes being a psychologist at Sonoma County Mental Health Resource program where he supervised pre-doctoral psychology trainees. He has been a staff psychologist at Kaiser Child and Family team and spent most of his Kaiser career on the adult team. He supervised postdoctoral students at that site. He has had a psychotherapy practice in Santa Rosa during much of his institutional work. He is currently now seeing a small number of patients on video calls only.

A long-standing primary interest of Dr. Dreifuss is the interplay of Western psychology and particularly Buddhist psychology. His dissertation was entitled “A Phenomenological Inquiry of 6 Psychotherapists Who Practice Buddhist Meditation.” As a long- time practitioner of Buddhist meditation with training and studying with teachers and texts, he has long felt the necessity of bringing forth both wisdom traditions into his therapy practice. CBT and DBT have provided helpful structures. He also finds gestalt work, existential explorations, attachment issues and training people to utilize body awareness and mindfulness practices very helpful. He has practiced and trained doing both brief and long- term therapy.

He has lived rurally in Sonoma County for many of the almost 50 years since leaving NY. He finds that being closely connected to the natural world is extremely helpful to maintain balance and joy. Playing guitar is an increasingly positive activity, visiting with family, and friends and going on local hikes.

Ms. Daverede is a clinical supervisor. She also has a private practice in Windsor, California. She is a bilingual-bicultural, Spanish speaking therapist working with adults and teens with a focus on trauma.

She has a background in community mental health, having worked in different non-profit agencies, and has worked in collaboration with the Human Services Department, Family, Youth & Children of Sonoma County for over a decade. She also worked as a Family Mediator and Child Custody Evaluator for Sonoma County Superior Court.

Ms. Daverede is an EMDR certified therapist and is part of the training staff with the Sonoma Psychotherapy Training Institute. Maria received her BS from USAL, University of Salvador in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She received her MS from UBA, University of Buenos Aires.

Outside of work, she enjoys spending time outdoors with friends, either hiking, riding bikes, playing tennis, or practicing yoga.