The internship program in a cognitive-behavioural therapy service at the university setting

Abstract

This presentation describes the internship program for psychology students at the Psychotherapy Service housed at the Cognitive-Behavioural Department of the Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon. This Psychotherapy Service has two main goals: 1-Provide psychological help for children, adolescents and adults with common mental health issues, enabling access to affordable services to community. 2-Provide training in cognitive-behavioural therapy for clinical psychology master students, conducting clinical sessions during their full-time, one year internship training.It is used a group format supervision by seniors teachers, scheduled on a weekly basis. It is discussed the account of the internship clinical activities for the essential skills acquisition in therapeutic relationship, assessment procedures, conceptualization and implementation of key interventions. It seems also important to discuss how the training goals at this academic environment can prepapre students to function as professional clinical psychologists.