*The Behavioral Medicine Outpatient Program will not accept any students for

the 2023-24 academic year.  Please check again next year.  

Nature of Setting and Population Served

The Behavioral Medicine department within Harbor UCLA is an integrated service consisting of Social Workers, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, and Nurse Practitioners. The internship provides a training in psychotherapy in behavioral medicine, specifically with outpatients seen on HIV Mental Health Services. Opportunities for working with patients from other services in the hospital will also be available.

Interns provide behavioral medicine treatments to medical patients presenting with primary psychiatric conditions and/or psychiatric sequelae impacting their illnesses. Patients served by our clinic reflect the ethnically diverse population of Los Angeles County. A high number of patients identify within the LGBTQ spectrum.

DIRECT SERVICES

The internship focuses on delivering outpatient individual psychotherapy and group psychotherapy (as available), bio psychosocial assessments, and behavioral medicine treatments to patients within HIV Mental Health Services and other services such as Women’s Behavioral Health Service and Family Medicine.

Problems can range from adjusting to HIV diagnosis, managing relationships, issues regarding sexuality, dealing with social stigma associated with HIV, adherence to medication and medical care, substance use, trauma, depression, anxiety and a range of personality disorders.

SUPERVISION AND TRAINING

Primary supervision and training are provided by licensed clinical social workers with specialties in behavioral medicine. Interns will receive both individual and group supervision. Interns will also interact with clinical psychologists with specialties in health psychology.

Focus of training is on the provision of behavioral medicine treatment using evidence-based practices, empirically validated modalities and brief therapies such as CBT, DBT, ACT, and Mindfulness informed psychotherapy. Interns will participate in the Behavioral Medicine Seminar where they will learn the foundations of behavioral medicine as well as receive an overview of medical conditions. Interns will also learn other clinical skills through their participation in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Seminar, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Seminar, Trauma Team Meetings, and other in-service seminars that cover various mental health topics. Interns will also learn DMH documentation and how to diagnose with the DSM 5.

WHAT WE LOOK FOR IN AN INTERN:

• On site 20 hours per week. Required days are Monday, Wednesday, and half day Fridays.
• A student seeking an intensive clinical experience.
• A student who is an independent learner but who knows when to seek assistance from a supervisor.
• A student who is willing to dedicate time outside of internship as needed to learn interventions that might be helpful to their patients.
• A student who is willing to work in an interdisciplinary team.

Additional Information

• Interns will carry 6-8 therapy patients.
• Present case conceptualizations in SW Intern Group Supervision
• Complete Initial Intake Assessments with new patients and present in multidisciplinary case disposition meeting.