Compass Behavioral Health Service Internship

Compass Family Services supports homeless families and families at risk for homelessness to achieve housing stability, family well-being and self-sufficiency. We are one of three access points for San Francisco families facing a housing crisis. Our services include emergency shelter, transitional housing, rental assistance, early childhood education and a broad spectrum of counseling, parenting education and other support services. 

 

Compass Behavioral Health Services (CBHS) provides graduate students (Trainees) and Registered Associates with opportunities to provide crisis intervention and trauma-informed, strength-based therapy to families experiencing homelessness or residing in shelters and permanent supportive housing. Our services reflect our understanding of the complexities of trauma and the range of traumatic experiences. Therapeutic services are currently offered via telehealth and on-site at the Compass Family Services main office located in San Francisco’s Civic Center. Trainees and Associates will experience all aspects of work at a vibrant social service agency as part of the Compass Behavioral Health Services team, working collaboratively with staff at Compass Family Services and local housing and shelter sites.

 

The clinical training program includes training and education, supervision and support, attention to self-care for both the individual and the organization and attention to creating a welcoming and safe environment with a deep respect for how trauma has impacted our client families. The majority of the training takes place in individual and group supervision facilitated by Compass Clinical Director Susan Reider, LMFT or with another staff Clinical Supervisor.

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Opportunities 

• Providing trauma-informed, strength-based psychotherapeutic services to individual adults, children, families and couples either at our main office or as part of a team of roving therapists working to stabilize families living in local shelters and supportive housing programs.

• Counselor of the Day (COD) Services (crisis intervention and support) in the Compass Family Resource Center (CFRC).

• Collaborating with case managers and other staff members in order to provide comprehensive services to our client families including participating in case reviews and other collateral meetings.

• Providing therapeutic shadowing at Compass Children’s Center (CCC) with pre-school age children (3-5 y/o) presenting behavioral challenges.

• Co-facilitating groups and classes.

• Training may include and is not limited to: Charting, Protective Factors Survey (PFS), Suicidality, Domestic Violence, Mandated Reporting, Therapeutic Shadowing (for preschoolers aged 3-5 y/o), Crisis Intervention and World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment (WHOQOL). 

• Interns will also have the opportunity to attend agency-wide training and activities.

 

Our approach to therapy is eclectic, strength-based and trauma-informed. Our modalities include psychodynamic and humanistic/existential with an openness to explore and utilize other modalities and techniques that may be helpful to our clients. Although we are committed to depth psychology, we also recognize the need for brief therapy, especially in crisis situations. By the end of the training program, Trainees and Associates will have gained clinical experiences in both long-term and brief psychotherapy. 

Training Program Details

Length of Program:  Approximately one year in length beginning after Labor Day  and ending no later than August 31 of the following year.

Group Supervision: Once a week from 1pm to 3pm.
Participation is required. 

Individual Supervision: One hour of individual or triadic clinical supervision will be scheduled each week based on Supervisor and Trainee/Associate scheduling.  
Participation is required. 

Expectations for Trainees     

• 16+ hours per week (total time commitment)

• 5+ hours per week face-to-face individual therapy and/or shadowing (milieu therapy)

• One 3-hour shift per week as Counselor of the Day (COD) at the Compass Family Resource Center (CFRC)

• 1 hour per week of individual or triadic supervision

• 2 hours per week of group supervision 

• Co-facilitate parenting skills or support group (Optional)

• Required charting in SalesForce
   

Expectations for Associates:  

• 16+ hours per week (total time commitment) 

• 10 hours per week face-to-face individual therapy and/or shadowing (milieu therapy) 

• 1 hour per week of individual or triadic supervision

• 2 hours per week of group supervision 

• Co-facilitate parenting skills or support group

• Required charting in SalesForce 

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