Clinical Practicum, Master's Level Student Internships

Bay Area Community Services offers two paths for Master’s level practicum students.  Students may participate as practicum only students on a part-time volunteer basis or may elect to apply for and become employees working full time for BACS with practicum activities baked into their work week.

Practicum students may be placed in one of many BACS programs or locations ranging from crisis residential to community mental health settings.  BACS programs include forensic specialty programs serving persons with history of incarceration, homeless specialty programs ranging from outreach to post-housing tenancy support, assertive community treatment programs specializing in age banded strategies as well as forensic and homeless services, and wellness services providing whole person care portals for people needing support to access housing, employment, benefit, and other resources as well as daily groups and programming to support community members needing light touch support to maintain community based independent living.  All BACS programs serve people with complex presentations including co-occurring serious mental health, substance use, and homelessness or housing instability. 

BACS provides a comprehensive learning environment including weekly clinical supervision in a group setting, program-based proctors who meet with each student weekly, didactic seminars focused to build practical skills in assessment, engagement, de-escalation, diagnosis, and application of intervention strategies.  BACS provides trauma-informed, individualized, integrated dual disorders treatment informed by principles of harm-reduction and housing first.

Most BACS programs adhere to evidence-based practice frameworks.

Volunteer- Practicum only option:

Practicum only internships at BACS are unpaid part-time volunteer positions typically 16-24 hours weekly accomplished in 2-3 days per week.

Full-time Employment option:

Employee practicum students must independently qualify for employment with a BACS program.  Application for internship and employment may be simultaneous. Applicants must be accepted both for employment and for internship to qualify for this option.  Typically, employee interns work in direct practice settings as care coordinators and are engaged, through internship, in training opportunities including group clinical supervision, training in assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning and EBPs, and assigned case work to meet learning objectives.

What BACS provides students

Students participate in a weekly group supervision with a licensed plus-two supervisor. Most often students participate in a group with other students who are working in programs throughout the agency. Occasionally an advanced study student will participate in a group with clinicians who are post masters and working toward licensure.

Weekly group supervision includes case presentation, exploration of transference and counter transference, both reflective and didactic learning opportunities.

Students are also provided with a task-supervisor or mentor. Mentors are clinical staff working in the program to which the student is assigned who provide weekly 1:1 clinical supervision. Mentors are Associate level clinicians (minimally) with at least one year tenure at BACS. Mentors are selected for their capacity to teach and support students and are themselves supported to develop strong supervisory skills.  Many mentors are all-but-exam or recently licensed

Mentor Responsibilities

Mentors are responsible to ensure a weekly meeting with their assigned practicum student. This meeting is an opportunity for the student to learn and consolidate training. Mentors review topics during the first six weeks such as safety, consultative resources, agency policies and expectations, and provide opportunities for students to shadow their clinical work (typically assessments, coordination and case management meetings). Mentors work with the group supervisor to ensure appropriate opportunities are defined for the student’s learning goals. Mentors meet with the student and group supervisor at least twice each semester to share evaluation and set strategies for the next term.

Mentors supervising unpaid interns are responsible to verify student hours and provide client support to person’s assigned to the mentee during the mentees off days. Typically, student case load is derived as a subset of the Mentor’s case load and student productivity in excess of 5 hours weekly counts toward mentor’s overall achievement of goals.

Mentor’s supervising full-time employees who are completing practicum as part of their work, provide the hour of individual consultation and collaborate with the Group Supervisor, but do not assign cases nor track employee hours. 

Intern Expectations

Practicum students are engaged in activities designed to provide practice and experiential learning as they work to earn master’s degrees toward becoming professional Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists, or to qualify toward earning a license as a Professional Clinical Counselor.

Residentially based students are assigned a site-based supervisor.  In their role they are expected to

•  Participate in all aspects of milieu management as assigned


• With site supervisor, shadow, train and, as the site supervisor observes readiness co-facilitate and or independently:
  
  
  
  •  Complete Psycho-social assessments including Safety Plans
  
  
  • Develop Collaborative Treatment Plans
  
  
  • Coordinate care with on-going case managers and participate in discharge planning
  
  
  • Provide/co-facilitate Individual and/or collateral meetings to support participant outcomes
  
  
  • Co-lead group at least weekly
  
  
  
  


• Participate in weekly supervision group – currently on Fridays from 9-11. Present case or work as assigned at least once each month.  Schedule and participate in weekly 1:1 supervision with site supervisor.


• Unpaid interns will work side-by-side with site-based supervisor.  Paid interns will accomplish these additional duties as part of their routine shifts.  Please note that some schedule adjustments may be needed to support intern learning opportunities.  Additional duties should be no more than one enrollment per week and typically no more than two assigned cases at a time.


• Following orientation (about 90 days) interns and as deemed ready by clinical supervisor and field supervisor, interns will carry cases as the Clinical Care Coordinator Intern, assuming responsibility for all aspects of client care from intake through discharge.


• Participate in internal and external care coordination meetings as needed on behalf of assigned clients. Provide primary facilitation of at least one TDM.

Community based students work as part of a community-based team typically reporting to the Program Manager, though this may be delegated to a qualified master’s level clinician.  In their role, they are expected to:

•  Participate in all aspects of care coordination as assigned; full-time employees carry a full case load for their paid position. As intern responsibilities grow, caseloads will include cases for which the intern carries primary clinical responsibility (see below). Interns who are employees are expected to meet productivity standards of their paid position
  
  
  
  •  Case loads may be adjusted to accommodate shifting responsibilities, but at all times awareness of how the combined work in CC and ICCC (intern clinical care coordinator) roles enables the person to meet client engagement expectations.
  
  
  • In some instances, an intern will provide clinical support in a program that is not their primary program. Work accomplished with clients counts toward overall productivity even if it is done under a different reporting unit/program.
  
  
  
  


• With site supervisor, shadow, train, and, as the site supervisor observes readiness co-facilitate and/or independently:
  
  
  
  • Complete Psycho-social assessments including Safety Plans
  
  
  • Complete ANSA assessments
  
  
  • Develop Collaborative Treatment Plans
  
  
  • Coordinate care with on-going case managers and participate in discharge planning
  
  
  • Provide/co-facilitate Individual and/or collateral meetings to support participant outcomes
  
  
  • May co-lead one group or activity group weekly as assigned
  
  
  
  


• Participate in weekly supervision group – currently on Fridays from 9-11. Present case or work as assigned at least once each month. Schedule and participate in weekly 1:1 supervision with site supervisor.


• Following orientation (about 90 days) interns and as deemed ready by clinical supervisor and field supervisor, interns will carry cases as the Clinical Care Coordinator Intern, assuming responsibility for all aspects of client care from intake through discharge.


• Participate in internal and external care coordination meetings as needed on behalf of assigned clients. Provide primary facilitation of at least one TDM.


• Develop and co-facilitate group activities and/or individual participant meetings as assigned up to five hours per week.

All employee interns are expected to meet expectations regarding timeliness of documentation and client engagement as defined by their on-going position.  

Unpaid interns are expected to increase client engagement over the initial period to achieve 55% of their time engaged in client care activities (including direct and indirect interventions, documentation, and, if appropriate travel time to meet with participants in the community.)

For all Interns:

BACS documentation standards including timeliness, accuracy and thoroughness of all notes must be adhered to in accordance with the BACS Medi-Cal documentation manual.