CONNECTIONS INTERNSHIP CONSORTIUM

Connections Internship Consortium (CIC) is fully committed to providing a training setting that affirms the dignity, worth, and value of all individuals.  We strongly value diversity in all its forms, and seek to understand and honor individual differences including, but not limited to: age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, language, national origin, race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, physical and mental abilities, size and appearance, and socioeconomic status.  

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The wide variety of challenges that affect our students and their families often appear to be affected by social forces in the environment related to power and privilege, such as racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, heterosexism, and other forms of marginalization and oppression.  These forces are often pervasive and institutionalized and can leave the impacted individual to feel alone, voiceless, and invalidated.  The supervisors and staff at CIC consider these forces in the struggles of our students and their families and thus aim to work with them in a culturally sensitive manner, employing approaches that include empowerment and advocacy.  

 

This commitment to culturally sensitive communication extends to interactions among our staff and the greater local community.  We seek to understand and honor individual difference among our Interns, our staff as a whole, and our students and their families.  We also strive to make CIC an open, affirming, and safe working environment in which everyone feels understood, valued, and accepted.  We take personal and organizational responsibility to grow in our awareness, reduce barriers and bias, and strengthen our multicultural competence.  CIC believes in creating and maintaining an atmosphere of openness, trust, and respect where diverse attitudes, beliefs, values, and behaviors can be explored and discussed safely.  We seek to understand and honor individual differences both among our Interns and among our students and their families. We support a culture of inclusion, and believe in creating an equitable, hospitable, appreciative, and safe learning environment for our Interns.  Every effort is made by the CIC to create a climate where Interns (and all staff) feel respected and comfortable by increasing awareness and comfort with multicultural experiences through inservice training, flexible time off for religious and cultural holidays, school-wide diversity initiatives/activities, etc.

 

CIC welcomes applicants from diverse backgrounds as the training program believes that a diverse training environment contributes to the overall quality of the program.  CIC provides equal opportunity to all prospective interns and does not discriminate because of a person’s race, color, religion, sexual or gender orientation, national origin, age, disability, or any other factor that is irrelevant to success as a psychology intern.  Applicants are individually evaluated in terms of quality of previous training, practicum experiences, clinical competency, and fit with the internship. If an applicant or intern requires accommodations, he or she should contact the Internship Training Director (Gwen Grant, Psy.D, NCSP: ggrant@counselingconnections.net) to discuss.  

 

CIC’s goal in diversity training is to ensure that Interns develop the knowledge, skills, and awareness necessary to provide competent psychological services to all members of the public.  To this end, CIC’s training program requires an expected competency in individual and cultural diversity. These competencies were developed to comply with the APA’s statement on Preparing Professional Psychologists to Serve a Diverse Public: “...professional psychology training programs strive to ensure that psychology trainees demonstrate acceptable levels of knowledge, skills, and awareness to work effectively with diverse individuals.”  Diversity experiences and training are interwoven throughout the training program in individual supervision, didactics, case presentations, and group supervision activities to ensure that Interns are both personally supported and well-trained in this area.