With a nationwide need for more mental health clinicians, Kaiser Permanente is expanding its Northern California training programs, now known as the Mental Health Training Collaborative.
Last year it trained more than 350 trainees — from pre-master’s students to post-doctoral residents. These are students and graduates who need training and supervised clinical hours to earn a degree or to become licensed mental health therapists or clinical psychologists.
This year the collaborative plans to train or supervise 600 individuals at Kaiser Permanente Northern California’s 21 medical centers and the Kaiser Permanente Counseling Center.
The collaborative consists of 3 programs. There’s the counseling center, which trains premaster’s students from Kaiser Permanente’s School of Allied Health Sciences and Mental Health Scholars Academy. It also includes the Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Training Program, which trains master’s and doctoral level graduates. The collaborative recently added the Regional Associate Program. It provides clinical supervision for master’s level associates and psychologist assistants who are Kaiser Permanente employees in the last stage of earning the clinical hours they need to be licensed.
Altogether, the collaborative is the largest non-governmental mental health training program in the United States.
“We’re expanding to meet the demand for licensed mental health therapists and psychologists within Kaiser Permanente and in the community,” said Kathryn Wetzler, PsyD, senior director of Kaiser Permanente’s Mental Health Training Collaborative. “We’ve seen an enormous increase in the number of applications to our programs, and we’re making room for more people to train with us.”
A place to become a better clinician
Beth Kramer received her training from the Mental Health Training Collaborative, and she’s now a licensed marriage and family therapist at Kaiser Permanente Walnut Creek. About 50% of trainees take positions within Kaiser Permanente, and the rest work in the community.
Kramer is a longtime Kaiser Permanente employee who got her master’s degree in counseling from the Kaiser Permanente School of Allied Health Sciences. She described her experience with the training collaborative as “supportive and rigorous.”
“My supervisor was an expert in trauma and taught me specific, evidence-based approaches I could start using with patients right away. She would then coach me on how I was applying them in session,” Kramer said. “This comprehensive approach is unique, so it doesn’t surprise me that people are realizing that this is not just a place to get your clinical hours, it’s also a place to become a better clinician.”
Developing strong skills and confidence
Wetzler said the collaborative’s team of clinical supervisors bring a depth of knowledge to their work, helping trainees to develop strong therapeutic skills and the confidence needed to serve diverse communities with compassion and competence.
So far more than half of the collaborative’s clinical supervisors have achieved at least one advanced certification in evidence-based treatments, which helps ensure trainees develop consistent, high-quality skills in general and specialty training areas.
Aubyn Fulton, PhD, a psychologist and clinical supervisor in the Napa Solano Area, said the collaborative puts a lot of “energy and expertise” into providing state-of-the-art mental health training.
“We’re focused on continuously improving the experience, training future therapists and psychologists on the cutting edge of evidence-based therapies, so they can best serve our members and patients in the community.”
