CSUF Undergrad Psych VolunteerAt — The Center for Restored & Connected Families

This internship enables an undergraduate psychology student to gain hands-on experience in a professional outpatient therapy setting. The student will contribute to the practice’s educational outreach, clinical group preparation, and overall operations while observing practical applications of psychological theory in therapeutic and administrative contexts. In addition, the student will gain valuable insight into the business side of running a therapy clinic, building practical knowledge that benefits those interested in pursuing clinical work in private practice or similar applied settings in the future.

Tasks:

Tasks, Projects, and Assignments
(The intern will demonstrate learning outcomes by...)

Psychology-Related (80% of 120 hours ≈ 96 hours):

Create one weekly psychoeducational blog post or online resource on evidence-based mental health topics for the practice website.

Develop multiple research-backed social media posts each week; submit to Intake Coordinator for review, posting, and feedback on audience relevance.

Prepare worksheets, handouts, and attendance sheets for DBT and other therapy groups.

Assist Intake Coordinator with gathering potential referral sources (e.g., researching local providers, organizations) and community outreach activities.

Conduct literature reviews and research summaries to support psychoeducational materials and clinician resources.

Administrative (20% of 120 hours ≈ 24 hours):

Restock snacks and waiting-room supplies to maintain a welcoming client environment.

Assist with clerical tasks like file organization, scanning, or general office support when staff are unavailable.

Training:

Training
(To help the intern achieve outcomes, the supervisor will...)

Provide initial orientation to office operations, HIPAA confidentiality, DBT processes, and target audience demographics.

Review all social media/blog content weekly, provide specific feedback, and post approved materials.

Hold supervision meetings to discuss progress, referral research, outreach ideas, and professional development.

Arrange clinician shadowing and resource access for research/content creation.

Learning Outcome:

Learning Outcomes
(By the end of the internship, the student will be able to...)
Apply psychological research principles to create psychoeducational content for blogs and social media that serves therapy clinic clients.

Support clinical operations by preparing group materials and engaging referral networks for community mental health outreach.

Analyze feedback to refine mental health communication for specific target audiences in a therapy practice.

Understand business functions of a clinic, including referral development and administrative support for clinical delivery.