The Consortium training philosophy offers a wide variety of experiences which challenge interns to develop and refine the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to become a professional clinical psychologist. Interpersonal and case management skills are developed through interactions with clients, faculty members, and fellow interns. The program emphasizes the quality of the relationship between interns as well as primary and secondary supervisors. The relationship is viewed as a key factor for becoming a competent and ethical psychologist colleague.

The doctoral internship year is seen as a period of integration of theoretical and practical knowledge, professional responsibilities, and job-related demands while still under the direct supervision of a doctoral-level psychologist licensed in Puerto Rico. Given the diverse interests, career plans and professional needs of interns, all possible attempts are made to design an internship experience that is relevant, challenging, and individualized for each intern within the highest standards of quality. In each Site Placement, interns are expected to assume the responsibilities of a professional clinical psychologist. High standards are placed on competence, ethical principles, and the welfare of clients and society.

The Consortium is designed to provide a diverse range of training activities and experiences for doctoral clinical psychology students. The mission of the Consortium is to provide interns with an opportunity for professional development in clinical psychology, through sequential and didactic training based on a Practitioner-Scholar Model. A key factor within the mission is to understand the cultural and individual differences in an ever-changing society and how it relates to clinical practice and the body of scientific knowledge.

Our training program is based on the Practitioner-Scholar Model. This model of education and clinical psychology training consists of an integrated approach to practice and embodies clinical orientation as well as research orientation, but with a greater emphasis on clinical practice. The training program is primarily practitioner model, where the focus is on providing clinical experiences which will enhance interns’ skills in implementing a solid, psychological knowledge base. Interns are expected to be excellent consumers of psychological research, and to reference this for their practice in supervisory meetings, case conferences, and didactic presentations.