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MHS Clinical Psychology Pre-Doctoral Internship Program Description
BREAKDOWN OF TRAINING TIME
This is a full-time program emphasizing community and clinical psychology. The intern will be offered an opportunity to work with a wide range of people with varying degrees of dysfunction. Major training components include experience in psychodiagnosis, individual therapy, group therapy, family therapy, and consultation. A breakdown of the percent of training time that may be spent on various task is presented below.
PSYCHODIAGNOSIS (15%): The intern is expected to be able to administer various types of intelligence and personality tests including projective techniques, tests for organicity and learning dysfunctions and occasional batteries of achievement and aptitude tests for vocational guidance. Written reports on all testings are submitted and, in addition, the ability to share test findings with members of other disciplines in a case conference format is cultivated. Each intern is expected to see at least ten cases for psychological testing during the year. Efforts are made to insure a wide variety of cases among children, adolescents and adults, with diagnoses and conditions including learning disabilities, developmental deficits, conduct disorders, ADHD, major mood disorders, personality disorders, psychosis spectrum disorders, organicity, etc. In addition, interns are asked to work with court services, school systems, and referring physicians on a collaborative basis. Each intern is assigned to a supervisor skilled in the area of psychological assessment for intensive supervision. In addition, interns meet for one and one-half (1.5) hours a week in a diagnostic seminar where they present cases and discuss varying points of view about test constructs, assessment techniques, and modalities, and the production of reports that address referral questions with useful clinical information.
DIAGNOSTIC INTERVIEWING (10%): Interns are assigned to conduct intake assessments/interviews with children, families and adults on a weekly, rotating basis. The intern attends an intake seminar during her/his first few weeks at the Center where interviewing skills are reviewed and the intern's apprehensions about being left alone with troubled people in a crisis can be shared.
CRISIS INTERVENTION (10%): Interns complete a six week, eight hours a week rotation in Emergency Service in the Center talking with walk-in patients and handling telephone requests for service and information. Training in crisis techniques and the use of other community resources are provided. Interns may also be involved in telephone triage when clients first call the system for services. An additional four week ride-along rotation on the Mobile Crisis Unit provides a front line, in- community setting with patients who are often in life-threatening crises, but who are unable or unwilling to make use of walk-in emergency services.
INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOTHERAPY (25%): While the interns are encouraged to learn about the community and life situations of the population served, the ability to work with a troubled person or family is considered basic to training in clinical psychology. Interns are expected to maintain at least ten patients in psychotherapy as a means of becoming familiar with basic psychotherapeutic concepts and techniques. The trainee is also asked to become familiar with effective focused intervention models. The wide range of the Center population allows the intern to see children, adolescents and adults. Interns may work with other staff members in a child guidance fashion or consider seeing several members of a family using a family therapy model.
GROUP THERAPY (10%): Center staff see many patients in group formats using both open ended and time limited models. Interns are typically assigned as co-therapists to one or two groups from the out-patient service. Supervision for all groups is provided by the staff therapist for that group during the wrap-up session that follows the group's regular meeting.
FAMILY THERAPY (5%): A growing group of Center staff use the approach as a regular part of their work with patients and provide interns with the opportunity to observe and work as co-therapists with families in either a single family or multiple family situation. An ongoing seminar acquaints the intern with several family therapy models and provides group supervision of family therapy cases, when they are available.
CONSULTATION (5%): Center staff are involved in consulting with many agencies and helping personnel in the community, such as schools, the Department of Family Services, and Probation. The active collaboration of Emergency Services and MCU with police, fire and rescue, schools, social service agencies and other agencies is another example.
STAFF AND CLINICAL TEAM MEETINGS (5%): Communication about Center administrative affairs and patient decisions are handled by means of general staff and team meetings. Here the intern can observe and participate in the development of Center policies and programs and become active, members of the teams on which they function.
SEMINARS (15%): Seminars in Psychodiagnostics, Family Therapy, Play Therapy and Individual and Cultural Differences, as well as diagnostic staff conferences, and outside speakers provide a forum for broad professional training. The exchange of ideas with members of other disciplines, and an exposure to different points of view is cultivated on both a formal meeting level and through informal interchanges.
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