Adult Clinical Psychology Elective

In recent years, graduate programs have less emphasis on generalist training. Applicants arrive at internship sites with a varied and specific range of experiences, strengths, and backgrounds. Because of this, it is not expected that applicants will have had previous experiences with all internship rotations offered in the adult track. However, it is expected that intern applicants will have at least basic competencies in more than one area. An ideal candidate would be someone who:

• has the desire to strengthen their therapeutic identity (conceptualization & technique) and work from a generalist approach.
• is open to integrating other theoretical perspectives and techniques into the applicant’s clinical work.
• values working/treating patients from a holistic perspective (e.g., personality and interpersonal factors as well as cultural background)
• Is willing to learn and incorporate multiple empirically supported treatment interventions to meet patient needs (e.g., DBT, psychodynamic psychotherapy, CBT, ACT, etc…).
• is adaptable and flexible in delivering interventions and treatments that are experience-near to the patient’s functioning and readiness.
• values the importance of the therapeutic relationship as a component of the psychotherapy process.
• is interested in deepening their psychological evaluation skills via multi-method clinical assessment.
• is motivated throughout the internship year to work with varying levels of acuity and specialties across inpatient and outpatient settings.
• is collaborative and values being part of a team.

Rotations

• Outpatient individual psychotherapy (all year): 6 integrative psychotherapy cases x 2 supervisors & 2-3 CBT cases x 1 supervisor.
• Outpatient Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) group - standard DBT group (6 months x 1 supervisor) & advanced practice DBT group (6 months x 1 supervisor). 
• Psychological Assessment: Trainees conduct comprehensive psychological evaluations from a multi-method approach. Supervision is provided throughout the evaluation process and afterwards to assist with scoring, interpretation, and report writing (6 months x 1 supervisor).Trainee’s conduct comprehensive psychological evaluations from a multi-method approach. Supervision is provided throughout the evaluation process and afterwards to assist with scoring, interpretation, and report writing (6 months x 1 supervisor).
• Triage Services: Outpatient Treatment Evaluation Service (OTES; 1 supervisor x 4 months) & Psychiatry Urgent Care Clinic (UCC; 1 supervisor x 4 months). 

For these rotations, interns will conduct evaluations to determine what type of psychotherapy would be most appropriate for individual patients (OTES) as well as conduct psychiatric/clinical evaluations (based on referral question[s]) and carry at least one short-term therapy case focused on stabilization (UCC).

• Inpatient Psychiatry rotation (Blake 11; 1 x per week for 4 hours x 6 months): Consists of interns attending patient rounds, seeing patients individually, & co-leading groups.

Didactics

• CBT seminar: 1 hour weekly x 6 months
• Core Training Seminar (Proseminar): 1 hour weekly x 12 months
• Inpatient Psychiatry (Blake 11) Seminar: 1 hour weekly x 6 months
• Psychological Assessment Seminar: 1 hour 30 minutes weekly x 9 months
• Integrative Psychotherapy seminar: 1 hour weekly x 6 months

Meetings

• DBT consultation team: 1 hour 45 minutes weekly x 6 months
• Psychological Evaluation and Research Lab (PEaRL) staff meeting: 1 hour weekly x all year

Supervision

Supervisors in the adult track value teaching and training. Learning is facilitated through teaching, observing, co-treatment, and processing. Supervisors provide an instructional scaffolding framework across many of the rotations offered. This scaffolding framework is tailored, hands on, and collaborative. Supervisors aim to foster growth and empower applicants to develop their confidence and competence as a clinician as well as aid them in developing their therapeutic identity/approach. 

Related Links

• Psychological Evaluation and Research Laboratory (PEaRL)
• Society for Personality Assessment (SPA)
• Medical psychiatric inpatient unit (Blake 11)