Child / Adolescent Clinical Psychology Training Program

Hawthorn Center
Internship in Clinical Psychology with Emphasis in
Child-Adolescent Clinical Psychology
APA-Accredited Predoctoral Internship Program

Program Requirements

CHILD/ADOLESCENT CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY PROGRAM

ROTATION REQUIREMENTS:

MAJOR INPATIENT ROTATION - HAWTHORN CENTER

APA-accredited predoctoral internship program since 1986
Child/adolescent state psychiatric hospital
Provides short-term and long-term inpatient care for up to 80 patients, ages 5-17
Wide range of psychopathology
Major emphasis on milieu, individual, group and family therapies
Full-time special education program
Interdisciplinary team approach
Interns who demonstrate advanced mastery of clinical skills at the end of their first four months of training may apply to supervise pre-masters practicum students.

MAJOR OUTPATIENT ROTATION - UNIVERSITY PSYCHIATRIC CENTER  

Outpatient facility serving children, adolescents and adults
Variety of treatment approaches are used, including individual, group and family therapies

TRAINING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

 The goal of the pre-doctoral internship program at Hawthorn Center is to produce graduates who are skilled at managing complex and challenging patients and families, in a manner that honors best-practices models, within the institutions and systems that comprise the continuum of care.  To this end, we strive to foster interns’ growth in competence, compassion, integrity, and adherence to ethical standards; growth in their understanding of the developmental process in children, families, and themselves as clinicians-in-training; growth in their commitment to public service; and growth in their grasp of organizational issues in the mental health delivery system.  The program’s integrative training approach involves a recursive and seamless relationship between science and practice in which psychologists apply research to their ongoing clinical practices, and are alert to practice issues which present opportunities for generating new knowledge in the field.

The program's terminal goals, and the objectives and competencies associated with these goals, are delineated below.

GOAL #1: ...To produce graduates with the requisite knowledge and skill to enter the professional practice of child/adolescent clinical psychology.  In keeping with this goal, we expect that our interns will....

Objective A: ...acquire knowledge of psychology as a scientific and applied discipline; as as area of professional practice, and as a field which embraces an understanding of the developing individual in the context of his/her individual, family, ethnic/racial/religious, peer group, school, and community characteristics.

Competency 1:  Interns will become proficient in performing psychological assessments, utilizing both standardized instruments and clinical interviews, in a manner that yields both valid test results and an integrated conceptualization of the factors that cause and maintain the individual’s current pattern of behaviors and symptoms.

Competency 2:  Interns will become proficient in individual psychotherapy with children and adolescents in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

Competency 3: Interns will become proficient in group psychotherapy with children and adolescents in inpatient treatment.

Competency 4: Interns will become proficient in family therapy and parent child management training with child and adolescent identified patients in inpatient and outpatient settings.

Competency 5: Interns will become proficient in milieu therapy and consultation with children and adolescents in inpatient treatment.

Competency 6: Interns will increase their proficiency in specialized early interventions for preschool-age children and their families.

Competency 7: Interns will become proficient in psychological consultation to professionals and agencies that are involved in the continuum of care for children and adolescents.

Competency 8: Interns will gain proficiency in the administrative standards, regulations and functions pertaining to hospital/agency practice.

Competency 9: Interns will become proficient in issues of individual and cultural diversity pertaining to the professional practice of psychology.

Competency 10: Interns will become proficient in methods of psychology supervision.

(Optional) Competency 11: Interns will become proficient in the specific skills taught in out-rotations or electives.

Objective B: ...develop an understanding of, and commitment to, ethical codes and laws, regulations and standards governing the professional practice of psychology.

Competency 12: Interns will conduct themselves in an ethical and professionally appropriate manner.

Competency 13: Interns will develop the administrative skills necessary to support a professional practice in psychology.

GOAL #2: ...To produce graduates who are skilled in the interface between science, theory, and practice.  To this end, we expect that our students will...

Objective C: ...critically evaluate the professional literature for scientific validity, clinical pertinence, and relevance to diverse clientele, apply the professional literature to clinical practice, and identify opportunities for further research into best-practices models for serving difficult-to-treat patient populations.

Competency 14: Interns will become proficient in strategies of scholarly inquiry.

Competency 15: Interns will increase their understanding of the impact of patient-specific factors and the family/ecological context in which therapy occurs in the application of theory to practice.

GOAL #3: ...To produce graduates who can contribute to knowledge and practice in psychology. To this end, we expect that our graduates will...

Objective D: ...develop a professional identity as a psychologist and acquire the knowledge and skills to participate actively in the profession.

Competency 16: Interns will demonstrate knowledge of the roles, duties and functions that psychologists serve in the clinical field.

PROCESSES

Direct clinical service will comprise approximately 40% of internship hours. The following processes will be utilized to attain the training program's goals and objectives:

1. Interns will conduct inpatient psychological evaluations. Children ages 5-17, with a wide range of psychopathology, will be seen. A variety of psychological instruments will be given, including intellectual, visual-motor, academic, and personality measures. Interns will write psychological evaluation reports. Direct supervision will be provided by a training program psychologist.

2. Interns will conduct intake psychosocial histories on outpatients.

 3. Interns will have a psychotherapy caseload of both inpatients and outpatients. Interns will be exposed to the milieu, individual, group and family therapy modalities. Traditional office-based supervision will be conducted weekly, and the supervisors will review and countersign all therapy progress notes.

4. Interns will attend the following required seminars:

- Professional Issues (at Wayne State University)
- Advanced Child/Adolescent Seminar and Case Conference (at Hawthorn Center)
- Family Therapy Seminar and Case Conference (at Hawthorn Center)
- Forensic Assessment Seminar (at Hawthorn Center)
- Journal Club (at Hawthorn Center)
- Child Psychiatry Grand Rounds (at Wayne State University)
- Diagnostic Case Conference (at UPC-Livonia)

In addition, interns will have the opportunity to attend Chairman’s Grand Rounds at Wayne State University, and Major Conferences and video conferences at Hawthorn Center.

5. Interns will be expected to complete all paperwork (intake reports, psychology test reports, treatment plans, progress notes, letters, and case summaries) in a timely fashion as mandated by agency or departmental policy.

6. Interns will maintain ongoing contact with the treatment team (social worker, teacher, child care and nursing staff, and CMH case manager) and attend all treatment team and school meetings pertaining to their patients. In addition to enhancing the quality of patient care, such involvement will serve to enhance the intern's consultation skills.

7. Interns will receive four hours of supervision per week. At least 50% of this time will involve individual supervision from his/her primary psychology supervisors. During supervision, treatment plans, progress notes, case summaries and assessments will be reviewed, along with an in-depth discussion of each case. Other case examples may be utilized for discussion purposes. Individual and cultural differences pertaining to assessment and treatment will also be reviewed, as will the empirical/scientific bases of interventions. Group supervision of family therapy cases will be provided through the Family Therapy seminar, and group supervision of inpatient group therapy will be provided in individual meetings with group co-therapists. Milieu management issues related to inpatients will be supervised by the living area psychiatrist or designated fully licensed psychologist.

8. Mutual evaluation of the intern and training program will be conducted three times during the training year, in December, April, and August. Evaluations of interns by supervisors will include ratings on each of the competencies delineated above; interns' evaluations of the training program will include ratings of the program's success in teaching those competencies.  The program utilizes these mutual evaluations to make both mid-course and long-term corrections in the training model.

Hawthorn Center welcomes applications from under-represented groups and does not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, age, gender, national origin, or sexual orientation.

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