Rotations and Curriculum

The overarching aim of our program is to cultivate psychologists who provide evidence-based, compassionate, and culturally sensitive clinical practice. Our graduates will become proficient in conducting thorough case evaluations and conceptualizations, and delivering intervention strategies tailored to the patients' needs and situations. This training approach encompasses a blend of didactic sessions, clinical experiences, and structured supervision to ensure comprehensive skill development.

Training Method

The primary training method is supervised clinical experience. Initially, interns will observe others performing the clinical tasks that they will be expected to perform, and then they are observed completing said tasks. Interns will then engage in clinical tasks and take more responsibility for decision making and taking increasing initiative in the clinical process.

Intern Workload

Clinical and educational work hours will average 40 hours per week which include bedside consults, team attendance, assessment interviews, psychological testing, report writing, collaboration with colleagues, and psychotherapy sessions. Intern will provide no more than 20 hours of direct patient care per week. Typical hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. but may vary based on rotation. Interns establish working hours with the administrative supervisor responsible for their rotation.

Rotations

Interns complete four, three-month long rotations which include Pre-Surgical Psychological Assessment & Health Intervention, Neurorehabilitation, Integrated Behavioral Health in Family Medicine, and Mental Health and Assessment. Interns will complete a required minor rotation in the neuropsychology clinic two days per month throughout the 12-month internship experience. In addition, interns will participate in two hours of protected group supervision the following day with neuropsychology supervisors and fellow interns to discuss assessment cases, diagnostic formulation, scoring, interpretation, and clinical questions. Interns will also gain experience facilitating cognitive-behavioral health groups focused on insomnia and pain management.

Locations

The Pre-Surgical Psychological Assessment & Health Intervention, Outpatient Neurorehabilitation, Neuropsychology Clinic, and Mental Health and Assessment rotations are housed within our outpatient psychology clinic located at 770 W. High Street, Suite 300.

The Integrated Behavioral Health in Family Medicine rotation is housed within our Family Medicine residency clinic located at 770 W. High Street, Suite 450, which makes it convenient to access supervision, and didactics.

Our main hospital is connected to our outpatient offices in the 770 building via walkways, making it convenient for interns to move between buildings.

The Neurorehabilitation rotation is located within the hospital on 8K, which is our acute inpatient rehab unit. The intern will perform bedside consults and participate in neurorehab team meetings.

Pre-Surgical Psychological Assessment & Health Intervention

Interns will conduct comprehensive pre-surgical psychological assessments for bariatric surgery and spinal cord stimulator candidates, with an emphasis on evaluating readiness, identifying psychosocial risk factors, and providing recommendations to interdisciplinary teams. Additionally, interns will deliver evidence-based psychotherapy to support behavior change, adjustment to medical conditions, and optimization of surgical outcomes. This rotation will provide the opportunity for interns to gain experience across the continuum of assessment and intervention in medical populations.

Neurorehabilitation Psychology

Interns will provide bedside evaluations and provide evidence-based psychological services within an acute rehab setting. Reasons for consultation include adjustment to strokes, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, competency evaluations, phantom limb pain, irritable bowel syndrome, motor vehicle accident victims requiring inpatient rehabilitation, and those with conversion disorders. Other opportunities include participation in rehab team meetings, co-facilitating weekly mindfulness groups, attending and providing staff trainings, and co-training with medical students and residents.

Interns will carry a small outpatient general mental health caseload during this rotation.

Integrated Behavioral Health in Family Medicine

The Family Medicine rotation spans three months and offers interns the opportunity to gain experience in functioning as an integrated psychologist within a family medicine clinic that hosts a family medicine residency. On any given day, interns will be responsible for seeing both scheduled patients and patients referred on the same day as "warm handoffs" from family medicine residents.

Mental Health and Assessment

Interns will provide interview-based assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning, and psychotherapy. This clinic is the primary outpatient clinic for the department. Interns will provide evidence-based psychotherapy for a variety of mental health concerns. Regular meetings with the rotation supervisor provide support for dealing with new and problematic cases. There will be opportunities for interns to learn evidence-based care for trauma with a focus on written exposure therapy (WET) and cognitive processing therapy (CPT).

Health Psychology Groups

Interns will also be co-facilitating groups focused on pain management, and cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-i). Each intern will experience at least one full cycle of pain management groups, and one full round of our CBT-I group protocol.

Neuropsychology Clinic

Interns will complete a required minor rotation in the neuropsychology clinic two days per month throughout the 12-month internship experience. In addition, interns will participate in two hours of protected group supervision the following day with neuropsychology supervisors and fellow interns to discuss assessment cases, diagnostic formulation, scoring, interpretation, and clinical questions. Reasons for testing could include learning disability, autism, dementia, and diagnostic clarity.

Supervision

Interns will receive daily supervision from a supervisor on the current rotation. The intern will discuss each new case with the supervisor, along with any difficult cases the intern is following. Interns can also request meetings with supervisors for discussion of other areas such as individualized feedback or professional growth.

Interns from all rotations also participate in a one-hour, weekly group supervision with the Training Director. Interns will take turns presenting a case, paired with a question or topic for discussion for the group. Interns will receive a minimum of four hours of supervision per week, with no less than two hours of individual supervision per week.

The intern may have the opportunity to provide “umbrella” supervision to doctoral trainees working within our program. Our current supervisors are Dr. Esther Strahan (neurorehabilitation rotation), Dr. Samantha Cain (pre-surgical assessment and intervention rotation and group supervision), Dr. Jeffrey Cigrang (Integrated Behavioral Health in Family Medicine rotation), Dr. Thomas Hull (mental health and assessment rotation, and neuropsychology clinic supervisor), and Dr. Kurt Brickner (neuropsychology clinic supervisor).

Formal Case Presentations

Interns will complete four formal case presentations throughout the internship year, with one presentation occurring during each major rotation. These presentations allow interns to demonstrate clinical case conceptualization, treatment planning, integration of evidence-based practices, and effective communication of clinical information. Presentations are reviewed and formally evaluated by at least two members of the psychology faculty, providing interns with structured feedback and additional opportunities for professional development.

Didactics

Our didactic offerings form a key part of the training package. There are four required components of our formal curriculum. These are:

• Weekly Core didactics with varied topics (Fridays at 9 a.m.)
• Weekly Cultural and Ethical Considerations seminar (Fridays at 11 a.m.)
• Weekly Noon Conference with medical residents (Wednesdays at noon)
• Monthly Neuroscience Grand Rounds (Tuesdays at 7 a.m. via Teams)

Core Didactics

Core didactics are held for an hour once per week. Psychopharmacology, psychopathology and psychotherapy, career development, and professional issues are among the topics included in our psychology core curriculum.

The medical knowledge and psychopharmacology curriculum provides a general introduction to pathophysiology and understanding drug actions and the basic classes of drugs use in psychiatry. Interns also can request other topics to include in the didactic schedule to tailor the didactics to the needs of each intern class.

Professional issues include the business of health care, psychology as a health profession, defining a career path, and interdisciplinary functioning.

Each week, we will spend an hour of additional didactics time discussing topics related to ethics, gender, and social determinants of health.

Noon Conference and Clinical Presentations

Noon Conference and related clinical presentations are Wednesdays from 12:00-1:00 p.m. in the GME Center Auditorium; lunch is provided.

Attendance is required of all psychology interns and medical residents. Faculty members will also attend. Attending these presentations will allow interns to learn more about specific medical conditions and about the challenges of delivering health care in a medical environment. Additionally, it helps position Psychology as an integral part of the health care team.

One Tuesday per month, from 7:00-8:00 a.m., interns will attend Neurology Grand Rounds from St. Vincent's Medical Center, via Teams.

Completion of Internship and Evaluation

All interns are formally evaluated every three months, which is the conclusion of every major rotation. These evaluations are completed by at least one licensed psychologist who provided direct supervision during the evaluation period. Additional evaluations will be completed semi-annually (approximately 6 months into internship) and annually (at the conclusion of internship) by the Program Director, and the Clinical Competency Committee.

To be certified as having completed this internship, the intern must comply with the following:

1. Complete 12 months of service.
2. Receive a passing score on the final annual internship competency evaluation.
3. Pass four Case Presentations (one in each major rotation).
4. Attend all didactic presentations when not on approved leave.
5. Attend all supervision sessions (individual and group) when not on approved leave.