The doctoral internship in Clinical Psychology at Quintessential Health is designed to train future psychologists to work as providers of comprehensive psychological services who reflect the integration of science and practice, with an emphasis on cognitive behavioral practice. The internship was established to provide organized, sequential learning experiences for psychology interns, ensuring an integrated training experience through shared standards, common procedures, and didactic learning programs which are consistent with the Standards of Accreditation of the American Psychological Association.
The internship is designed to provide a broad-based clinical training experience which prepares interns to function ethically, competently, and independently as professional health service psychologists by refining practice skills and developing a sense of professional identity. Supervised experiential practice and didactic training provide an enriching learning environment which encourages interns to become analytical and critical consumers of current theory, practice and research, and develop a greater understanding of how the intersectionality of a variety of individual and culturally diverse factors influence human behavior.
The internship prepares generalists who provide psychological services to diverse, frequently underserved populations in a community-based outpatient private practice setting that emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration. Interns receive extensive experiential training in profession wide competencies, including research, ethical and legal standards, individual and cultural diversity, professional values, attitudes, and behaviors, communication and interpersonal skills, assessment, intervention, supervision, consultation, and interprofessional and interdisciplinary skills. Within the required clinical activities, interns are afforded the opportunity to tailor training to fit specific areas of interest; for example, if an intern expresses interest in advanced assessment, he/she is encouraged to spend additional time engaging in that particular training activity within their schedule to further align with their training goals.
INTERNSHIP TRAINING ACTIVITIES
Overview Of Internship Activities
The internship provides interns with a developmental continuum of clinical training opportunities in community-based outpatient private practice setting that trains them to think critically regarding the integration of scientific knowledge with current practice. We believe this model to be highly effective in preparing interns for the successful practice of health service psychology. The developmental progression ranges from observation to increased autonomy. Throughout the year, interns are evaluated along a continuum according to their level of independence or supervision needed.
A core emphasis of the internship is extending proficiency in conducting comprehensive autism and psycho-educational assessments with a variety of populations and administering a variety of therapeutic interventions to individuals across the age spectrum. During the course of the training year, interns provide both individual and group therapy to a variety of individuals experiencing a broad spectrum of mental health and/or substance use concerns and have the opportunity to lead child and parent groups in both outpatient and school settings. Interns also conduct full-battery psychological and psycho-educational assessments with a variety of populations and assessment tools, including comprehensive Autism testing, ADHD assessments, learning disorders, and personality testing. Diagnoses the trainees work with include but are not limited to trauma, Autism Spectrum Disorder, anxiety, depression, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.
Interns receive ongoing supervision and didactic seminars on empirically-supported treatment approaches with a focus on cognitive-behavioral therapy. Interns satisfy the Teaching competency by assisting with trainings and presentations to staff and allied professionals and they gain valuable experience in assisting with the tiered supervision/mentorship of practicum students to address the Supervision competency. They work directly with clinical staff and administrators to address the Research competency by developing a Quality Improvement project and design a plan to assess outcomes, and if possible, implement the project.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Training and supervision in issues of individual and cultural diversity are foundational to the internship at Quintessential Health. Individual and cultural dynamics are not only relevant, but crucial to the understanding of the individual and in planning the individual’s overall treatment as well as the family and community contexts in which they live. Clinical opportunities and didactics aim to increase knowledge regarding health equity, health disparities, and individual and cultural diversity within the practice of professional psychology. Feedback from trainees and staff regarding improvements in applied practice that is informed by diversity, inclusion, and equity is systematically solicited and integrated into the curriculum to ensure continuous growth of DEI initiatives within our practice.
To ensure that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is embedded in the fabric of our internship and practice culture, we have committed to the formation of a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Workgroup that includes staff, supervisors and interns. In doing so, we commit to honoring the differences that comprise our Quintessential Health professional family, developing a community of integrity and engendering an environment of transparency, equity, and inclusion through empowerment and raising awareness of social injustice, systemic racism, and implicit biases based on race, age, gender identification, sexual orientation, physical and intellectual dis/ability, religious belief, nation of origin, citizenship status, language proficiency, and socio-economic status.
Assessment Services
At the start of the training year, all interns receive in-depth on-site didactic technical and interpretative training on assessments they will be conducting throughout the internship year. Additionally, interns have access to recorded sample administrations, supplemental recorded trainings, templates, and sample reports. Interns receive adequate time to practice administration with each other and mock clients prior to administering with clients. They also observe supervisors administering many of the assessments. Some examples of the types of assessments interns will administer are as follows:
Full-Battery Integrated Psycho-educational and Psychological Assessments
Interns conduct full-battery integrated assessments including domains such as cognitive ability, academic achievement, memory, executive functioning/neuropsychological functioning, phonological processing, objective and free-response personality assessment, learning style analysis, and differential diagnosis (ADHD, Autism, etc.). Interns administer, score, and integrate the results into a comprehensive integrated written report. With assistance from their supervisor, interns provide a feedback session to the client and/or their families to explain the results. Some examples of referrals for assessments include:
Autism Evaluations
Interns participate in formal training on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 (ADOS-2). Upon completion of training, interns work in teams to utilize the ADOS-2 in a one-way monitored room to assess for Autism Spectrum Disorder. They utilize the ADOS-2 in combination with a clinical interview and a variety of other structured tools to formulate a conceptualization of the individual with recommendations for intervention, if appropriate. A feedback session is held with the family and the supervisor to review the assessment.
ADHD Evaluations
Interns participate in formal training conducting ADHD assessments including diagnostic measures such as the NEPSY, Conners-4, D-KFES, BASC, CAARS, WISC, and WAIS. These assessments are implemented via standards kits as well as utilizing Q-Interactive. Interns gain experience administering, scoring, interpreting, and providing feedback to families in collaboration with a supervising psychologist.
Comprehensive Biopsychosocial Evaluations/Intakes
Interns utilize a semi-structured interview in combination with structured tools to complete comprehensive level of care biopsychosocial evaluations. The interns integrate information from a variety of collateral sources and utilize this data to formulate a diagnostic formulation as well as make comprehensive treatment recommendations. These evaluations may be used for initial intake assessments, treatment recommendations, and/or diagnostic purposes.
Psychological Interventions
Interns receive supervision and didactic training throughout the year on a variety of therapeutic interventions as well as broader scope therapeutic skills such as individual and cultural sensitivity, therapeutic rapport building, and motivational interviewing. Interns record their therapy sessions which are reviewed with their supervisors in supervision. Supervisors may also attend “in-vivo” sessions, conducting co-therapy at times to further the training experience. Audio recorded and video recorded sessions are reviewed on a regular basis to ensure understanding of standardized implementaton with clients. Examples of empirically-supported interventions include cognitive-behavior therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and other empirically-supported treatments that fall within the supervisors’ competence.
Individual Therapy
Interns conduct individual therapy with individuals from a variety of age groups and populations. Interns are trained to become proficient in utilizing case conceptualization and developing strength-based treatment plans in collaboration with the clients and their families. They also practice standard cognitive behavioral (CBT) methods, as well as other evidence-based modalities/treatment protocols including, but not limited to, Prolonged Exposure, Exposure and Response Prevention, ACT, and DBT. Caseloads can be customized based on the training goals of the particular intern.
Group Therapy
Interns conduct group therapy with individuals for a variety of concerns. Some examples of groups include but are not limited to social skills, anxiety, trauma, grief, and autism-support. Interns also have the opportunity to run free support groups, such as a parent Autism support group.
Individual Supervision
In accordance with the APA Standards on Accreditation and state licensing criteria, all interns are assigned to two supervisors who are doctoral-level licensed psychologists who assume all responsibility for supervision of the intern’s activities, for a minimum of 2 hours a week. When interns begin working with new clients, they make it known to the client (verbally and in the consent to treat) that they are operating under the supervision of a licensed doctoral psychologist, and the client is provided the supervisor’s contact information. Supervisors are responsible for direct observation of the intern’s work through co-therapy or viewing and processing video or audio recordings of sessions and reviewing and signing off on all paperwork. The primary supervisors maintain ongoing collaboration with other staff members to ensure continuity of supervision and feedback to the interns.
Group Supervision
Interns participate in two hours of group supervision. Topics typically include issues related to administrative and operational issues, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, quality performance issues, supervision of doctoral practicum students, and current topics in professional practice and research.
Didactic Training
In accordance with the APA Standards of Accreditation and state licensing standards, all interns are required to participate in regularly scheduled didactic training seminars for an average equivalent of 2 hours a week. These training seminars and meetings are designed to ensure developmental learning and foster professional socialization.
Training in Administrative Practices
Interns are expected to engage in a variety of administrative activities at Quintessential Health. These duties may include responding to telephone consultations, engaging with consumers upon initial contact, conducting intake interviews, obtaining necessary information to make a clinical determination regarding level and appropriateness of service, and assisting with community resources for support. Interns discuss administrative issues in their regularly scheduled individual and group supervision.
Training in the Supervision Competency
All interns serve as a formal “supervisory consultant” to doctoral practicum trainees at the internal internship site. Interns receive weekly supervision from a licensed psychologist who oversees their clinical and supervisory practice. Interns also receive formal didactic training on strategies for becoming an effective leader along with supervisory modalities. Interns also record some of their “supervision sessions” of practicum students for review/feedback with their own supervisor.
Professional Staff Consultation
Interns at Quintessential Health provide consultation with their peers, doctoral practicum students, and clinical staff. They serve in the role of both the consultant and the consultee. These consults will take place both formally and informally throughout the course of their internship.
Training in the Teaching Competency
To foster the Teaching competency, interns have opportunities to conduct didactics or workshops for doctoral practicum students as well as other clinical staff. In addition, interns are expected to give at least one workshop on a topic of local interest to community partners or corporate consumers during the internship year. These workshops are expected to be based on evidence-based practices that are informed by diversity considerations and are to include references based in scientific literature.
Please feel free to download a copy of our current doctoral internship handbook that outlines the program in greater detail: Internship Handbook