| St.
Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center Clinical Psychology Internship Program |
| Letter to Applicants Dear Intern Applicant: Thank you for requesting an application to our Clinical Psychology Internship Program at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center. As a result of our most recent APA site visit in 2005, the program received maximal re-accreditation and thus is fully accredited through 2012.* Because of the large number of applications received, only a sub-group can be offered interviews. Should you be among those selected for interview, we will contact you. Please note that due to the number of applications we receive and the time and work required to process them, we will accept applications only from APA approved Clinical, Counseling and School Psychology Programs. We look forward to receiving your application. Sincerely yours, *American Psychological Association, Office of Program Consultation and
Accreditation,
St. Luke’s Roosevelt participates in the Association of Psychology Internship Center’s (APPIC) Matching Program. We thus ask that applicants follow the AAPI Online application process described in the AAPI Online section of the APPIC website. Please provide the following materials via AAPI Online:
Please note that, following APPIC website AAPI Online instructions, the psychodiagnostic report and the face sheet, which are not part of the regular AAPI Online application, must be converted into a single electronic document (e.g. via scanning), uploaded to the AAPI Online service, and attached to the application as a "supplementary material." If you have questions regarding your application please contact:
Susan Tross, Ph.D. The Clinical Psychology Internship at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center is designed to provide interns with a year-long, intensive, clinical experience with diverse patients in a wide range of clinical settings. The internship is based at both sites of the St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City. The Hospital Center is a not-for-profit, voluntary, general teaching hospital affiliated academically with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. The Internship is housed in the Psychology Division of the Department of Psychiatry. The Department of Psychiatry is a multi-disciplinary comprehensive service which includes two emergency rooms, two inpatient units, an outpatient clinic, a child and adolescent division, community outreach services, day hospitals, several specialty clinics, and a multi-service substance abuse facility. In January 1997, St. Luke's Roosevelt and Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan and Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn joined together forming Continuum Health Partners, Inc. There are more than thirty psychologists on staff who participate in all treatment services as clinicians, supervisors, researchers, and administrators. In addition, adjunct psychology faculty is utilized for teaching and supervision. Most of the psychology staff is involved in the internship either as direct supervisors or teachers; thus, the internship represents a vital and integral component of psychology at the hospital. For the upcoming year the program will accept six Adult Track and six Child Track interns.
The Internship Program offers broad-based, generalist training in clinical
psychology as practiced in a modern, urban hospital center. The internship
emphasizes the development of professional judgment, skills, and identity,
through exposure to a wide variety of patients and treatment settings.
Within this general structure, an attempt is made to individually tailor
each intern's experience in accordance with his or her interests and goals.
A major goal of the internship is to facilitate each intern's ability
to be a skilled and a resourceful evaluator and psychotherapist. Training
in various diagnoses and modalities of psychotherapy is integral to this
process. Psychodynamic, behavioral, systems, and medical model approaches
are all emphasized. An integrative treatment model in which behavioral
interventions are informed and combined with dynamic and developmental
approaches is emphasized. This model is taught and practiced by psychology
students throughout the various clinical placements. At the time of application, each intern applies to either the Adult Track or the Child Track of the Internship Program. The two tracks represent separate training experiences emphasizing clinical and didactic work in these respective areas. ADULT TRACK The internship year is divided into two major six-month clinical rotations. Within each clinical rotation, interns have an opportunity to develop their skills in various forms of evaluation and treatment. This allows them to gain clinical experience with patients from different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds with a wide range of psychopathology, as well as to learn about treatment systems by becoming an integral member of a treatment team. All adult interns participate in: 1) Inpatient Rotation: Interns are assigned to a 36-bed inpatient unit where they function as primary clinicians for their patients. Their responsibilities include intake evaluation, individual and group psychotherapy, psychodiagnostic testing, and participation as a team member in staff and community-ward activities. Supervision is provided by the psychiatrists on the unit, and supervising psychologists. Three of the six interns rotate through the inpatient unit during each six-month period. 2) Adult Outpatient Clinic: Each intern carries an out patient caseload of approximately 14 hours weekly. This caseload includes one group, co-led with another intern, and individual patients with a broad range of psychiatric diagnoses. Interns receive supervision in each of the following areas: group psychotherapy, long-term dynamic therapy, short-term dynamic therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and supportive/case management. Interns are also trained to conduct diagnostic evaluation of new patients. A) Comprehensive Adolescent Rehabilitation and Education Service (CARES): is a therapeutic day program for adolescents who are abusing/dependent on substances and who also may have a primary or secondary psychiatric diagnosis. Treatment occurs within the context of an intensive milieu and includes individual and group psychotherapy, family therapy, treatment of substance abuse and addiction-related issues, and various milieu related activities (i.e., community meetings). Interns are also involved in intake and psychodiagnostic testing as part of an interdisciplinary treatment team. Supervision is provided by the program director, and staff psychologists.
C) The Center for Intensive Treatment of Personality Disorders (CITPD): This program is a therapeutic day treatment program for adults who are in acute crisis. The majority of the patients have affective illness and/or axis II pathology. Treatment takes the form of various group and individual sessions aimed at helping patients resolve the acute crisis and make the transition back into the community. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a treatment focus as well as psychodynamic and process work. Supervision is provided by the director who is a psychologist as well as other psychologists and professionals on staff. In addition, interns have the opportunity to complete a wide spectrum of psychological assessments (include a full testing battery of Rorschach, TAT and WAIS IV.) These testing batteries are closely supervised under the directio of a licensed Psychologist. Supervision Interns receive intensive supervision in all clinical settings. Each intern is assigned at least three supervisors from the Supervising Psychologists on staff, including the Director of Psychology Education. Additional supervisors are assigned from Psychiatry or from other disciplines. Interns begin the year with a minimum of six hours per week of supervision. Supervision is focused on helping the interns deepen and broaden their understanding of clinical process and the treatment situation. A special effort is made to facilitate development of a flexible stance to respond to the needs of a culturally, ethnically, and medically diverse patient population.
Seminars and didactic courses are an important part of the interns' training. In addition to the Case Seminars held on each service, interns participate in a wide variety of courses. For example, there are seminars on the psychotherapeutic process, psychopharmacology, evidenced based treatment, action based psychodynamic therapy, ethics, diversity, and systems theory. Most seminars are small and are taught by senior faculty. Many are for the interns only; some include psychiatric residents and a few are open to trainees from different disciplines. Interns from both tracks take part in a weekly process group. Adult Track Interns are expected to work forty plus hours per week including
two evenings in the Outpatient Clinic. Interns are regarded as important
additions to the various clinical services for their energy and commitment
to learning. CHILD AND ADOLESCENT TRACK The child and adolescent track of the psychology internship program is based within the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, otherwise known as the Child & Family Institute (CKI). The target population is children ages tof zero to eighteen, and their families. Housed at St. Luke's and Roosevelt Hospital Center, as well as in satellite clinics throughout Manhattan, CFI offers comprehensive diagnostic evaluations, home and school-based sesrvices, psychopharmacological treatment and neuropsychological testing as well as individual, family, milieu and group psychotherapy. There is a vibrant and challenging multi-disciplinary learning environment for child track interns who have the opportunity to be integrated into a variety of services including the following: The Comprehensive Adolescent Rehabilitation and Education Service (CARES) a milieu treatment day program for 60 dually and singly diagnosed high school students. Rotations The Child and Adolescent Track is comprised of several major mandatory rotations to provide trainees with a solid background in conducting clinical work in an academic urban medical center. All interns spend about 25% of their time in the Comprehensive Adolescent Rehabilitation and Education Service (CARES). A Dialectical Behavior Treatment (DBT) model is employed in the day program and interns are given training in this approach. They serve as primary therapist for one adolescent, run groups and participate in all aspects of the community's daily routine, including morning rounds, community meetings and lunch times. Approximately two-thirds of the intern's time is spent involved in various activities in the outpatient department, which serves patients from infancy through adolescence and their families. Interns can expect to carry individual, dyadic, family, and group treatment cases. In addition, for half the training year interns spend approximately four hours per week learning to conduct intake evaluations that focus on developing preliminary diagnoses, treatment plans and on providing crisis interventions as needed. The other half of the year is spent in a minor elective rotation such as Testing and Assessment, PIC or Discovery Center.Didactics Throughout the training year interns engage in seminar-style courses on psychotherapy, psychological testing, psychopharmacology, psychopathology and special topics (e.g., cross-cultural issues in treatment, forensics, clinical research design and implementation). Courses are taught by St. Luke's clinicians as well as by voluntary faculty members in private practice and outside speakers who are specialists in a particular area of interest. In addition, the Department of Psychiatry presents weekly Grand Rounds lectures on research and treatment issues. Interns are required to attend the once per month Child Grand Rounds and are welcome to attend the adult-focused lectures. Supervision Supervisors in the Child and Adolescent Track are committed to providing supportive instruction that encourages the development of clinical technique and the integration of theory into therapeutic practice. All interns receive a minimum of four hours of individual and group supervision that explores treatment questions from a variety of theoretical perspectives (i.e., psychodynamic, family systems, cognitive-behavioral). Interns also participate in clinical team meetings, case conferences, journal club, staff meetings and weekly meetings with the training director. Child interns take part in a weekly process group that focuses on issues related to their training experience and professional development.
The Internship begins on July 1st and ends on June 30th. The full-time stipend is $25,000 in addition to medical insurance benefits and four weeks-paid vacation. Twelve sick, two personal, and two conferences days are also available to interns.The Faculty Training Committee regularly discusses each intern’s work in order to support and enhance his/her training experience, on an on going basis. Interns are encouraged to discuss their work performance and training needs with their supervisors and the Directors of Training. Written evaluations of Interns' performances will be done mid-year and at the conclusion of the training. The Psychology Internship Training Program abides by all the rules governing the acceptance process of APPIC. Under these guidelines, once a candidate's application is under consideration, very little information about the status of the applicant may be released. The candidates who remain under consideration will be invited to participate in a set of interviews with our training faculty. Susan Tross, Ph.D.
Philip Clemmey, Ph.D. Supervising Psychologist and PI for Adolescent Substance Abuse Assessment and Treatment Grant, California School of Professional Psychology (San Diego, C.A.), 1993. |