Psychology Internship

Program Overview

Expand your understanding and translate knowledge into practice. Get experience at Jordan Valley. We seek to train prospective psychologists by employing an empirically-informed, competency-based, practitioner-scholar model.

Our aims are:

1 To provide broad and general training in psychology with emphasis on applied empirical knowledge.
2 To prepare psychology interns to competently address the needs of diverse populations with an emphasis on underserved.
3 To socialize psychology interns to utilize critical thinking, problem solving and meaningful self-reflection to facilitate life-long professional development.

Blend Scientific & Professional Knowledge

The practice of psychology requires both scientific and professional knowledge. Our program emphasizes the importance of broad, general training in clinical psychology. It also prioritizes the integration of science and practice, where the practitioner-scholar acts as a “local clinical scientist.”

Our program is guided by a commitment to life-long learning, valuing human diversity, personal integrity, honesty and professional ethics.

You will gain experience with profession-wide competencies, including:

1. Research

2. Ethical and legal standards

3. Individual and cultural diversity

4. Professional values, attitudes and behaviors

5. Communication and interpersonal skills

6. Assessment

7. Intervention

8. Supervision

9. Consultation and interdisciplinary skills

Core Training Experiences

Jordan Valley’s internship training incorporates diverse psychological theories, approaches and perspectives to prepare interns for a broad range of professional roles. Each intern will experience the practice of psychology with rural and underserved patients as members of integrated primary care teams.

Interns will identify their areas of competence and areas of improvement. Throughout the year, interns are guided to work more autonomously as they gain skills and experience. They are encouraged to seek support and instruction in areas where they are challenging themselves to learn new skills or work with new patient populations.

Intervention

All interns will have an ongoing caseload of adult, adolescent or child patients. Our psychology interns are expected to obtain at least 10 face-to-face patient contact hours (25% of time) per week for a total of no fewer than 500 hours over the course of the year.

Patient contact hours accumulate through individual, group and family intervention as well as assessment administration. We review each intern’s performance and assign patients based on the intern’s readiness. As interns gain skills, they are assigned more complex and challenging cases.

Interns conduct co-intervention and participate in direct observation or other training opportunities with their primary and/or secondary supervisors when possible.

JVCHC sees diverse patients across the lifespan for many presenting concerns, but common diagnoses treated include:

Adjustment Disorder
ADHD
Anxiety
Autism
Bipolar Disorder
Eating Disorders
ODD
Trauma

Interns will gain exposure and experience treating these diagnostic presentations through evidence-based treatment.

Common therapeutic approaches for interns working with younger patients include:

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)
Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT)
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)

Interns working with young adults and older patients will gain experience with the following treatments:

Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

Assessment

Interns will enhance their knowledge and skills in diagnostic clarification, case conceptualization and treatment planning. Interns are required to complete 10 assessment reports. These reports may be in the form of comprehensive evaluations, diagnostic consultations or primary care behavioral health assessments.

Reports must include relevant biopsychosocial history to inform diagnosis, at least two empirically supported psychological/behavioral measures, a summary of findings and treatment recommendations.

If you have questions about what constitutes a psychological assessment, contact the Training Director for additional guidance prior to counting it.

Assessments are supervised by licensed psychologists and should focus on history, test results, case conceptualization and report writing skills. As competency is gained, supervisors may allow interns more autonomy in the administration and completion of assessments.

Supervision

Primary supervision is individual, face-to-face supervision with a licensed psychologist. The goal of a supervisory relationship is to develop constructive, collaborative working alliances that support growth, learning and quality care provision.

Interns are assigned two primary supervisors. Primary supervision is solely done by licensed psychologists on staff. Two hours of individual, face-to-face intensive supervision are required each week. Interns may receive more than the required two hours of individual supervision in order to meet the 4-hour supervision requirement.

The primary supervisor(s) will provide appropriate accommodations to ensure interns receive all required supervision. If an intern misses supervision time due to the intern canceling, then the responsibility for rescheduling supervision falls to the intern.

Supervision focuses on profession-wide competencies, relationship building, clinical interview and intervention skills, application of theory to practice, and developing the intern’s professional style. Supervisors will spend time each session to review the intern’s goals and objectives for the year and discuss the intern’s knowledge of supervision models. Supervisors will discuss the intern’s ILTP and quarterly evaluations. Interns and supervisors will also discuss what the intern is learning through the two hours of weekly journal review time.

Self-as-instrument, herein defined as how the psychology intern’s idiosyncratic presence impacts the patient and the therapeutic environment, becomes the crucible through which knowledge, skills, and attitudes are forged to form the intern’s professional identity. This supervision includes in-vivo supervision, video- or audiotaped supervision, process notes, and case discussion. The form of supervision chosen by the supervisor depends on the particular intern’s needs. While supervision remains intense throughout the internship year, interns are afforded more autonomy as their skills progress.

Elective Opportunities

In addition to required experiences, interns may choose rotations that meet their interests. Interns should consult with the supervisors of their desired rotations. Interns do not need to choose optional rotations in advance, though it may help to have some areas of interest in mind.

Consultation

Interns serve as Behavioral Health Consultants (BHCs) within a primary care setting during their orientation rotation. Interns may serve patients seeking adult medicine, pediatrics, women’s health or Express Care services.

In this role, interns are called on by primary care providers to assess patients and provide interventions for those presenting with behavioral concerns during a primary care visit. Interns give feedback to the provider and coordinate follow-up appointments with the patient as necessary.

Interns will provide a range of health psychology services, including:

On-site and timely assessment
Assessing readiness to change and utilizing motivational interviewing techniques
Psycho-education and behavioral lifestyle change
Management of behavioral factors in illness and health
Implementation of evidence-based practice to address mental health concerns (CBT, ACT, mindfulness and solution-focused therapy)
Consultation and collaboration with primary care providers
Facilitation of patients groups (i.e. Substance Use, Pain Management)

This rotation is at Jordan Valley’s Tampa St. clinic. This clinic is staffed by 8-10 primary care providers, who see a large volume of patients daily.

This is a mandatory four week rotation during orientation. After four weeks, interns may elect to be available as a BHC during unscheduled time.

Elective Rotations

The following are potential minor rotations, but this is not an exhaustive list of elective opportunities.

Administration: the intern on this rotation may choose to participate in different duties including organizing and facilitating the referrals for testing, learning about grant writing processes for a community mental health clinic, and participating in the internship application and interview process
Trauma: depending upon patient availability, the intern will hold a caseload of patients who present with traumatic histories or PTSD symptoms treated via TF-CBT or CPT
Trans/LGBTQ+: interns may have the opportunity to provide affirming therapy to individuals receiving hormone replacement therapy (HRT), considering transitioning, or identify as a sexual minority and can consult with the psychiatric nurse practitioner on staff regarding HRT
Pregnant/Postpartum Mothers: interns with a specific interest in working with pregnant mothers may have the opportunity to see these patients in individual therapy and consult with physicians in the Women’s Health OB/GYN department.
Group therapy: JVCHC provides group therapy for pain management and substance use, both of which the intern would have the opportunity to participate in, as well as potentially starting their own group within the intern’s specific area of interest (typically done in the second half of the training year).
Supervision of students: depending upon availability of practicum students, interns may be provided with the opportunity to supervise a graduate student in Social Work from Missouri State University or Evangel University.
Tele counseling: Interns have the opportunity to provide tele-counseling services to our rural clinics when the assigned BHC is not in clinic. Interns get experience in offering therapy interventions off site of where the patient is located. Tele-counseling is done via polycom. The polycoms are set up at the Tampa location and the satellite locations in exam rooms so patients can have privacy while speaking to a therapist. Interns will also have a caseload of rural patients that will be seen through telecounseling platforms.
Parent/Child Interactive Therapy (PCIT): Interns can observe the clinicians trained in PCIT and learn the model. When the intern has acquired the skills needed to have their own case they will be observed by their supervisor via the one-way mirror and bug-in-the ear as they coach the parents in relationship enhancement or discipline skills. Interns can work side-by-side with their supervisor in the next step of the training when the parent wears the bug-in-the ear and the intern coaches the parent as they master their skills with their child.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) adolescent group: Interns can co-facilitate DBT groups for adolescents and their parents/guardians. DBT helps the adolescent and parent learn emotional regulation skills.
Family therapy: The intern can do co-therapy with a clinician to provide family therapy. They will learn to understand the dynamics of the family and how the dynamics affect a patient’s behaviors.
Independent Assessment of Children in Children’s Division: The intern can shadow the clinician doing the IA and observe the hearing process with the juvenile judge.
ASD Social Skills Group
CPT (Cognitive Processing Therapy) for adults who have experienced trauma.
Pain Management Groups

Didactic Seminars & Trainings

Our training program enhances interns’ readiness to practice in an integrative primary care setting or rural area. Psychology interns participate in weekly didactic trainings presented in a lunch and learn format.

Didactic trainings are held every Thursday beginning September 2020 from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Four to five hours a month of didactic trainings are spent in presentations with required learning objectives and a reading list. Interns will receive the reading list in advance. Interns are expected to review the literature, participate in the discussion and ask clarifying questions.

Interns will spend the remaining four to five hours a month covering diversity training, clinical supervision exercises, critical analysis and evaluation conceptualization, group supervision and more.

Sample Didactic Presentations

Sample didactic presentations:

ABA: Is it Just for Autism?
Diabetes
Eating Disorders: Assessment and TX
Electro Convulsive Therapy
Grief & Loss
Harms of Drugs
Insomnia
Is Addiction Self-Medication a Mental Illness
Ketamine/Esketamine
Overweight & Obesity
Serious Mental Illness in Rural Settings
Stop the Virus: HIV Update for Primary Care
Suicide Risk and Prevention
Suspecting Child Abuse: What to do next?
Testifying in Court: Related Case Law
Treatment for Substance Use Disorders
Understanding the Benefits of Play TX
Working with Law Enforcement Populations

Meetings & Shadowing

Interns are encouraged to attend department meetings in areas of interest. Interns can also attend other trainings offered at Jordan Valley from outside facilitators and internal residents. Interns may shadow providers in pharmacy, dietitian/diabetes clinic, medical procedures and OT/ST.

Individual Learning and Training Plan

The Individual Learning and Training Plan (ILTP) is developed by the intern and her/his primary supervisors during the first week of the internship experience. It outlines the goals for the intern in the context of Jordan Valley’s aims and the APA profession-wide competencies.

A final signed copy of the ILTP is due to the Director of Behavioral Health Integration by the end of August. A mid-year update is completed in January.

Administrative Structure & Feedback

The psychology internship program is under the supervision of the Training Committee and Training Director. Jordan Valley psychology interns elect one intern during the first month of the training year to participate as a member of the Training Committee.

The Training Committee is responsible for the following:

Assist in the recruitment, selection, and placement of psychology interns and psychology residents;
Oversee implementation of grievance procedures;
Assist with complying to the rules and regulations of accrediting and regulatory bodies; and
Managing all other activities associated with the program training.

Standing members of the committee include the Vice President of Medical and Behavioral Health, the Director of Behavioral Health Integration, the Training Director and the Director of Education and Engagement.

Interns provide ongoing verbal feedback on the program to the Training director. At the end of the training year, the Training Director conducts an exit interview with the interns to receive their feedback. Jordan Valley uses intern feedback to adjust caseload expectations, program structure and future rotations.

Intern & Supervisory Evaluations

Our program asks both supervisors and interns to evaluate one another. Every four months, supervising psychologists meet to evaluate each intern’s progress and review their current training plan. The intern is provided with verbal and written feedback after these reviews.

Mid-year and at the end of the year interns complete formal evaluations for each of their supervisors. The mutual exchange of feedback is designed to enhance professional growth.

The Training Director maintains regular contact with all supervising psychologists regarding the progress of interns.

Internship Outcomes

Jordan Valley sends follow-up surveys and keeps contact with interns who request employment references and proof of internship completion for state licensure.

Responses to the surveys provide us with information about our interns’ achievements. We find that we meet our aim of preparing interns in each of the profession-wide competencies for professional practice in psychology.