Predoctoral Internship Program in Professional Psychology
Training
Training Director
The internship has a full-time licensed psychologist designated as the Training Director whose primary duties are centered on the internship program.This person is responsible for organizing the training program and its resources, intern selection and the monitoring and evaluation of the program’s goals and activities. The Training Director also documents and maintains the interns’ training records within the Florida Department of Corrections.
Structure
The internship consists of 2,000 hours over a one year period. Nineteen hundred hours of the interns’ time is paid for and must be spent working at the Department of Corrections Facilities. An additional 100 hours that the interns are not paid for, are required for completion of the internship. These hours are designed to allow the intern to participate in professional activities that might occur outside of the Department. For example, they may be used for attendance or participation in conferences, for dissertation defense, for research projects, EPPP study programs, or for other professional activities. These professional activities must be approved ahead of time by the Training Director.
The internship begins July 1 and ends on June 30 of the succeeding year. The Florida Department of Corrections funds 4 interns per year. Interns will work at several facilities during the year and be supervised by at least 3 different supervisors.
Competency Areas
The internship experience is designed to assure that a broad spectrum of skills and abilities are gained during the year such that each intern will be prepared to succeed in a post-doctoral position and obtain licensure as a psychologist. However, special emphasis is placed on several areas of competency during the internship year. These include Psychological Assessment Skills, Scholarly/Evidence Based Inquiry, Diversity, Professional and Ethical Development, Supervision, Consultation and Therapeutic Interventions including individual psychotherapy, group therapy and crisis intervention.
Goals and Objectives
1. To provide our interns with progressive training and experiences in assessing and treating patients with a variety of treatment modalities and supervisors:
Interns will begin the year working with patients at less severe levels of pathology (outpatient and Transitional Care) and will progress toward work with the most severe and complex patients.
The interns’ therapy and interventions will be done with direct observation by their supervisor at the beginning of the year and will progress to audio/video and then intern reporting over the year.
At the beginning of the year the interns’ group therapy will be provided with direct observation by their supervisor and will progress to more independent work. By the end of the year they will have prepared their own scholarly/evidence based group, implemented it and supervised a bachelor level co-therapist in the use of their module.
The Interns will be assigned, on average, at least 6 individual therapy cases at any given time during the year and have at least 10 hours of face to face patient contact each week on average.
Interns will have individual cases assigned to them by, and be supervised by, at least 3 different psychologists during the year.
Interns will formally present at least two individual therapy cases at Grand Rounds. One must include formal assessment data. These presentations must include conceptualizations and possible treatment plans using at least three differing theoretical perspectives.
2. To provide clinical training and experience in psychological assessment using intellectual, and both objective and projective instruments:
Interns will begin by demonstrating competency at administration of psychological assessments and progress from simple batteries (e.g., IQ assessments) to complex diagnostic assessments and reports.
Interns will demonstrate competence in administration, scoring and interpretation of at least the following: MMPI-II, PAI, Rorschach Exner Scoring, WAIS-III, WASI, BETA-III, Hare PCL-R, SIRS.
Interns will complete at least six formal psychological assessments and present at least one of these at Grand Rounds.
Interns will increase the number of assessment tools that they use and their skill in using them over the year.
3. To provide training that will prepare the interns for successful practice in general psychology settings as well as providing specialized training and experience in forensic psychology.
Didactic training and clinical experiences will be provided in the areas of general clinical psychology and in forensic psychology.
Interns will have experience working with a wide range of psychiatric disorders during the year including mood disorders, psychotic disorders, personality disorders, etc.
4. To promote competency in treating and assessing patients/clients with respect to cultural and individual diversity.
Didactic training in issues of diversity will be by specific topic and by global incorporation of diversity into general topics.
Clinical experiences with male and female patients with a wide range of age, sexual orientation, disabilities and religious, social and cultural backgrounds will be provided.
Supervision will be provided that is attentive to and sensitive to the issues of cultural diversity with awareness of issues such as those reviewed in the American Psychological Association’s article, Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice and Organizational Change for Psychologists (May 2003).
5. To provide training and experience in professional issues and ethical issues related to the practice of psychology.
Didactic training in professional and ethical issues with be provided.
Supervision will address professional issues and ethical issues including American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principals of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (2002)
6. To incorporate scholarly/evidence based inquiry into the intern’s development as psychologists.
Supervision will include the review, interpretation and application of evidence based assessment and treatment methods.
Interns will be required to do four formal presentations: One will be on an area of research interest, one will be on a group module that they have prepared based on current theory and research; and the other two will be case presentations at Grand Rounds that will incorporate interpretations, conceptualizations, and treatment plans based on current research and theory.
7. To prepare interns for licensure as a psychologist.
Didactic training and supervision will focus on issues relevant to preparation for licensure.
Interns will be provided with 1 hour a week to study and prepare for the EPPP.
8. To obtain and maintain both membership in APPIC and accreditation from APA.
Our program will maintain our membership in APPIC.
We intend to obtain APA accreditation and are preparing our Self-study for submission in 2009.
Seminars
The Florida Department of Corrections is approved to provide continuing education credits for licensed psychologists, other mental health providers, physicians and nurses and other mental health providers in Florida such as Social Workers and Mental Health Counselors. Therefore, training in mental health, medical and other related fields are available for interns. Interns will be afforded the opportunity to request topics to be presented which may or may not be offered for CEU/CME credits, depending on the depth of training requested.
Didactic seminars are an integral part of the internship and are scheduled routinely throughout the year. Expected topics for the coming year include psychopharmacology, forensic evaluation, legal and ethical issues, expert witness testimony, civil commitment, competency evaluations, sex offender assessment and treatment, substance abuse treatment, grief and loss, risk assessment, gender/cultural diversity, HIV/AIDS treatment and treatment planning. At least two hours of didactic activities including seminars, grand round and in-service training are provided, on average, each week. Seminars are most often presented by psychologists, but may be lead by psychiatrists or others with expertise in the area (e.g. neurologists, pharmacists.)
Grand Rounds
Case presentations are an important part of the interns training as they require their reflective integration and discussion of the theory and practice of psychological assessment and treatment. Formal case presentations additionally serve as one of the formats for improving the interns’ professional presentation skills. During the year, they will present at least two cases in a Grand Rounds format on noteworthy patients (one must include formal assessment data) at least one seminar on scientifically based research of interest to them and at least one group module that they have developed based on current theory and literature.
Supervision
At least two hours of individual face-to-face supervision by a licensed psychologist will be provided each week. Two hours of Group supervision will also be scheduled weekly. A minimum total of four hours of supervision will be provided, on average, each week by licensed psychologists. Supervision by multiple supervisors as one rotates is intended to provide interns with differing perspectives and treatment approaches.
The two hours per week of individual supervision of the interns will deal with the clinical care of their patients. It will address numerous issues including: the interns’ concrete clinical experiences with patients; scholarly/evidence based conceptualizations of their cases, their assessments and therapy; reflective observations of their interventions, patient and other staff behavior; and active experimentation. Supervisors will take care to incorporate consideration of the following during supervision: the Florida Department of Corrections’ Mission and Code of Conduct; the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principals of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (2002), as well as, issues of cultural diversity.
Professional Development
Interns may be permitted 2 hours a week for professional development providing experiential training expectations are met. Interns may use this time to complete their dissertations or work on other research projects or publications. Other worthwhile endeavors will be considered such as attending conferences or professional meetings. Studying for the EPPP is strongly encouraged and a one hour per week structured format for this is provided. As mentioned above, formal presentations are also required during the year.
Evaluations
Our interns will be evaluated quarterly using the Department of Corrections Intern Evaluation Form (see Appendix B). Areas assessed will include Psychological Assessment, Diversity, Therapeutic Interventions, Consultation, Scholarly/Evidence Based Inquiry, Supervision and Professional/Ethical Development. The intern’s academic institution may provide their own evaluation forms and request that they be completed, if necessary. The interns will also evaluate each rotation, their supervisors and finally the internship as a whole.
Research
The Florida Department of Corrections holds great potential for research. Interested parties must submit formal proposals for approval, per Florida Department of Corrections Procedure Manual 207.001, before beginning any research. Research consultation is available upon request. The evaluation of and incorporation of current research into clinical work is an integral part of the internship program.
