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The internship is an important year in an intern's professional development, which provides a "bridge" between his or her prior academic and clinical training and future professional practice. By taking a developmental approach to supervision, each intern's individual growth is facilitated by building on his or her already existing strengths and competencies, and through identifying the areas he or she wants to develop during the internship year. The Consortium internship program also provides opportunities for each intern to expand his or her knowledge base, and repertoire of, effective clinical interventions with a diverse range of persons. Through supervision, mentoring and involvement in the activities of the Consortium, interns grow in their awareness of the multifaceted nature of persons, and the interface between the psychological, sociological, biological, and spiritual dimensions of life. The Consortium internship program embodies a practitioner-scholar model of training (Vail Conference) in order to promote competencies congruent with the discipline of professional psychology and informed by the Christian faith. While this model of training is primarily geared towards preparing interns for applied practice, it is built on the assumption that well-researched and empirically supported treatments help to provide a strong, conceptual framework for this clinical practice to take place. In other words, the goal of this particular training model is to develop interns' skills in effectively making use of, and contributing to, the scholarly professional literature as it applies to direct service provision. This synthesis of science and practice is accomplished through building on the intern's graduate education and emerging skills of effectively integrating and applying the best practices and/or the empirically-supported treatment modalities recommended in the field to provide the highest level of client care. This atmosphere of learning is cultivated through providing training presentations grounded in the professional literature, sharing relevant reading materials and encouraging interns to utilize resources available on-site, on the Internet, or through Wheaton's library. In addition to required case presentations, interns are also required to provide a minimum of 1 formal presentation during the Consortium Seminar which demonstrates their ability to effectively synthesize the research literature on a particular topic of their choice (this may include their dissertation research). The primary method for learning is experiential, augmented by individual and group supervision, seminars, and in-service training. These modalities provide the supervisory guidance, mentoring, role modeling, and observation that is necessary to acquire clinical competencies. Live supervision is also utilized at some of the sites in order to further hone clinical skills in work with both individuals and families. Given the importance of self-reflection as an aspect of professional growth, CACTC requires some level of personal disclosure during our application process and holds that a reasonable level of self disclosure is necessary to fully engage in and learn from the supervision process during the training year. Program Goals/Exit Competencies: The program education and training objectives reflect both the requisite skills essential for psychological practice and the distinctive mission of the Consortium to cultivate skills in work with underserved groups from a Christian perspective. The goals of the program focus on building intern competencies in 7 core domains: Professional Conduct and Ethics; Assessment & Diagnosis; Therapeutic Skills; Work with Diverse and/or Underserved Populations; Integration of Faith with Clinical Practice; Consultation, Evaluation and Supervision; and Personal/Interpersonal Functioning. These competencies are listed below: · Intern will demonstrate knowledge of theoretical and empirical bases of psychology, and will demonstrate the ability to integrate that knowledge creatively to a variety of clinical situations (Therapeutic Skills: Theories and Methods of ESTs). · Intern will demonstrate use of a multi-method approach in assessment and diagnosis, which takes into account contextual factors and strengths in addition to presenting problems (Assessment & Diagnosis). · Intern will demonstrate awareness of the salient issues involved in psychological consultation and will be able to integrate this into his/her role as a consultant (Theories and/or Methods of Consultation, Evaluation and Supervision). · Intern will demonstrate an understanding of the theories and/or methods of program evaluation and a commitment to excellence by engaging in regular and ongoing program assessment (Theories and/or Methods of Consultation, Evaluation and Supervision). · Intern will demonstrate understanding of program management, supervision models and/or techniques and will be able to integrate this effectively into practice (Theories and/or Methods of Consultation, Evaluation and Supervision). · Interns will demonstrate knowledge of APA ethical standards in the practice of psychology and will demonstrate behavior consistent with these standards (Professional Conduct and Ethics). · Interns will become proficient in their understanding of, and ability to practice with, a wide range of persons and disorders (Therapeutic Skills: Theories and Methods of Effective Intervention). · Interns will develop their identity as a professional psychologist in a multi-disciplinary treatment setting through demonstrating an ability to evaluate their work and appropriately utilizing supervision and other collegial relationships to facilitate their personal and professional growth (Personal and Interpersonal Functioning). · Interns will successfully complete all internship requirements in preparation for licensure. · Intern will demonstrate awareness of the interface between psychological and religious/spiritual aspects of personhood from a distinctly Christian perspective, while also respecting and valuing a diverse range of religious/spiritual perspectives in their work with clients (Integration of Faith and Practice). · Interns will develop their understanding of the contemporary models of Christian integration and will learn how to apply to psychological practice (Integration of Faith and Practice). · Interns will develop their multicultural competence/credibility in work with a diverse spectrum of client populations and presenting problems. (Issues of Cultural and Individual Diversity/Work with Underserved Populations). · Interns will develop competence in a variety of psychotherapeutic, community-based and/or other systemic/ecological approaches specifically related to work with underserved groups (Issues of Cultural and Individual Diversity/Work with Underserved Populations). · As practitioner-scholars, interns will demonstrate an understanding of the complementary relationship between science and practice through actively utilizing and/or contributing to the professional scholarly literature as it applies to direct service provision (Methods of Scholarly Inquiry). Interns receive a minimum of 2-3 hours per week of individual supervision with licensed psychologists within the Consortium. Supervision encompasses all activities, including the psychotherapy, providing supervision, psychological consultation, program development and testing. Interns participate in ongoing peer supervision activities with staff at their primary site, including opportunities for live supervision (at OCC) and observation of colleagues in professional activities. Further feedback is provided through group supervision, treatment team meetings, and case presentations in staffings. Supervisors and interns are encouraged to enhance supervision through techniques such as co-therapy, direct observation, and video or audio tape recordings to be utilized during weekly supervision. Verbal and written evaluations of intern performance are provided in December, April, and at the completion of the internship program. In preparing the evaluations, the supervising psychologists include their own observations/conclusions, as well as incorporating feedback from other supervising professionals. The Consortium Director will submit a copy of these evaluations to the intern's graduate programs. The Consortium Steering Committee holds regular meetings for supervisors to report intern progress, discuss concerns, and improve effectiveness of supervision. Consortium Training Seminar: This seminar meets 3x/month (1st, 2nd and 4th Thursdays) for 2 hours throughout the year, with the location rotating between the various consortia sites. The goal of this seminar is to provide participants with greater exposure and experience, through both didactic and experiential modes of learning, to the clinical and assessment skills needed to work competently and ethically with a diverse range of persons. The seminar focuses on various specific topical areas such as multicultural issues, assessment, ethics, trauma, work with families, treatment modalities with children/adolescents and community psychology, in order to further prepare interns for work with underserved populations. Interns are also encouraged to develop a more systemic, community-based perspective in work with these groups. Invited outside speakers with specific expertise may also be utilized in this Seminar. The Assessment portion of the seminar will also focus on learning to identify factors that should be considered when assessing clients from culturally and economically diverse backgrounds. Didactic training of, and exposure to, the most commonly used objective, projective, cognitive, and self-report measures will also be provided. On-site seminar: Each site holds this 1x/month seminar (3rd Thursday) for their primary interns and professional staff to provide further training on issues specific to that particular site and/or the populations served. Interns who are doing their primary rotation at these sites are expected to attend the on-site seminar held at their primary site. CRP and CCCoC interns are allowed to choose one of the trainings to attend. Similar to the format for the Consortium Seminar, interns are exposed to topics specific to their clinical work on-site (such as working with DCFS, treatment issues with residential children, etc.). Staffings/Consultation Group: Each site holds separate, weekly group supervision for 2 hours to focus on case presentations, peer supervision, and discussion of topics related to the treatment of the clients served at the site. This group is also provides informal opportunities to discuss the application of certain treatment modalities, issues of spirituality/faith in treatment, and ethical issues which may arise in work with clients. Interns and staff present cases and pose questions to the group for discussion and problem-solving. Over the course of the internship year, interns will make several client case presentations. Intern Lunch Group: This intern group meets three times a month over lunch, and on a monthly basis with the Consortium Director, to discuss any relevant topics related to their professional development, caseloads and/or progress in the internship program. These meetings may also periodically include a review of a current journal article for discussion. Not only does this group provide additional professional support for the interns, but it also helps them to develop supportive relationships with each other. Other Training Opportunities: Interns are also given opportunities to participate in other formal and informal training opportunities, lecture series, seminars and/or conferences offered through the consortia sites. Interns are also notified of special speakers or presentations being offered at Wheaton or any of the other sites as they arise.
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