locations

Lawndale Christian Health Center

Lawndale Christian Health Center (LCHC) is a faith-based community medical clinic on the westside of Chicago and serving the North and South Lawndale and East and West Garfield communities. The health center is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) providing primary care medical services to an African-American and Hispanic population. The main clinical is located on Odgen Avenue, an main city thoroughfare, with the founding church Lawndale Community Church (www.lawndalechurch.org) right across the street. Originally a Cadillac dealership in the 1970’s, the main clinic has undergone major renovation in 2004 including the addition of a fitness area. The clinical is accessible via the CTA blue and pink lines. The clinic was founded in 1984 through the efforts of local residents and members of the Lawndale Community Church who sought to address the stark health disparities in these medically underserved neighborhoods. LCHC now serves over 40,000 patients, providing comprehensive pediatric and adult medicine, health support services in the areas of diabetes, asthma, HIV, substance abuse, maternal-child health, and pastoral and behavioral health services. LCHC patients are primarily first and second generation Mexican immigrant and African-American in background, with a variety of psychosocial issues related to poverty and multiple life stressors.

Clinical Assignments/Caseloads: Interns who are completing their primary rotation at LCHC will be trained in the Behavioral Health Consultant Model (BHC), an innovative approach to adapting clinical psychology skills to a primary care setting (pediatric to geriatric). In this model, the intern will grow in their ability to diagnose and screen for psychological disorders accurately and efficiently, design problem and strength based behavior change plans, consult immediately with medical providers, and assist providers in utilizing pharmacological treatment effectively. More information is available regarding this model on the LCHC website (www.lawndale.org). Opportunities for training in the provision of traditional services, such as outpatient therapy and psychological testing are also available.

Intern responsibilities will increase as the year progresses, beginning with intensive training and supervision in the BHC model, orientation to working alongside medical providers, and training in pharmacological treatment. The intern will work as a team alongside medical providers and the pastoral care department. A typical week will include 20-25 direct service hours including behavioral health consulting, therapy, psychological testing, and psychoeducational groups. Supervision includes formal group and individual supervision, as well as “shadowing” in-vivo supervision. Opportunities for collaborative consultation with neighborhood churches is also possible.

Outreach Community Ministries

Outreach Community Ministries is an interdenominational community service organization, striving to put Christian faith into responsible action. The organization has been called into existence by local churches to respond supportively to the needs of individuals and families. The organization is committed to providing excellence in human services and demonstrating compassion for the whole person. Outreach Community Ministries offers services through Warrenville Youth and Family Services (WYFS), Wheaton Youth Outreach (WYO) and Outreach Community Center (OCC) and Outreach Community Counseling Center (OCCC).

In Carol Stream, there is also a large Community Center (OCC), a multi-purpose, neighborhood resource center serving a predominately low-income, multi-racial neighborhood in the southern section of Carol Stream. The goal of OCC is to help the neighborhood residents work together to build a stronger community. This goal is achieved through a wide range of community services that assist people in making positive changes in their personal, family and community lives. Services include casework, counseling, summer and after school child/youth programs, older adult programs, tutoring, mentoring, and community development.

Outreach Community Counseling Center in Carol Stream (OCCC) is a community based counseling program of Outreach Community Ministries (OCM).  This site is where the pre-doctoral intern (as well as the CACTC Director/supervisor) is located.  The counseling staff work from a systemic and relational theoretical perspective, a person -in-context approach. This context includes immediate and extended family, neighborhood, cultural, racial and religious groups. In addressing problems and issues with clients served, staff are committed to finding and highlighting strengths, skills, areas of resiliency and resources that clients can build on in order to make changes.

OCCC provides psychological treatment in various modalities (individual, family and group) with a wide range of child, family, couples, and individual issues, including family conflict, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, divorce and other losses, trauma, substance abuse, anxiety and depression. OCM’s Psychological Testing Program is also located at OCCC and provides psychological evaluation and consultation services to a broad spectrum of persons, ages and presenting problems. Referrals are received from the community (community center, other counseling programs, local schools, DCFS, adoption agencies, medical clinics and police departments) and often are geared to clarifying diagnosis (i.e., ADHD, learning disabilities, mood disorders, etc.), readiness for adoption, parenting capacity, level of functioning and so on.

Additionally, the OCM Psychological Testing Program has a partnership with a local missions organization to provide consultation and psychological evaluations to those seeking to enter the mission field. The OCCC pre-doctoral intern works on a team with the OCM psychologist and other doctoral students in order to provide consultations to missions organization staff and psychological evaluations of the missionary candidates.  Students broaden their repertoire of assessment skills by receive training in providing wellness evaluations to assist those preparing for ministry.  There may also be opportunities to work with the OCM psychologist on consultative/evaluation projects such as providing clergy evaluations for those wishing to pursue ministry in local churches or partnering with a local private high school, in providing cultural and wellness assessments to students in their Boarding Program (a program for missionary Kids, international students, etc). Interns also conduct evaluations for at-risk adolescents.

Clinical Assignments/Caseload: OCCC Intern caseload responsibilities include approximately 15-20 hours of direct treatment/evaluation per week. (i.e., outpatient therapy services to children, adolescents, and adults; group therapy; psychological evaluations; consultation; and supervision of doctoral students). Interns will also work with the psychologist /director on a program development project (either related to OCM's psychological testing program or the consortium training program) and will collaborate with their supervisor on administrating Psychological Testing Program (i.e., testing intakes, assigning cases, working with supervisor to supervise doctoral students). Primary interns may also participate in the weekly live supervision team where they are supervised on one of their therapy cases and participate in the live supervision of other students on an ongoing basis.  Interns may also choose to complete a brief additional assessment rotation in the Older Adults Program through OCC’s Mood and Memory Clinic and may provide therapeutic services (either groups or individual therapy) to older adults in the community.

Settings

All CACTC sites are located either within, or west of, the city of Chicago. With a population of more than 4 million ( or 9 million including the metro area), Chicago is known for its rich architecture, culture, shopping, dining and recreational opportunities. Visitors to Chicago will enjoy many of its well-known attractions, some of which include "the Magnificent Mile", Navy Pier, Art Institute of Chicago, Grant Park, Willis Tower (formerly known as Sears Tower), blues clubs and Lake Michigan.

Located on the northwest side of Chicago, Lydia Home Association's main office (where interns are primarily located) is in the Old Irving Park neighborhood. This site is easily accessible by Chicago's public transportation system, and is only a few minutes walk away from both train and the "El" stop and 1 block away from 90/94 (Kennedy Expressway).

Near to the downtown of Chicago, Cornerstone Counseling Center of Chicago (CCCoC) is located near the Cabrini Green district which is currently being restructured for mixed income housing. CCCoC is on the 4th floor of the Cornerstone Center, a large building owned by LaSalle Street Church, near the corner of Wells and Division. Similar to Lydia, CCCoC is located within walking distance from public transportation, and is also only a few blocks from Lake Michigan.

Lawndale Christian Health Center is located on the west side of Chicago serving the Lawndale and East and West Garfield communities.  The health center is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) providing primary care medical services to an African-American and Hispanic population.  The main clinic is located on Ogden Avenue, a main city thoroughfare, with the founding church (Lawndale Community Church) right across the street.  Originally a Cadillac dealership in the 1970’s, the main clinic has undergone major renovation in 2004 including the addition of a fitness area. The clinic has also expanded to two other locations in the Lawndale neighborhood.  The clinic is accessible via the CTA Pink and Blue lines.

Located in Carol Stream, the Outreach Community Counseling Center of Outreach Community Ministries is approximately 30 miles west of the city of Chicago (approximately 40-45 minutes from Chicago in non-rush hour traffic) and is considered to be one of the more ethnically and socioeconomically diverse western suburbs. Based on the Center's commitment to community-based services, the OCCC facility is located within in one of the neighborhoods to provide easier access to services by its residents.

Facilities

Each CACTC site also provides adequate physical facilities, equipment, support, and other training materials necessary to support both the current and ongoing needs of the training program. Some of these resources include voice mail, psychological testing equipment, clerical/technical support, use of one-way mirror treatment offices, clinical resources (books, therapeutic games/toys) and office supplies. Most interns also have their own office, computer support, access to the internet, audio tape recorder, and TV/video equipment.

While Wheaton College does not provide on-site research facilities for CACTC interns, the institution demonstrates its support of intern activities by providing interns with university privileges such as a library card to check out materials at Buswell Memorial Library, a computer account and use of resources in their psychological testing library (including some scoring systems) during the course of the internship year. Other large universities within the city of Chicago (such as University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Chicago, DePaul University and Northwestern University) are also accessible for intern dissertation research.