Doctoral Internship Program in Clinical Psychology

Training

The internship has a full-time licensed psychologist designated as the Training Director whose primary duties are centered on the internship and residency program. This person has extensive training and experience as a clinical psychologist working, leading and training others in a correctional setting. The training director is responsible for organizing the internship program and its resources, intern selection, and the monitoring, evaluation and improvement of the program’s goals and activities. The training director also chairs the training committee and documents and maintains the interns’ training records within the Florida Department of Corrections.

The internship is designed to provide the doctoral experience necessary for the development of at least intermediate practice competence in the area of clinical psychology. Training is with incarcerated adult clients in inpatient and outpatient settings and will meet the predoctoral/internship experience that will count toward licensure as a psychologist in the State of Florida. Our program is designed to align with the guidelines for accreditation by the American Psychological Association. Applicants should confirm that our program meets the requirements of any other state board where they may wish to obtain licensure.  Our internship is designed to ensure a sufficiently broad spectrum of competence at an intermediate level so that each intern will be well prepared to succeed in a postdoctoral residency training within general and/or correctional clinical settings. We also provide broad training and experiences and preparation for the EPPP licensing exam in order to help them pass their licensing examination and become licensed psychologists.

We strive toward a competency based educational program. We believe that the development of intermediate competence requires opportunities to attain knowledge, skills and appropriate attitudes. Our interns’ training is primarily experiential, consisting of supervised clinical experiences. It also incorporates didactics, review of relevant journal articles and other information and other training activities. These training experiences are designed to produce postdoctoral residents who have demonstrated at least intermediate competence. Through experience, study and investigation we help the interns develop information into knowledge. We structure their year to allow repeated application of that knowledge, in combination with self reflection, feedback from others and objective assessment of outcomes, so that they become more skillful. Professional attitudes are developed through appropriate role modeling, investigation, as well as discussion and feedback about attitudes toward patients, the public, our profession and the interns themselves.

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 therapeutic interventions (including individual psychotherapy, group therapy and crisis intervention), psychological assessment skills, scholarly/evidence based inquiry, professional and ethical development, supervision, consultation and diversity.

Goals and Objectives

1. Therapeutic Intervention: To provide  training, clinical experiences and supervision that adequately prepare our interns to reach at least an intermediate level of competency in therapeutic interventions such that they may enter post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions working in general and/or correctional clinical settings, and succeed at providing evidence-based individual therapy, group therapy and crisis intervention to individuals with a broad spectrum of mental disorders in either inpatient or outpatient settings with both respect and sensitivity to cultural and individual differences.
   1. Interns will demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in the provision of evidence-based individual therapy that is well-informed, respectful and sensitive to individual differences to inmate patients of diverse backgrounds with a wide range of mental disorders.
   2. B. Interns will demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in the organization, provision and supervision of evidence-based group therapy to inmate patients that is well-informed, respectful and sensitive to cultural and individual differences.
   3. C. Interns will demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in the provision of evidence-based crisis intervention services to inmate patients that are well-informed and sensitive to cultural and individual differences.
2. Psychological Assessment and Diagnosis: To provide progressive training, clinical experiences and supervision that adequately prepare our interns to succeed in post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions working in general and/or correctional clinical settings,  in the provision of evidence-based psychological assessment and diagnosis, using intellectual, objective and subjective personality assessment instruments, as well as patient interviews, historic and collateral information with appropriate consideration of relevant issues of cultural and individual differences.
   1. Interns will demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in the provision of evidence-based psychological assessment and report writing using intellectual, and both objective and subjective personality assessment instruments including appropriate consideration of relevant issues of cultural and individual differences.
   2. Interns will demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in evaluating and diagnosing patients using patient interviews, historic and collateral information, as well as intellectual, objective and subjective personality assessment instruments with appropriate consideration of relevant issues of cultural and individual differences.
      
3. Scholarly/Evidence Based Inquiry: To provide progressive training, clinical experiences and supervision that prepare our interns to incorporate strategies of scholarly/evidence based inquiry that is sensitive to individual and cultural diversity into their provision of psychological services including treatment and assessment in post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions working in general and/or correctional clinical settings
   
   1. Interns will demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in the provision of evidence-based individual therapy that is sensitive to individual and cultural diversity.
   2. Interns will demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in the provision of evidence-based group therapy that is appropriately sensitive to individual and cultural diversity.
   3. Interns will demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in the provision of scholarly/evidence-based psychological assessments and diagnosis that are appropriately sensitive to individual and cultural diversity. 
4. Professional and Ethical Development: To provide progressive training, clinical experiences and supervision that produce students able to succeed in post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions working in general and/or correctional clinical settings, who are professional and ethical in their work, including attending to issues of cultural and individual diversity.
   
   1. Interns will verbalize an understanding of and demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in the application of and adherence to Federal and State laws governing the practice of psychology and the American Psychological Association Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct including attention to issues of cultural and individual diversity that pertain to them.
   2. Interns will demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in meeting the professional standards of deportment for psychologists in general and/or correctional clinical settings.  
5. Supervision: To provide progressive training, clinical experiences and supervision that adequately prepares our interns to demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in the utilization of supervision experiences and in training and supervising other mental health staff with both respect and sensitivity to individual and cultural diversity in their work as post-doctoral/entry level psychologists in general and/or correctional clinical settings.
   
   1. Interns will demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in the use of peer and faculty supervision experiences.
   2. Interns will demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in the provision of training and supervision to other mental health staff with both respect and sensitivity to individual and cultural diversity.
6. Consultation: To provide training that adequately prepares our interns to succeed in providing and obtaining consultation with at least an intermediate level of competence, with sensitivity to individual and cultural diversity, as post-doctoral/entry level psychologists in general and/or correctional clinical settings.
   
   1. Interns will demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in their provision of consultation to other professionals with sensitivity to individual and cultural diversity.
   2. Interns will demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in knowing when and how to obtain consultation from other professionals with sensitivity to individual and cultural diversity.
7. Diversity: To provide training, modeling, clinical experiences and supervision that adequately prepares our interns to demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence in the provision of psychological services that are sensitive to diversity and individual differences in post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions in general and/or correctional clinical settings.
   
   1. Interns will demonstrate at least an intermediate level of competence  in the provision of individual and group psychotherapy that is sensitive to cultural and individual differences.
   2. Interns will demonstrate at least and intermediate level of competence  in the provision of psychological assessment and diagnosis that is sensitive to cultural and individual differences.
8. Maintain Professional Standard of Training: Assure that our program continues to provide interns with quality training.
   
   1. Maintain APPIC membership
   2. Maintain APA accreditation.

Seminars

Didactic seminars are an integral part of the internship and are scheduled routinely throughout the year. These topics often include: psychopharmacology; forensic evaluation; legal and ethical issues; cognitive therapy techniques such as DBT, CBT, Act, Mindfulness, Postive Psychology; civil commitment; competency evaluations; sex offender assessment and treatment;  grief and loss;  assessment; gender/cultural diversity; assessment and diagnositic techniques; crisis intervention; and treatment planning. At least one hour of didactic activities including seminars, grand rounds and in-service training are provided each week. Seminars are most often presented by psychologists, but may be led by psychiatrists or others with expertise in the area (e.g. neurologists, pharmacists, nurses, etc.) See Appendix F of the Training Manual for Examples of previous seminars.

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.  Each intern will make four ground rounds presentations over the course of the training year.

Supervision

At least two hours of individual face-to-face supervision by a licensed psychologist will be provided each week and must total at least 100 hours by the end of the year. Two hours of Group supervision will also be scheduled weekly.  Group supervision will include both clinical and administrative topics.  A minimum total of four hours of supervision will be provided, on average, each week by licensed psychologists and must total 200 hours by the end of the year. Supervision by multiple supervisors as one rotates is intended to provide interns with differing perspectives and treatment approaches.  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. As mentioned above, formal presentations are also required during the year.

Evaluations

Our interns will be evaluated using the Intern Evaluation Form (see Appendix B of the Training Manual).  Evaluations will be done at midyear, the end of the year and at the end of each rotation.  Areas assessed will include Therapeutic Interventions, Psychological Assessment and Diagnosis, Scholarly/Evidence Based Inquiry, Professional/Ethical Development, Supervision, Consultation and Diversity.  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.