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.
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
I. Therapy: To provide progressive training, clinical experiences and supervision that adequately prepare our interns to succeed in post-doctoral/entry level psychologist positions at providing evidence-based therapy to individuals with a broad spectrum of mental disorders in inpatient and outpatient settings with respect and understanding of cultural and individual differences.
I. A. To provide progressive training and clinical experiences that adequately prepares our interns to succeed in providing evidence-based individual psychotherapy for individuals of diverse backgrounds with a wide range of disorders in post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions.
I. B. To provide progressive training and clinical experiences that adequately prepares our interns to competently organize, provide and supervise evidence-based group therapy that is sensitive to individual differences in post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions.
I. C. To provide progressive training and clinical experiences that adequately prepares our interns to succeed in providing evidence-based crisis intervention services that are well-informed and sensitive to individual differences in post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions.
II. Assessment: To provide progressive training, clinical experiences and supervision that adequately prepare our interns to succeed in post-doctoral/entry level psychologist positions in providing evidence-based psychological assessment and diagnosis using intellectual, and both objective and subjective instruments with respect and understanding of cultural and individual differences.
II A. To provide training that adequately prepares qualified, predoctoral psychology interns to succeed in post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions in either general clinical or correctional settings in the provision of psychological assessment and diagnosis using intellectual, and both objective and subjective instruments.
III. Scholary/ Evidence Based Inquiry: To provide training that encourages our interns to incorporate scholarly/evidence based inquiry into their provision of psychological assessment and treatment after they enter post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions.
III. A. To provide progressive training and clinical experiences that adequately prepares our interns to succeed in providing evidence-based individual psychological assessments and diagnosis in post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions.
III. B. To provide progressive training and clinical experiences that adequately prepares our interns to successfully organize, provide and supervise evidence-based individual psychotherapy in post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions.
III. C. To provide progressive training and clinical experiences that adequately prepares our interns to successfully organize, provide and supervise evidence-based group therapy in post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions.
IV. Diversity: To produce post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist who are competent in assessing and treating patients with respect to diversity.
IV. A. To provide training, modeling, clinical experiences and supervision that adequately prepares our interns to succeed in providing competent psychological assessment that are sensitive to diversity and individual differences in post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions.
IV. B. To provide training, modeling, clinical experiences and supervision that adequately prepares our interns to succeed in providing competent Individual and Group psychotherapy that is sensitive to cultural and individual differences in post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions.
V. Professional and Ethical Development: To produce post-doctoral/entry level psychologists who are professional and ethical in their work as postdoctoral/entry-level psychologists and eventually become licensed.
V. A. Provide training, modeling and supervision that adequately prepares our interns to abide by APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct during their post-doctoral/entry level psychologist positions.
V. B. Provide training, modeling and supervision that adequately prepares our interns to satisfactorily meet the professional standards of deportment in their post-doctoral/entry level psychologist positions.
VI. Supervision: To provide training that adequately prepares our interns to effective utilize supervision experiences and to succeed in training and supervising other mental health staff after they enter post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions.
VI. A. To provide training that adequately prepares our interns to make use of supervision experiences.
VI. B. To provide training that adequately prepares our intern to succeed in training and supervising other mental health staff after they enter post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions.
VII. Consultation: To provide training that adequately prepares our interns to succeed in providing consultation in post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions.
VII. A. To provide training that adequately prepares our interns to succeed in providing and obtaining consultation with other professionals in post-doctoral/entry-level psychologist positions.
VIII. Maintain Professional Standard of Training: Assure that our program continues to provide interns with quality training.
VIII. A. Maintain APPIC membership
VIII. B. Obtain and maintain APA accreditation.
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.) 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.
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 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.
