Pre-Doctoral Clinical Psychology Internship Program 2008-2009

Table of Contents

 I.           The Sheridan Community                                                    
II.           RENEW                                                                                         
III.          LifeQuest Behavioral Health Services                                  
IV.          The Internship Program                                                                         
              A.  Clinical Service Activities                                                             
              B.  Training  Activities                                                                       
                  1.   Supervision                                                                              
                  2.   Didactic Seminars
                  3.   Journal Club   
                  4.   Clinical Research Project     
                  5.   Clinical and Administrative Meetings                                         
              C.   Prototype of Weekly Schedule            
              D.   Goals & Objectives of the Training Program           
              E.   Expectations of Interns (Rights & Responsibility)          
              F.   Commitments & Benefits                                               
              G.   Applicant Qualifications                                                 
              H.   Due Process and Grievance Procedures                    
                        for Interns and Training Staff
V.           Meet  the Psychology Department 

Download pdf version: Internship Program pdf

I. The Sheridan Community

Founded in 1882 by John D. Loucks, Sheridan lies in picturesque North Central Wyoming, midway between South Dakota’s Black Hills and Yellowstone National Park. Nestled at the foot of the dramatic Big Horn Mountains, Sheridan offers a wealth of recreational activities, including hiking, fishing, biking, golfing, horseback riding, backpacking, wildlife viewing and hunting, snowmobiling, cross-country and downhill skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing. It was recently rated as the best western town in the U.S.

Sheridan’s historic downtown offers nearly a mile-long stretch of retail shops, fine restaurants, quaint little coffee shops, bookstores, pubs and western style saloons, theatres, museums and art galleries. Two vintage trolleys transport visitors around town. In the summer months, outdoor concerts are performed every Tuesday evening at Kendrick Park, and Polo is played every Sunday at the Equestrian Center. The population for Sheridan and the surrounding area is just under 30,000.

Sheridan has a community college as well. The closest international airport is in Billings, Montana, an hour-and-a-half drive away. The Sheridan airport offers direct daily flights to Denver. We like to think of Sheridan as Wyoming’s best kept secret. For more information about our community, please check out the following websites: www.sheridanwyoming.org, www.sheridanwyomingchamber.org., and www.travel-towyoming.com.

II. RENEW

Rehabilitation Enterprises of North Eastern Wyoming, Inc. (RENEW), founded in 1972 in Sheridan, Wyoming, is a diverse community program for children, adolescents and adults with developmental disabilities with locally based operations in Sheridan, Gillette, and Newcastle. RENEW serves Sheridan, Campbell, Weston, Johnson, and Crook Counties with a wide variety of services and training. RENEW operates under the highest accreditation level achievable from CARF, the Rehabilitation Accreditation Commission. RENEW is also licensed by the State of Wyoming under Chapter 111, Session Laws of Wyoming 1969 as a private school. Because of this, interns with Perkins educationrelated loans may be eligible for full or partial repayment of those loans. Client Services include Psychological Assessment and Treatment, Psychiatry, Skilled Nursing, Case Management, Community Living, Vocational Evaluation and Training, Organizational Employment Services, and Therapeutic Horseback Riding.

RENEW’s KARES program provides academic and social education training, day and residential habilitation, psychological and skilled nursing services, dance therapy, and respite care to children and adolescents with developmental disabilities.

Currently over 240 full and part-time employees are involved in providing services for nearly 200 people in Sheridan, Gillette, and Newcastle. The RENEW Board of Directors are dedicated volunteers who guide the operation, growth, and future of RENEW. A foundation also functions to help meet the needs of persons with disabilities. The RENEW Foundation Board assists the organization with scholarships for client services through fund raising and grant development. Both boards work to ensure the long term health, well-being, and future of RENEW. Training is something that RENEW takes very seriously. We offer training programs for predoctoral psychology interns and for advanced doctoral candidates in pharmacy. This allows for a fertile crosspollination of ideas, and a collegial and intellectually stimulating working environment.

III. LifeQuest Behavioral Health Services

Located in a restored historic home, LifeQuest is RENEW’s outpatient mental health clinic for children, adolescents, and adults without developmental disabilities. LifeQuest offers psychological evaluations (including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning disability assessments, and neuropsychological testing); parent-child interventions, behavior modification and child play therapy; psychotherapy for individuals (adolescents and adults), couples and families; and group therapy for Sheridan residents. LifeQuest’s psychologists have expertise in child, adolescent, adult and family mental health services; health psychology; neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; and forensic psychology. All of LifeQuest’s psychological services are provided from a psychodynamically-informed perspective.

LifeQuest also specializes in serving persons with Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). LifeQuest’s ABI program is a post-acute rehabilitation program focusing on the long-term needs of people with ABI in order to maximize their potential to function in the community. The ABI program seeks to help people “take back their lives” by treating both cognitive deficits and emotional reactions to brain injury. There are currently few community-based post-acute programs in existence. A comprehensive neuro-psychological evaluation provides the basis for formulating an individualized plan of care. Our ABI program is based on the most recent scientific findings with regard to providing the optimal setting for the brain to recover function.

LifeQuest frequently receives referrals from local psychiatrists, neurologists, and other area physicians. We also provide services for area schools, the Justice system, Department of Family Services, WYSTAR, the Division of Developmental Disabilities, Vocational Rehabilitation, and Sheridan residents unaffiliated with other community organizations. LifeQuest accepts Medicare/Medicaid, most private insurances, and private pay.

IV. The Internship Training Program

RENEW’s Pre-doctoral Clinical Psychology Internship Training Program offers three full-time 12-month positions. The Internship Program provides a structured training experience designed to develop the core clinical and consultative skills necessary for the practice of professional psychology. RENEW’s training program has a core neuropsychoanalytic focus. We are committed to educating future generations of
psychologists who are interested in understanding the mind and the biopsychosocial factors that underlie symptoms and problem behaviors, and who want to make a meaningful difference in the lives of the clients they work with. Special emphasis is also placed on promoting the personal and professional growth of interns.

Because we work in a rural community with few specialists, we must necessarily be generalists to some degree. Consequently, RENEW’s psychologists all work with developmentally-disabled, brain-injured, and general outpatient mental health clients, and are involved in the internship training program in some capacity. The program uses a local scientist-practitioner training model, while drawing on other models for each treatment program. The ABI program uses a psychodynamicallyinformed rehabilitation model, the DD program a psychodynamically-informed habilitation model, and the outpatient clinic a psychodynamically-informed community mental health model.

The primary clinical experiences for interns are working with clients who have developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental illness (DD/MI), and clients who have acquired brain injuries (ABI). We train interns to provide direct clinical services to these clients, and to offer psychoeducational and consultative services to direct support staff, family members/guardians, and other programs. Our approach is essentially developmental in that we meet interns at their current level of educational and professional development and provide didactic seminars, supervision, and graduated training experiences to facilitate the acquisition of the knowledge, clinical skills, critical thinking abilities and the rigorous scientific attitude necessary for becoming a psychologist (see Goals and Objectives of the Training Program beginning
on page 14). Our progressive training program focuses upon applying psychoanalytic theory and the empirical findings of neuroscience, as well as developmental and behavioral learning theories, to the provision of these clinical and consultative services. RENEW’s internship training program is an APPIC member, and we are actively pursuing APA-accreditation.

Noted strengths of our program include supervision in psychodynamically-informed individual and group psychotherapy; cognitive-intellectual, personality, and neuropsychological assessment; and specialized training with individuals suffering from acquired brain injury or developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental illness.

A. Clinical Service Activities

Individual Psychotherapy: Interns maintain a caseload of approximately 10 – 15 individual therapy hours per week. They see clients in long-term psychotherapy, and may have the opportunity to meet with one client twice-a-week. Interns integrate biological, neuropsychological, and psychosocial data into a psychodynamically-informed case formulation which they use to guide their interventions. Interns help clients to regulate their affects and impulses, while deepening their own understanding about working through resistance, managing transference and countertransference, and addressing core conflicts that underlie symptoms and problem behaviors. We view the therapeutic relationship as the primary agent of change in our clients’ lives, and our goal is to enrich their lives in significant and meaningful ways.

Group Psychotherapy: Each intern leads a dynamically-oriented process group. These groups are typically composed of individuals with DD/MI who are living together in the same home. Groups meet twice-a-week and last throughout the training year. If an intern is interested in pursuing a more intensive neuropsychological track, it may be possible to co-lead one of the bi-monthly ABI support groups.
Psychodiagnostic Testing: Interns typically complete ten to twenty psychological evaluations during the course of the year. The test batteries routinely include cognitive-intellectual, achievement, adaptive behavioral, personality (objective and projective), and neuropsychological instruments. Interns may
also have the opportunity to participate in even more comprehensive 28-Day psychological evaluations performed by psychology staff. These cases tend to be extremely complex, typically individuals who have developmental disabilities, major psychiatric illnesses, are a danger to themselves or others, and have not responded to behavioral or pharmacological interventions elsewhere.

Consultation: Interns provide consultative services to direct support staff, case managers, nursing, and psychiatry as well as to the family members or guardians of the clients we serve. We help prepare interns for entry level psychology positions by allowing them to assume pivotal, decision-making roles within a
multi-disciplinary treatment team. Interns also have the opportunity to participate in video consultations with RENEW’s other sites and Wyoming’s regional providers using a state-of-the-art video conferencing system.

Speciality Training: Interns may pursue specialty training, depending on areas of interest. Options include: 1) providing clinical services through LifeQuest’s outpatient mental health clinic to non-DD, non-ABI clients, 2) more intensive training in neuropsychology through LifeQuest’s ABI program, 3) providing clinical services to children and adolescents with DD through RENEW’s KARES program, or 4) treating and assessing individuals in RENEW’s Psychosocial Acclimation and Transitional Habilitation (PATH) program, a residential treatment program for developmentally disabled individuals who are at-risk for violent or illegal behavior. Most of the individuals in the PATH program have been diagnosed with paraphilias. Interns spend approximately 3 hours per week engaged in supervised training experiences in their chosen specialty area.

Research: In an effort to support interns, RENEW allows them to devote 2 hours per week toward completing their dissertations. Interns who have successfully defended their dissertations may opt to become involved in research projects here when funded opportunities exist.

B. Training Activities

1. Supervision 

Individual Psychotherapy Supervision (2 hours weekly): Interns are provided with two hours per week of individual psychotherapy supervision. Interns receive primary and secondary supervisors to give them a broader exposure to different clinical styles and approaches. Typically their primary supervisor is someone with expertise in their chosen specialty area.

Assessment and Group Therapy Supervision (1 hour weekly): Interns are assigned an assessment supervisor who also supervises their group therapy work. Assessment supervision focuses on test selection, administration, interpretation, and integrative report writing. Group therapy supervision focuses on helping interns better understand and work with process and group dynamics. Interns may choose how they want to devote their time each week. Interns may focus solely on group therapy one week when they need guidance with their process group, or solely on assessment supervision another week when they are finishing up a comprehensive psychological evaluation.

Case Conference (1 hour weekly): Case conference is a central aspect of the training experience. All the interns meet with a licensed psychologist for 1 hour per week and take turns presenting cases. Interns begin with a psychodynamically-informed case formulation and then bring in process notes for that client for the next seven weeks. Each intern does this two times over the course of the year. Following individual cases over several months allows interns to go into the psychotherapeutic enterprise in depth with an experienced psychologist, enhancing their theoretical understanding of the process, and further developing their technical skills.

2. Didactic Seminars 

Psychoanalytic Theory and Technique Seminar (1 hour weekly): This seminar provides interns the opportunity to study psychoanalytic theory and technique. Most of our time is spent going over Freud’s seminal papers in depth, and then applying analytic theory to the clinical work with clients. Many graduate programs skim over Freud’s work, but it is critical for any serious psychodynamic therapist to have a solid understanding of classical psychoanalysis.

Our interest in classical psychoanalysis is largely practical. Psychoanalytic theory has taken biogenetic vulnerabilities, cognitions, perception, childhood experiences, significant relationships, trauma and abuse, emotions, drives, unconscious processes, the various structures of the mind, and the role they all play in personality development and psychopathology seriously for more than a century.

While there have been many significant contributions made to psychoanalytic theory over the years, no-one has written more astutely about the unconscious, and about how the mind works than Freud. By applying his theoretical insights, we have been able to help individuals that have historically been considered untreatable. In working with individuals who have a limited capacity to express themselves, we have found that theoretical knowledge becomes even more important. We rely heavily on psychoanalytic theory to help us understand the internal conflicts that give rise to our clients’ symptoms and problem behaviors, and to guide our interventions. When our interpretations and interventions are on target, these symptoms and problem behaviors diminish or disappear altogether, and our clients get better. While our treatment program is a holistic one, no theory has helped us more consistently hit the mark with our interventions than psychoanalytic theory, and no theory has proven more integral to our being able to enhance the lives of our clients in significant and meaningful ways.

Psychotherapy and Assessment Seminar (1 hour weekly): This seminar is considerably broader in scope. Interns learn about diagnostic clinical interviews and mental status exams, psychological development, psychodynamic case formulation, setting the treatment frame, the unconscious, resistance and ego defense mechanisms, transference and countertransference, interpretation, and the use of metaphor in psychotherapy. Interns study other branches of the psychoanalytic tree (e.g. ego psychology and object relations theory), as well as brief models of psychodynamic psychotherapy, play therapy, group therapy, and family therapy. Ethical issues are also addressed, as are scenarios frequently encountered by those practicing rural psychology. Interns learn to understand and treat specific types of mental illnesses (e.g. eating, post-traumatic, psychotic, mood and personality disorders) while taking the client’s intellectual abilities, medical condition, character type, developmental level of personality organization, and socio-cultural factors into consideration. The assessment portion of this seminar focuses on advanced training with various cognitive-intellectual, achievement, adaptive behavioral functioning, and personality (objective and projective) measures. Emphasis is placed on test selection, test administration, interpretation, and integrative report writing.

Developmental Disability and Acquired Brain Injury Seminar: This seminar focuses on helping interns acquire the knowledge and clinical skills necessary for treating individuals with developmental disabilities
and acquired brain injury. These are unique populations that tend to be poorly understood. For most of the last century, many mental health professionals have believed that these individuals are not amenable to treatment. One of our core missions at RENEW/LifeQuest is to develop ways to treat individuals who have historically been considered “untreatable.” We believe that learning to treat such challenging clients serves interns extremely well in the long run, regardless of the population they ultimately end up working with. Because the clients we work with do not have multiple layers of defense mechanisms, our interns are afforded the opportunity to see the basic innerworkings of the mind and the most elemental aspects of human nature up close, things a therapist would be unlikely to see in individuals with less severe ego deficits until he or she were many years into an intensive exploratory psychotherapy with them. The clinical work here is as emotionally rewarding as it is intellectually fascinating. Interns have the opportunity to work with clients who demonstrate remarkable courage and resilience despite the difficult hands they’ve been dealt in life, and who are deeply appreciative of the therapeutic help they receive. Interns are able to witness first hand the ways in which the therapeutic work literally transforms the lives of their clients. Seminar topics include looking at some of the idiosyncratic ways psychopathology manifests itself in individuals with developmental disabilities, acquired brain injury, psychopharamacology, sexuality, aggression, trauma and abuse, seizure disorders, self-injurious behavior, loss and grief, stress and stress management, crisis intervention, and psychodynamically-informed behavioral modification and treatment planning. This seminar also covers basic neuroanatomy, the neurobiological basis of behavior, theories of neuropsychological functioning, and evaluation of the major domains of neuropsychological functioning.

3. Journal Club

Every three months an intern is assigned a journal article with a specific psychodynamic focus or application. The article is then presented to the psychology department, with one of the intern’s supervisors serving as a discussant. The journal club typically meets at the home of one of the psychology staff for conversation and dinner. All interns and psychology staff participate, with interns taking turns presenting. These get-togethers help interns hone their critical thinking and presentation skills, and foster collegiality. They result in some very stimulating and thought provoking discussions as well!

4. Clinical Research Project

Each intern writes a 5-7 page paper on a multicultural or supervision topic of interest to them and relevant to one of their cases. Papers should integrate clinical, empirical, and theoretical findings related to that topic. Interns present their papers to the psychology department at the end of the training year.

5. Clinical and Administrative Meetings

Mental Health staffing. Each week interns meet with the treatment team at LifeQuest to review and discuss intake evaluations. These evaluations are of individuals without developmental disabilities. The team discusses the diagnosis and case formulation and determines a treatment plan. Ongoing therapy cases are also periodically reviewed, as are discharge summaries.

Intern Meeting. Interns meet with the Director of Training for an hour every other week to talk about how the internship is progressing and exchange information. This meeting is also used to help interns in their professional development, including helping them acquire the skills, knowledge, and connections needed to pursue post-doctoral positions.

C. Prototype of Weekly Schedule

Direct Clinical Service:

Individual Psychotherapy                        10 hours
Group Psychotherapy                                 5 hours
Consultation                                                 1 hour
Assessment                                                  2 hour
Specialty Experience                                  3 hours
                                                      Subtotal: 21 hours

Supervision:

Individual Therapy Supervision                                 2 hours
Assessment and Group Therapy Supervision         1 hour
Case Conference                                                          1 hour
                                                     Subtotal: 4 hours

Seminars: 

Psychoanalytic Theory Seminar                               1 hour
Psychotherapy and Assessment Seminar              1 hour
DD and ABI Seminar                                                   1 hour
                                                     Subtotal: 3 hours

Meetings and Administrative Time:

Mental Health Staffing                                                 1 hour
Intern Meeting                                                               1 hour
Research Time                                                             2 hours
Administrative and Report Writing Time             7-12 hours
                                                    Subtotal: 11-16 hours

                                                                 Total = 40-45 hours.

D. Goals and Objectives of the Training Program

RENEW’s internship training program was designed to meet a specific set of goals and objectives to help interns develop the competencies necessary for the professional practice of psychology. These goals and
objectives are designed to be consistent with APA requirements.

Goal 1: To produce graduates who have the knowledge and clinical skills necessary for entering the professional practice of psychology.

Objective A: Acquire necessary clinical skills and knowledge.

Competency 1: Proficiency in psychological interventions (e.g. providing individual and group psychotherapy services, crisis intervention, and behavioral modification techniques).

Relevant Activities:
1. Year-long individual psychotherapy with individuals who have developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental illness or acquired brain injury.
2. Year-long group psychotherapy with individuals who have developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental illness or acquired brain injury.
3. Year-long supervised specialty training experience, based on intern’s chosen area of interest.
4. Two-hours per week of face-to-face individual psychotherapy supervision with a third hour partially devoted to group therapy supervision.
5. Case conference (1-hour per week) in which take turns presenting process notes from individual cases and receive group supervision from a licensed psychologist.
6. Developmental Disability and Acquired Brain Injury Seminar (1 hour/week).
7. Psychotherapy portion of the Psychotherapy and Assessment Seminar (1 hour/week).
8. Develop and, when necessary, revise behavior modification plans for individuals with developmental disabilities or acquired brain injury.

Competency 2: Proficiency in psychological assessment and report writing.

Relevant Activities:
1. Complete 10 psychological evaluations of individuals with develop mental disabilities or acquired brain injury during the course of the training year. Evaluations typically include cognitive-intellectual, achievement, adaptive behavioral, personality and neuropsychological measures.
1. Weekly face to face assessment supervision.
2. All reports include DSM-IV-TR multi-axial diagnostic formulations.
3. Year-long supervised specialty training experience, based on intern’s chosen area of interest
4. Assessment portion of the Psychotherapy and Assessment Seminar.
5. Assessment portion of the Developmental Disability and Acquired Brain Injury Seminar.
6. Interns may also participate in comprehensive 28-Day Psychological Evaluations performed by psychology staff when opportunities arise. These cases tend to be extremely complex, typically involving
individuals who have developmental disabilities, major psychiatric illnesses, are a danger to themselves or others, and have not responded to behavioral or pharmacological interventions elsewhere. Interns may review the final reports to gain a better understanding of how one integrates complex and often disparate data to arrive at an accurate diagnosis, address the referral questions, and make practical and meaningful recommendations based on a thorough understanding of the underlying biopsychosocial issues.

Competency 3: Proficiency in consultation

Relevant Activities:
1. Observe psychology staff provide statewide compressed video consultations.
2. Consult with direct care staff, team leaders, case management, nursing and psychiatry regarding the individual clients on the intern’s caseload.
3. Attend psychoeducational didactics for all RENEW staff and intern seminar trainings regarding the treatment of individuals with develop mental disabilities or acquired brain injury.
4. Address consultation related questions that arise during individual supervision (2 hours/week).
5. Interns are put in pivotal, decision-making roles as part of a multi disciplinary treatment teams for the individual clients on their caseloads.

Competency 4: Develop knowledge and skills related to evaluation of treatment and training.

Relevant Activities:
1. Complete and review evaluation forms for supervisors and training program
2. Receive semi-annual performance evaluation as part of ongoing supervision.
3. Use supervision to review clinical work, treatment decisions, and efficacy.
4. Participate in Journal Club, where interns take turns presenting papers with important clinical applications to the psychology staff, and learn to become discerning consumers of research.
5. Assigned readings during seminars, particularly those referencing treatment efficacy and comparative outcome research.
6. Evaluate treatment efficacy using single case study methods and ABAB research designs where appropriate.

Competency 5: Develop knowledge and skills related to supervision.

Relevant Activities:
1. Participate in year-long individual (2 hours/week) and group (1 hour/week) supervision, and the weekly case conference.
2. For their Clinical Research Project, interns choose either a supervision or multicultural topic that is of interest to them and write a 5-7 page paper which integrates clinical, empirical and theoretical findings related to that topic. The paper is then presented to the psychology department at the end of the training year.
3. Interns are exposed to a variety of supervision styles by working with 3-4 different supervisors during the course of the training year.

Objective B: Develop the knowledge, awareness, and skills necessary to think and act in an ethical, culturally sensitive, and professionally appropriate manner.

Competency 1: Ethical Behavior

Relevant Activities:
1. Review the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (2002) during orientation.
2. Ethical issues will be regularly attended to and addressed in supervision.
3. Ethical issues will be regularly discussed during didactic seminars.
4. Ethical issues that arise during weekly mental health staffings will be discussed by the treatment team.

Competency 2: Development of Professional Role

Relevant Activities:
1. Use supervision to discuss and work towards professional development goals, and to receive feedback on professional and clinical style.
2. Interns are put in pivotal, decision-making roles as part of a multidisciplinary treatment teams for the individual clients on their caseloads. This role requires interns to provide consultative services, make treatment recommendations, and assume responsibility for their individual clients’ behavioral modification and treatment plans.
3. Ongoing participation in weekly mental health staffing and other clinical and administrative meetings.
4. Use the weekly intern meeting to discuss and work towards professional development goals, including finding postdoctoral positions.
5. Responsibility for turning in case notes, evaluations, treatment plans, and other paperwork in a timely manner, with the quality of work being consistent with what would be expected of an entry level psychologist by the end of the internship.

Competency 3: Understanding individual and cultural diversity

Relevant Activities:
1. Year-long intensive clinical work with individuals who have developmental disabilities or acquired brain injury, populations that tend to be underserved and poorly understood.
2. Clients are of various ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations.
3. Year-long internship serving clients in a rural community.
4. Address diversity issues in supervision and the weekly case conference.
5. Regularly attend to diversity issues when providing case formulations and writing treatment or behavioral modification plans.
6. Attend year-long seminar on working with individuals with developmental disabilities or acquired brain injury.
7. Attend seminars on rural psychology and ethics.

Goal 2: To produce psychology professionals capable of critical, scientific thinking.

Objective A: Be able to demonstrate a capacity to think scientifically, using theory and empirical data to guide clinical decision making.

Competency 1: Develop an understanding of a coherent and predictive psychological theory.

Relevant Activities:
1. Participate in year-long weekly theory seminar with the entire faculty. Emphasis is placed on applying psychoanalytic theory to the clinical work we do with clients.
2. Elaborate on theoretical issues as they apply to the intern’s individual cases in individual supervision and the weekly case conference.
3. Attend year-long weekly Psychotherapy and Assessment Seminar which focuses on utilizing various intervention techniques and modalities, and integrating test data, within an over-arching theoretical framework.
4. Ongoing attention to theoretical issues in the intern’s assessment and group therapy supervision.
5. Participate in the Journal Club in which interns take turns presenting articles with important theoretical applications to the psychology staff with one of their primary supervisors serving as a discussant.

Competency 2: Bridging theory with clinical and empirical findings.

Relevant Activities:
1. Theory will regularly be discussed in the context of clinical and empirical findings in individual, group, and assessment supervision.
2. Theory will regularly be discussed in the context of clinical and empirical findings in the Psychotherapy and Assessment Seminar and the Developmental Disability and Acquired Brain Injury Seminar.
3. Theory will regularly be discussed in the context of clinical data during the weekly case conference.
4. Throughout the year, interns will be assigned articles (by supervisors and seminar presenters) which integrate theoretical, clinical and empirical findings.
5. For their Clinical Research Projects, interns write a 5-7 page paper on a multicultural or supervision topic of interest to them. These papers are to integrate theoretical, clinical and empirical findings. Interns present their Clinical Projects to the psychology staff at year’s end.

Objective B: Learn to evaluate, use, and produce research.

Competency 1: Develop skills in accessing, evaluating and applying existing research findings.

Relevant Activities:
1. Review applicable research articles provided in seminars.
2. Review applicable research articles provided in supervision.
3. Attend seminars that discuss relevant research findings.
4. Review the empirical literature as needed for various clinical tasks.
5. Access University of Wyoming libraries, and various available on-line databases and internet resources.

Competency 2: Produce independent research.

Relevant Activities:
1. Two hours per week are devoted to dissertation research.
2. Interns may take time off for dissertation related meetings.
3. Dissertation progress is discussed in the weekly intern meeting.
4. Interns may opt to become involved in research projects at RENEW when funded opportunities exist. The faculty regularly give presentations at conferences and interns may have opportunities
to co-present.

E. Expectations for Interns (Rights and Responsibilities)

Interns begin their training year with a 5-day orientation to RENEW, LifeQuest, the psychology staff, integral members of the multi-disciplinary treatment team, and administrative support staff. They learn to navigate RENEW’s computer system, and are exposed to the various forms and modes of documentation that they will encounter. The APA ethics code is also reviewed. During the second week, interns are trained in CPI (the techniques RENEW staff use to prevent and manage aggressive behavior in clients), and they familiarize themselves with clients on their caseload by reviewing charts. During the third week they begin seeing individual and group therapy clients, and attending meetings and seminars. Interns are not assigned their first psychological evaluation until August, one month into the internship.

RENEW’s Pre-doctoral Internship Training Program in Clinical Psychology is a 12-month, 2,000 hour internship. Total accumulated hours are tracked through the daily use of an automated punchclock. Interns are expected to be available between 8am and 5pm each weekday, with the exception of a one-hour lunch break. Interns’ scheduled responsibilities require a minimum of 40-45 hours per week. Approximately 50% of that time is spent providing direct clinical services, 17% is devoted to training activities (supervision and didactic seminars), and 33% is spent in meetings and completing administrative responsibilities (e.g. documentation, report writing, preparing for seminars).

Interns are expected to perform their clinical and administrative responsibilities in a thorough, conscientious, timely and ethical manner. They are expected to attend all seminars, scheduled appointments, and supervision sessions unless they are using Paid Time Off which must be pre-approved by the Director of Training. Interns are expected to be respectful toward those they work with, and to make efforts to get along with others. Because their supervisors are clinically responsible for their work, interns are expected to follow their recommendations. Any unlawful or unethical behavior will result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal from the training program. Interns are not permitted to take PTO during the final two weeks of the internship as this time is spent conducting pre-termination counseling and completing performance evaluations. Interns have the right to be treated with respect and dignity in the workplace, and to be free from harassment. They also have the right to be provided with quality training that is consistent with what is set forth in RENEW’s internship training materials.

F. Commitments and Benefits

Internship Dates: July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009.

Stipend: $18,000

Paid Time Off (PTO)/Holidays: I5 days PTO (includes paid time for vacation, sick leave, dissertation meetings, etc.) plus 7 paid holidays.

Medical, Dental and Life Insurance: Provided through Regional Care, Inc. for a small monthly fee (currently $60 for individual coverage, $120 for family coverage).

Liability/Malpractice Insurance: Provided.

Professional Development: $250 per intern is provided for the purpose of attending conferences, workshops, or other professional activities with approval of the Director of Training. More may be available if an intern wants to do a presentation with one of our psychology staff.

G. Applicant Qualifications

Applicants must currently be enrolled in an APA-approved doctoral program in clinical or counseling psychology.

Applicants must have completed all required course work, practicum experiences, comprehensive examinations, and, at minimum, their dissertation proposal prior to the start of the internship.

RENEW requires that all personnel undergo criminal background checks and be screened for controlled substances. Employment is contingent upon successfully passing both.

Applications should include:
1. A current curriculum vita.
2. The most current AAPI form.
3. Your academic program’s Verification of Internship Eligibility and Readiness form.
4. Letter from dissertation chair stating that your proposal has been accepted.
5. One intake evaluation report that contains a psychodynamic case formulation; diagnosis; and treatment plan.
6. A psychological assessment report which includes cognitive intellectual and personality (both objective and projective) measures.
7. Three letters of recommendation, with at least two from practicum supervisors.
8. All undergraduate and graduate transcripts (copies are okay when applying, but interns who are matched/selected will be required to submit sealed transcripts)

Please have letters of recommendations sent in sealed envelopes with the recommender’s signature across the seal. We strongly encourage applicants to send all their materials in one mailing.

Please submit your applications by December 1st to:
Jeff Clark, Psy.D.
Director of Internship Training
Rehabilitation Enterprises of North Eastern Wyoming
1969 South Sheridan Avenue
Sheridan, WY 82801

All applications are reviewed by our psychology staff. Invitations for interviews will be scheduled by telephone. Although we offer telephone interviews, we strongly encourage on-site interviews. We follow APPIC Match Policies in our selection and notification of candidates. Applicants will be notified about their interview status on or before December 15th.

RENEW is an Equal Opportunity employer.
If you have any questions about our internship training program, please feel free to contact Dr. Clark at jclark@renew-wyo.com.

H. Due Process and Grievance Procedures for Interns and Training Staff

Due Process Regarding Intern Performance Evaluation (including feedback, advisement, retention, and termination)

A. During orientation, interns will receive copies of all evaluation forms that will be used during the course of the internship and given instructions regarding their use.
B. Interns will receive informal feedback on their performance from supervisors on an ongoing basis.
C. Interns will receive formal feedback (e.g. a completed evaluation form) three times (in October, February, and June):

Grievances against the training staff
Grievances of an intern against the training staff will be resolved in a timely manner without coercion, discrimination or reprisal. It is our belief that most grievances can be resolved by a candid discussion between the individuals involved. If an informal discussion does not resolve the situation, interns should consult with their primary supervisor. If the situation involves the intern’s primary supervisor the intern should then consult with the internship training director. If the training director is the subject of the intern’s complaint, the matter would then be referred to the Clinical Director.

If the training director becomes involved with the grievance, he or she will meet with the individuals involved, gather information, and assist in resolving the situation. If the training director is unable to resolve the situation, or is the subject of the complaint, the grievance should be submitted to the clinical director.

Within five working days a meeting will be called to discuss the grievance. All parties to the grievance, the clinical director and members of the training committee will attend the meeting. A formal resolution attempt to resolve the situation will be attempted. Written minutes will be kept and signed by all participants. This will be the final step in the grievance procedure.

Grievances against the program
Grievances against the program should be addressed with the internship training director. There is a bi-monthly intern meeting in which internship related concerns can be discussed. The training director will
bring any significant concerns to the attention of the internship training committee which includes the clinical director. RENEW is committed to being responsive to the concerns of interns and to taking intern feedback seriously so that we are continually improving our training program.

V. Meet the Psychology Department

RENEW’s and LifeQuest’s Psychology Department consists of five licensed psychologists and a post-doctoral resident working toward licensure. The staff is highly invested in the training of interns and committed to providing high quality supervision.

Jessica L. Cardwell, Psy.D. is a postdoctoral psychology resident at LifeQuest, specializing with children, adolescents, and families. She earned a B.S. in psychobiology from Lynchburg College in Virginia, and her Psy.D. from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Dr. Cardwell completed her predoctoral internship with RENEW and LifeQuest working with developmentally disabled children and adults, as well as outpatient children, adolescents, and families. Her dissertation focused on techniques for working long-term and building relationships with schizoaffective clients. Professional areas of interest include psychoanalytic theory; psychodynamic psychotherapy; play therapy; family therapy; consultation; and working with underprivileged populations. Prior to pursuing her career in psychology, Dr. Cardwell worked as a scientist in the field of biodefense, specializing in research on Anthrax and Small Pox. Dr. Cardwell is happily married with three adored cats She loves NFL football and is a loyal fan of the Washington Redskins. Aside from watching football, she enjoys spending time in the Big Horn Mountains ATVing, skiing, 4-wheeling in her jeep, and mountain biking.

Alicia Clark, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist at LifeQuest, specializing with children, adolescents, and families. She attended George Fox University for her Masters and Doctorate degrees in Clinical Psychology, and completed an APA-accredited internship at Primary Children’s Medical Center, Center for Counseling in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her dissertation examined the psychological referral trends from religious rural community leaders. Professional areas of interest include psychodynamic psychotherapy, play therapy, and parent-child therapies; rural psychology and community outreach; the intergenerational effects of trauma, and religious integration. Prior to entering the world of psychology, Dr. Clark specialized in Greek and Hebrew translation and theology, with an emphasis on primitive theological development and historicity in Judaism and early Christianity. She has a certification of Archeology from the Israeli Department of Antiquities, and participated in the Banias Tel of Northern Galilee in 1999.

Dr. Clark is happily married with a beloved daughter and pets. She enjoys small town life and the outdoors, and her current hobbies include cooking, remodeling, hiking, running, and writing.

Jeff Clark, Psy.D.is the Director of Internship Training for RENEW/ LifeQuest. He earned a B.A. in economics from Willamette University, an M.A. in modern literature from the University of Kent at Canterbury in England, and M.A. and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from George Fox University. Dr. Clark completed an APAaccredited internship at the University of Virginia’s Center for Counseling and Psychological Services, and has worked with children, adolescents and adults in a variety of inpatient, residential and outpatient settings. He was a staff psychologist and teaching faculty at an APA-accredited internship training program prior to becoming RENEW’s Director of Internship Training, and he has completed four years of specialized post-doctoral training in the treatment of individuals with developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental illness. His dissertation examined the effectiveness of wilderness therapy for adolescents with psychological and substance abuse problems, and he published in this area. He is a member of the American Psychological Association and Divisions 39 (Psychoanalysis) and 22 (Rehabilitation Psychology).

Dr. Clark’s clinical interests include psychoanalytic theory and psychodynamically- informed psychotherapy; personality assessment; the treatment of mood, eating, personality, and post-traumatic disorders; and working with individuals who have developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental illness. He is also interested in teaching and supervising developing clinicians, and in psychotherapy outcome research.

Outside of work, he enjoys fly fishing, skiing, backpacking, reading, traveling and
spending time with his wife, family, friends, and dogs.

Kim Faulkner, Ph.D., R.Ph.is the Director of Clinical Services at RENEW. He has served in that capacity since June 2004 after being the Clinical Director at another Wyoming rehabilitation facility since 1994. Dr. Faulkner obtained his Pharmacy degree from the University of Mississippi in 1976 and his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1985 after having completed an APA-Approved Internship in Clinical Psychology at the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is a member of the Wyoming Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association, with member affiliations in Division 28 (Psychopharmacology and Substance Abuse), Division 41 (American Psychology-Law Society), and Division 39 (Psychoanalysis). Dr. Faulkner has obtained grant-funded research in the areas of spouse abuse, process variables in psychotherapy, and human factors and published in the areas of teleconferencing, spousal violence, substance abuse, the ethics of rural practice, eating disorders, and psychodynamically-informed psychotherapy with individuals with developmental disabilities.

In addition to his current administrative role, Dr. Faulkner maintains an active case load in direct service delivery for outpatient mental health consumers and individuals with dual diagnoses. His interests include forensic psychology, psychoanalytic theory, psychopharmacology, and consultation.

Outside work, he enjoys woodworking and is an avid fossil hunter.

Theresa A. Faulkner, Ph.D.is Director of Community Mental Health Service at LifeQuest. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Texas Tech University and completed a psychodynamically-oriented pre-doctoral internship in clinical psychology at the Wyandotte Hospital and Medical Center. Since that time she has worked in inpatient, residential, and outpatient settings from a psychodynamic perspective with a variety of clientele. Dr. Theresa A. Faulkner is currently enrolled in the Alliant International University Post-Doctoral Masters program in clinical psychopharmacology and is actively involved in pursuing prescriptive authority for psychologists in the State of Wyoming. She is a member of the Wyoming Psychological Association and the American Psychological Asssociation (Divisions 12 and 39), and has published in the areas of rural psychology, eating disorders and developmental disabilities. She is an outdoors enthusiast who lives and plays in the Big Horn Mountains.

Michael Harvey, Psy.D.is Director of Neurorehabilitation at LifeQuest/RENEW and is responsible for supervising the provision of clinical services for individuals with various forms of brain injury. Dr. Harvey earned his doctorate in clinical psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology in Chicago with minors in Health and Family Psychology and a specialized focus on neuropsychological assessment and rehabilitation. He received training at Chicago Lakeside VA – a teaching affiliate of Northwestern University Medical School, the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Chicago Medical Center and completed his pre-doctoral internship at Montreal General Hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Dr. Harvey has extensive experience in rehabilitation and neuropsychological assessment of individuals with various forms of neurological disorder and insult. He is a member of APA – Divisions 22, 39 and 40, the International Neuropsychological Association, the International Society for Neuro-Psychoanalysis, the American Society for Neurorehabilitation, the Society for Personality Assessment, and the Wyoming Psychological Association. He is also a corresponding member of the New York Academy of Traumatic Brain Injury. Dr. Harvey has presented at numerous state, national and international conferences on the provision of psychoanalytically-informed psychotherapy and neuropsychological assessment for individuals with brain injury and developmental disabilities including a joint presentation with Mark Solms, Ph.D. in Montreal in May 2003 and a Division 39 Conversation Hour on Neuropsychoanalytic Perspectives on Rehabilitation for Individuals with Brain Injury in August 2005. He is a reviewer for the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy and the Journal of Systemic Therapies.

Karla Steingraber, Psy.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist at LifeQuest, where she completed her postdoctoral training. She works with clients in RENEW’s ABI program, DD clients, and outpatient adults, adolescents, families and children. Karla earned her doctorate in clinical psychology from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and completed her pre-doctoral internship at The Montreal General Hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her dissertation focused on the various and self-harmful forms a fear of success can take. Professional areas of interest include psychoanalytic theory and psychodynamically-informed psychotherapy; psychological assessment; gender identity issues, homosexuality, masochism, and race and minority issues. Personal interest include artistic endeavors, cats (Siamese to be specific), skiing, snowshoeing, and attending good comedy shows.