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Clinical Psychology Internship Program

The Core Training

Program

Clinical

Placements

Fellowships,

Stipends, and Appointments

Staff and Administration of HMS/MMHC Clinical Psychology

Internship Program

Application Information

Founded

in 1912 as the Boston Psychopathic Hospital, the Massachusetts Mental

Health Center was one of the nation’s first public psychiatric teaching

hospitals. An agency of the Department of Mental Health and an academic

division of the Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry at the

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the MMHC has a proud history of

providing enlightened treatment to the seriously mentally ill as well

as excellent training and research in a rigorous academic program.

The

predoctoral internship program in clinical psychology at MMHC has been

part of that tradition for close to 40 years. The program provides training

in the major roles of the contemporary psychologist and the mastery

of skills essential to the practice of psychology.

The

program aims to develop reliable competencies in evaluation and treatment

planning, psychotherapy, psychodiagnostic testing, and neuropsychological

testing through supervised clinical experience, seminars, and relevant

readings. This training requires a substantial time commitment to the

core curriculum for psychology interns in the Psychology Department

and a sustained, year-long involvement with one or two clinical placements.

At

the clinical placement the intern works on a multidisciplinary team

and is responsible for providing individual therapy, both short-term

and long-term; family interviewing and family therapy; group therapy;

intake evaluation; crisis intervention; case administration; and consultation

with community agencies.

The

program includes experience with populations which have typically been

underserved, particularly the chronically and severely mentally ill.

Each intern has clinical placements on both the Partial Hospital program

and in the outpatient programs.

 

The

psychology faculty at MMHC have a strong interest in psychological and

neuropsychological assessment. These are emphasized in the internship

and also in an annual testing conference.

Psychology

has substantial representation at MMHC. There are the members of the

internship faculty, the clinical psychology interns and fellows, neuropsychology

fellows, the psychologists on the clinical and administrative staff,

and other psychologists engaged in research. Psychologists enjoy mutually

respectful and responsible relationships with other mental health professionals

at MMHC.

The predoctoral internship

program in clinical psychology at MMHC is fully accredited by the Committee

on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association. It is a

member of the Association of Psychology

Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) and abides by its regulations.

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This program is fully accredited

by the American Psychological Association.

750 1st Street N.E.

Washington, D.C. 20002-4242

(202) 336-5500

The Core Training

Program

All interns, regardless of

their unit assignments, share these core training program elements:

  1. The Core Curriculum
  2. Other Didactic Activities
  3. Supervision
  4. Training in Psychological Testing

The Core Curriculum

Psychological Testing Seminar – This

seminar gives interns a theoretical framework for psychological testing

as well as advanced clinical experience with test data. The seminar covers

psychodiagnostic testing and neuropsychological testing, and focusses

on the conjunction of the two in our patient population. The seminar is

taught by June G. Wolf, Ph.D. and Bill Stone, Ph.D.

Psychotherapies Seminar

This seminar

builds on the clinical work of interns, placing it in the context of

basic psychodynamic principles. It includes the study of the history,

methods, and observations of supportive-expressive psychotherapy applied

across the spectrum of psychopathology. Interns present on-going clinical

material for discussion. It is taught by Christopher Morse, Ph.D. and

includes a sequence on short-term psychotherapy taught by Jennifer Stone,

Ph.D.

Didactic

Group Experience – Interns

take part in a weekly training group under the leadership of Max Day,

M.D.

Clinical

Psychology Conference – This

weekly meeting provides an opportunity for the internship faculty, interns,

and fellows to meet and discuss programmatic issues, topics in ethics

and professional development, issues of diversity, and clinical material.

It includes a special series on working in a culturally diverse setting.

Interns’

Lunch – Interns

get together weekly to provide mutual support and comradeship.

Other Didactic Activities

Interns

participate in a weekly clinical case conference which features case

presentations and consultants from inside and outside MMHC.

 

Weekly

Longwood Area Grand Rounds cover a variety of clinical, research, and

theoretical issues in neuroscience, CBT and DBT, psychoanalysis, psychiatry,

and psychology.

 

Interns

may elect to attend psychopharmacology lecture series, behavior therapy

seminar, group therapy seminar, Dialectical Behavior Therapy seminar,

or the advanced neuropsychology seminar.

Within

the general structure provided by the interns’ placements, there is

some flexibility to arrange activities in accordance with individual

training needs. However, most interns find this year quite demanding

of time and effort, and must make choices among the many options for

additional clinical, didactic, and research commitments.

Supervision

This

internship has a long-standing commitment to intensive supervision by

senior staff psychologists and psychiatrists. Each intern is assigned

a Training Supervisor for guidance and general overview of his program.

At least four other therapy supervisors are assigned as well as special

supervision for group, couples, and family therapy. The intern will

typically have one-and-one-half hours per week of testing supervision

and six hours per week of therapy /administration supervision. The theoretical

orientation of teaching and supervision is a mixture of psychodynamic,

biological, and cognitive-behavioral. In all supervision, there is a

strong emphasis on understanding the contemporary interpersonal and

sociopolitical contexts in which patients’ difficulties arise and must

be treated.

Training in Psychological

Testing

Testing

is an important part of training at MMHC, and the contributions made

by interns are valued. Psychology faculty practice and teach assessment

and offer an annual assessment conference. Each trainee has weekly supervision,

and the psychological testing seminar offers additional opportunity

for presentation of cases and discussion of didactic material relating

to research and to clinical use of psychological tests.

 

Interns

receive an introduction to neuropsychological testing and some clinical

experience is available if elected. Intensive training in neuropsychology

is offered in two postdoctoral positions.

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Clinical

Placements

Interns’ clinical placements

include the Partial Hospital, Continuing Care outpatient service, the

Southard Clinic, and the Intake and Evaluation Service.

The Partial Hospital

has two teams.  One, the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy team, treats

primarily patients with severe and persistent mental illness. The other

team, the Dialectical Behavior Therapy team, is an intensive DBT program,

which serves mainly patients with borderline personality disorder and

other severe personality disorders.

The Outpatient

Service is the Department of Mental Health outpatient service

for about 1,000 patients. These patients have been deemed eligible for

DMH services, usually signifying a diagnosis of major mental illness,

considerable functional impairment, and no means to obtain treatment

in the private sector. This service includes specialized DBT and problematic sexual behavior outpatient teams.

The Southard Clinic

is a small outpatient clinic, which is staffed entirely by trainees.

It exists in order to provide trainees with experience with a healthier

outpatient psychotherapy population. Patients are referred from local

college counseling centers, community health centers, and practitioners

in the community. Southard patients are expected to need no rehabilitation,

nor other services beyond psychotherapy and psychopharmacology.

The Intake and Evaluation

Service is the entry point for the entire MMHC system. Interns

and other trainees perform initial evaluations and arrange dispositions

under the supervision of a staff psychiatrist.

In all of these settings,

interns work on multi-disciplinary teams and have full clinical responsibility

for the patients they are assigned.

We may also offer rotations

in neuropsychological testing and CBT/DBT next year.

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Fellowships, Stipends,

and Appointments

Fellowships

Although

the predoctoral internship is a one-year program, MMHC offers many opportunities

for post-internship training. Two two-year fellowships in Neuropsychology

are regularly available, as are two Murphy Fund fellowships in MMHC outpatient programs. Other fellowships are available depending

on funding from year to year. There are often research fellowships at

MMHC and a fellowship in the CRC, which combines clinical and research

opportunities.

Stipends and Appointments

Predoctoral

stipends, supported by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts through a training

grant to the Harvard Medical School, are $21,100. Fellows’ stipends

are $31,000 first year and $33,250 second year.

 

The

internship carries an appointment as Clinical Fellow in Psychology in

the Department of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School/Beth Israel

Deaconess Medical Center. Interns receive four weeks of vacation. Interns

are employees of, and benefits are provided by, Beth Israel Deaconess

Medical Center. A substantial part of the cost of health insurance is

included and athletic privileges and other resources of the university

are available on a fee basis.

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Staff and Administration

of HMS/MMHC Clinical Psychology Internship Program

The Clinical Psychology staff

includes the following members:

Christopher

Morse, Ph.D. (Adelphi

U.) – Supervising Psychologist, MMHC; Instructor in Psychology, Harvard

Medical School.

Daniel

Perschonok, Ph.D. (Harvard

U.) – Supervising Psychologist, MMHC; Lecturer on Psychology, Harvard

Medical School.

Matthew

Robinson, Ph.D. (Temple

U.) – Supervising Psychologist, MMHC; Instructor in Psychology, Harvard

Medical School.

Larry

J. Seidman, Ph.D. (Boston

U.) – Director, Commonwealth Research Center , MMHC; Professor

of Psychology, Harvard Medical School.

William

Stone, Ph.D. (U. Virginia)

– Director of Clinical Neuropsychology, MMHC; Assistant Professor of

Psychology, Harvard Medical School.

June

G. Wolf, Ph.D. (Boston U.), ABPP (Clinical) – Director of

Psychology and Director Clinical Psychology Internship Program, MMHC;

Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School.

Ekaterina V. Burdo, Psy.D. (Wright State U.) – Supevising Psychologist, MMHC, HMS pending.

Rosaura Cruz-Niemiec, Ph.D. (Carlos Albizu U.) – Supervising

Psychologist, MMHC; Instructor in Psychology, Harvard Medical

School.

Sharon Kelley, Psy.D. ( U. Hartford) – Supervising Psychologist, MMHC; Instructor in Psychology, Harvard Medical School.

 

Joseph Rodriguez, Ed.D (Harvard U.) – Supervising Psychologist, MMHC; HMS pending.

 

Stacy Simon, Ph.D. (U. Massachusetts, Amherst) – Supervising Psychologist, MMHC; HMS pending.

The adjunct teaching staff

in psychology includes:

Stephen

Behnke, J.D., Ph.D. (Yale

U., U. of Michigan) – Supervising Psychologist; MMHC; Director, Ethics

Office, American Psychological Association.

 

Richard

Bromfield, Ph.D. (U. of

North Carolina) – Supervising Psychologist, MMHC; Instructor in Psychology,

Harvard Medical School.

 

Brina

Caplan, Ph.D. (Harvard

U.) – Supervising Psychologist, MMHC; Instructor in Psychology, Harvard

Medical School.

 

Gaiana

Germani, Ph.D. (U. Mass.

Amherst) – Supervising

Psychologist,

MMHC; Instructor in Psychology, Harvard

Medical

School.

Ted Grossbart, Ph.D. (Boston U.) – Supervising Psychologist, MMHC; Instructor in Psychology, Harvard Medical School.

Sherri

Kauderer, Ph.D. (St. John’s

U.) – Supervising Psychologist,MMHC; Instructor in Psychology, Harvard

Medical School.

 

Mary

Kiely, Ph.D. (U. Mass.

Boston) – Supervising Psychologist, MMHC; Instructor in Psychology,

Harvard Medical School.

 

Jody

Leader, Ph.D. (Boston U.) – Supervising Psychologist,

MMHC;

Instructor in Psychology, Harvard Medical School.

 

Lois

Levin, Ph.D. (Boston U.)

– Supervising Psychologist, MMHC; Instructor in Psychology, Harvard

Medical School.

 

John

Miner, Psy.D. (MSPP) –

Supervising Neuropsychologist, MMHC; Instructor in Psychology, Harvard

Medical School.

 

Gary

Pfeifer, Ph.D. (U. of

Chicago) – Chief Psychologist, Brookline Mental Health Center ; Instructor

in Psychology, Harvard Medical School.

Lynissa

Stokes, Ph.D. (Boston U.) – Supervising Psychologist, MMHC;

Instructor in Psychology, Harvard Medical School.

Jennifer

Stone, Ph.D. (Boston U.)

– Supervising Psychologist, MMHC; Instructor in Psychology, Harvard

Medical School.

Rosely Traube, Ph.D. (Boston U.) – Supervising Psychologist, MMHC; Instructor in Psychology, Harvard Medical School.

 

Ed

Wang, Psy.D. (U. of Denver)

– Supervising Psychologist, MMHC; Clinical Instructor in Psychology,

Harvard Medical School , Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs,

DMH.

Cheryl

Weinstein, Ph.D. (Boston

Coll.) – Supervising Neuropsychologist, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical

Center ; Instructor in Psychology, Harvard Medical School.

Massachusetts Mental Health

Center Administration:

Laura

Rood , R.N., C.S., Center

Director MMHC; Instructor in Administration, Harvard Medical School.

Margaret Guyer Deason,

Ph.D., Director, Continuing Care Service MMHC; Instructor in

Psychology, Harvard Medical School.

Beth

Israel Deaconess Administration:

 

Mary

Anne Badaracco, M.D., Chief, Department of Psychiatry, BIDMC; Bullard Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.

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Application Information

Follow this link to the Application

Form

Qualifications

of Applicants

The

predoctoral internships in clinical psychology are for advanced students

(fourth year and beyond) in good standing in APA-approved programs in

clinical psychology. Such standing assumes that applicants will have

the following preparation: supervised clinical practicum experience,

as well as courses in personality theory, diagnostic psychological testing

including projective methods, psychotherapy, abnormal psychology or

psychopathology, and research methods. Applicants with doctorates in

fields of psychology other than clinical should consult the APA guidelines

on retraining requirements.

 

Minority

Group Applicants – African-American

and Spanish-speaking psychologists are in considerable demand in the

Boston area, and internship applications from members of these and other

minority groups are especially encouraged.

 

Application

and Selection Procedures

The

deadline for applications and all supporting materials is November 6,

2006.

 

Please

use the APPIC application, as well as our supplemental application.

Please forward a c.v., work sample, three letters of recommendation,

and all graduate and undergraduate transcripts. We would also like you

to include an autobiography which is a personal history. If your APPIC autobiography is such, there is no need to write an additional one. Please list on the Massachusetts Mental Health

Center supplemental application which dates you can come to interview.

 

It

is not possible for us to interview all who apply; we must restrict

interviews to those students whose interests and qualifications appear

to be most compatible with our program. Therefore, interviews will be

scheduled only after applications have been screened. After screening,

applicants will be invited for interviews if appropriate.

 

Applicants

will be notified whether they will be interviewed by December 1, 2006.

This year, we will interview applicants on the three days listed on

the application. Please indicate on the application all dates you would

be available for interview.

 

All

internships begin on July 1, 2007 and end on June 30, 2008.

Applications should be addressed

to:

June G. Wolf, Ph.D.

Director of Psychology

Massachusetts Mental Health Center

180 Morton Street

Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

Applicants will be informed

of their status through the matching program adopted by APPIC.

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