Clinical Rotations

Prerequisites: Please address in cover letter

  1. Applicants interested in the Neuropsychology Major Rotation must have sufficient practicum experience (e.g., at least two practicum experiences in neuropsychological/psychological assessment) and have demonstrated familiarity and skills with basic neuropsychological assessment batteries. Two comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation reports, redacted, must accompany the application.
  2. Prior to being allowed to complete a major CTSCA rotation, interested interns are required to have completed a graduate-level course in developmental psychopathology, and complete a rotation specific interview with the training faculty, as well as online TF-CBT training at https://tfcbt2.musc.edu.
  3. All applicants considering any rotation are expected to have general coursework and practicum experience in the areas of comprehensive diagnostic evaluation and psychotherapy with individual, couples, family or group.

Major rotations (each 6 months)

Supervisors: Anthony Mannarino, Ph.D., Alvaro Q. Barriga, Ph.D, and Ashley Dandridge, Ph.D.

The Center for Traumatic Stress for Children and Adolescents (CTSCA) is a specialty clinical-research program for children, adolescents, and their families who have experienced traumatic life events. Interns completing a major rotation through CTSCA will receive training in evaluating traumatized children, as well as training in two treatments that have been developed at the Center: Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and CBT for Children with Traumatic Grief.

Interns that choose a major rotation through CTSCA will be given the opportunity to provide therapy to patients between the ages of 3 and 18 who have experienced some type of trauma, including, but not limited to, sexual abuse, physical abuse, the traumatic and/or unexpected death of a loved one, natural disaster, and/or serious medical conditions. The intern will ideally carry a caseload of 8-9 clients and will receive one hour of scheduled supervision per week with additional supervision as needed. The CTSCA is extensively engaged in the scientific and empirical development and evaluation of culturally sensitive assessments and intervention with children who have experienced traumatic stress. Faculty provide modeling in the scientist-practitioner approach to clinical activity and interns are encouraged to participate in research, as appropriate, based upon their level of experience and career interest.

Special Prerequisites: Prior to being allowed to complete a major CTSCA rotation, interested interns are required to have completed a graduate-level course in developmental psychopathology, and complete a rotation specific interview with the training faculty, as well as and also the online TF-CBT training at https://tfcbt2.musc.edu.

CTSCA Goals:

  • Learn the basic components of assessment with children and adolescents exposed to trauma, including the use of objective instruments to assess trauma symptoms
  • Implement Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) with  8-9 cases per week
  • Complete TF-CBT, including the trauma narration and processing component, with at least four families
  • Use objective instruments to assess treatment outcomes, particularly in regard to PTSD and other trauma symptoms

Adult Trauma-Focused Partial Hospitalization Program

Supervisors: Hilary Rushton, Psy.D. and Sushmitha Mohan, Psy.D.

As part of this rotation, interns obtain experience in the Adult Trauma-Focused Partial Hospitalization Program where they will work with a comprehensive treatment team, including a licensed psychologist, attending psychiatrist, psychiatric residents, psychiatric nurses, and possible psychology graduate practicum students. We serve acute psychiatrically ill adult patients (ages 20+) presenting with a history of trauma, including physical, emotional, interpersonal, sexual, attachment, and medical trauma or other victimization, who are also presenting with severe psychiatric symptoms and mood disorders, including depression, anxiety, OCD, bipolar disorder, personality disorders, and dissociative disorders. This program takes a trauma-informed, integrative approach to stabilization, focusing on applying a trauma-focused lens to all treatment interventions. It uses tenants of evidence-based models, including CBT, DBT, STAIRS, ACT, CPT, mindfulness, and group process interventions, as well as alternative modalities (e.g., expressive therapies). The TF-PHP program serves the Pittsburgh area and treats patients with a range of diverse backgrounds, identities, and clinical concerns.

The intern will gain experience conducting comprehensive biopsychosocial evaluations and facilitating group psychotherapy in a culturally sensitive and affirming manner. Interns gain experience with both skills and process therapy groups. In addition, interns will participate with a multi-disciplinary treatment team and gain an understanding of the interplay between intensive group psychotherapy and assertive medication management of the acutely ill psychiatric patient. As part of the developmental perspective on training, interns will participate in a three stage supervision plan, beginning with observation of the supervisor, co-leading with the supervisor and progression to the supervisor moving to observation of the intern with supervision feedback immediately following the group.

Adult Trauma-Focused Partial Hospitalization Program Goals:

  • Observe minimum three process psychotherapy groups
  • Plan and lead at least two skills groups
  • Plan and co-lead minimum 16 process psychotherapy groups
  • Conduct at least two initial evaluations
  • Identify and implement minimum of 4 distinct group interventions from CBT, DBT, interpersonal, psychodynamic or other theoretical perspective
  • Conduct tiered supervision with practicum students in the program for a minimum of 5 sessions

Neuropsychology

Supervisors: Hollie Dean-Hill, Psy.D., Matthew Page, Ph.D., ABN, Victoria-Maria Sekunda, Psy.D., ABN, Chi Chan, Psy.D.

The 6-month major rotation in neuropsychology is for interns who are pursuing board-eligibility in clinical neuropsychology in order to meet APA Div. 40 Houston Guidelines. This track is for interns with extensive training in neuropsychology prior to internship. Interns who want some exposure to clinical neuropsychology in order to become more well-rounded practitioners are able to complete a year-long minor rotation in neuropsychology. This major rotation will prepare interns for competitive candidacy for neuropsychology post-doctoral fellowship programs. Interns on the advanced track will see a wider variety of clinical cases through both the medical inpatient consult and liaison (C&L) service at Allegheny General Hospital and through the PBHI. Advanced neuropsychology trainees will also be expected to take a more in-depth role with the clinical interview process, test selection, test administration, and report writing consummate with their experience.

The initial stage of the rotation involves careful consideration of the intern’s prior coursework and practicum experiences with standardized assessment more broadly and neuropsychology specifically. Based on the intern’s prior experiences and his/her career objectives for what populations and practice setting he/she desires, an individualized training plan is developed in order to shape the rotation. At different points in training, interns are provided live observation during their training either by neuropsychology post-doctoral fellows and/or faculty members, depending on the supervisor. Interns receive extensive feedback on all aspects of the evaluation process toward preparing the intern for future independent practice.

Hospital Inpatient C&L: Depending on the specific supervisor and the intern’s individual training plan, interns are able to assist with conducting neuropsychological evaluations as part of a consult and liaison (C&L) service for medical inpatients in a level-1 trauma hospital. Approximately 60% of the patients present with traumatic brain injuries, while the remaining cases involve cerebrovascular accidents, hydrocephalus, seizure disorders, pre-/post-surgical evaluations, pre-/post-organ transplant evaluations, medical decision making capacity evaluations, and other acute medical events. These are brief (< 60”) bedside evaluations for acutely ill patients and trains interns in the rapid consult model within an interdisciplinary medical setting.

Outpatient Neuropsychology: All interns will assist with completing comprehensive outpatient neuropsychological evaluations who are referred to the department for a wide-variety of psychiatric and neurocognitive problems, including, but not limited to, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), cerebrovascular accidents (CVAs), seizure disorders, genetic disorders, progressive neurocognitive disorders, and intellectual disabilities, pervasive developmental disabilities. Depending on the supervisor, interns may gain experience assessing individuals across the lifespan from approximately 6 years of age to 100+ years of age.

Tiered-Supervision: After the intern has demonstrated foundational knowledge and skill in neuropsychological assessment, each intern will provide tiered assessment supervision to graduate practicum students or interns completing the minor rotation in neuropsychology under the ultimate supervision of the intern’s faculty supervisor. This opportunity allows the advanced intern to begin developing and honing his/her own supervisory style in preparing for future independent practice. The intern’s supervision will include a discussion of different supervision theoretical models, the opportunity for role-playing, live observation of the tiered-supervision provided by the intern, and discussion regarding common ethical challenges that can occur in supervisory relationships.

Neuropsychology Rotation Goals:

  • The intern will be able to accurately administer and score multiple commonly used, standardized, objective measures from each of the following domains: intellectual functioning, attention, visuospatial and visual-motor construction, language, memory, executive functioning, behavioral and personality functioning.
  • The intern will demonstrate a more advanced level of knowledge regarding psychometric theory, including how different normative samples are biased according based sample characteristics, the limits of interpreting data due to either floor or ceiling effects, and the interpretation of a test’s sensitivity and specificity and the relationship these metrics have with diagnostic certainty.
  • The intern will be able to assemble neuropsychological test batteries that are appropriate to address common referral questions.
  • The intern will be able to fully or nearly entirely complete an initial clinical interview under the direct observation of the supervising Neuropsychologist for a relatively non-complex present