Predoctoral Internship Training Program
THE CENTER FOR AGING RESOURCES AGENCY DESCRIPTION The Center for Aging Resources is a geropsychological center for older adults and their families. The Center provides community-based mental health services and adult daycare for dementia patients. Services include in-home psychotherapy for homebound seniors; individual, collateral and group psychotherapy for older adults in the clinic; psychological assessment, cognitive screening for older adults concerned with memory changes, clinical mental health outreach with hard-to-reach elders, mental health services for crime and elder abuse victims and adult daycare. The Center’s mission is “to promote psychological healing and improve the quality of life of older adults who experience emotional or mental difficulties,” which is accomplished through the “provision of excellent direct services based on sound research and contributing to the development and training of mental health professionals.” The Center’s services focus on reducing risk of premature institutionalization and on reducing barriers to service often experienced by older adults. Thus, services are offered in nontraditional manners, including providing services in clients’ homes, extending services when clients may be hesitant to receive services (clinical mental health outreach), assisting those who have limited cognitive ability (service to persons with dementia), have a wide range of ethnicities and have low incomes. The Center began operating in 1979. For 22 years, it was a department of Fuller Seminary’s Graduate School of Psychology’s training clinic. The Center amicably separated from Fuller in 2001 in order to expand its service mission for the older adult community. The Center is a private, religious nonprofit organization, based on a Christian tradition. It provides services to any older adult regardless of religion, and hires staff regardless of religion. It similarly provides services and hires staff regardless of other diversity characteristics. The Center’s religious affiliation may contributed to the supervisors being more sensitive to addressing spiritual and religious issues with clients, and to providing supervision from a broad array of perspectives on religion. The Center for Aging Resources focuses on serving disenfranchised older adults for whom financial, cultural, linguistic, physical and/or other barriers prevent access to traditional mental health services. It serves older adults (60 years and older) as well as younger disabled adults. Many are of low income and varied ethnicity. Clients are eligible for services regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religious affiliation. Services are offered in varied languages, including Spanish. Many clients are homebound. Clinical issues include: physical disability, chronic illness, crime victimization, elder abuse, domestic violence victims/perpetrators, and a broad range of psychopathology (depression, anxiety, PTSD, personality disorders, psychosis, psychosomatic disorders, delirium, dementia, etc.). Occasionally younger family members of the client are seen. Clients are referred to the program mainly through social workers, medical providers, law enforcement and Adult Protective Services. Over 500 elders are served directly each year. Hundreds more are served indirectly through community lectures, mutli-disciplinary consultation and workshops. The Center for Aging Resources is headquartered in Pasadena, California. Pasadena is a moderate sized city in the metropolitan Los Angeles area. The Center also operates two adult daycare centers in surrounding areas (West Covina and Pasadena). The administrative office, the primary headquarters for interns’ operations, is in an historical craftsman house in Pasadena.
THE CENTER FOR AGING RESOURCES PREDOCTORAL INTERNSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF TRAINING The internship model at The Center for Aging Resources follows the guidelines set forth in and subsequent to the 1981 and 1992 “Older Boulder” Conferences on Training Psychologists for Work in Aging (Santos & VandenBos, 1982; Knight et al., 1995). The model is one of strengthening interns’ general psychological skills and their knowledge and skill in areas needed to serve older adults. Interns with no previous experience working with older adults will be introduced to geropsychology and those with previous geropsychological experience will receive further training with older adults, as well as strengthening of general skills. The training goals of The Center for Aging Resources are, in order of importance, to: 1) train interns in high quality, general skills in psychological assessment and diagnosis, intervention, supervision, consultation, research and inquiry, consumer protection and professional development; 2) develop interns’ understanding and skill in geropsychology; and 3) help clinicians understand community psychology, with particular focus on methods of reaching underserved populations. We train interns to be prepared for entry-level positions as general psychologists and have skills to work with older adults who may present in their general work, or to secure postdoctoral positions in geropsychology. Our model of training also follows a practitioner-scholar model. We train interns to be practitioners who apply scholarly knowledge and methods of scientific inquiry to the clinical and community situations in which they are asked to intervene. The Center provides training with emphases in 7 competency areas: Assessment and Diagnosis, Intervention, Supervision, Consultation, Research and Inquiry, Consumer Protection and Professional Development. Within the realm of Assessment and Diagnosis, intern graduates are expected to be able to: 1) Interview and accurately diagnose adults in general and older; 2) Choose appropriate assessment procedures; 3) Take into account medical condition of clients; 4) Administer dementia-screening tools; 5) Understand the necessity of using age, culture, and education-appropriate norms for assessment; and 6) Evaluate the appropriateness of the person’s environment to his/her functional abilities. Within Intervention, intern graduates will be trained to 1) Form empathic relations with a range of clients; 2) Provide clinically beneficial psychotherapeutic interventions in a variety of modalities, such as behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, interpersonal and existential approaches; 3) Develop appropriate treatment goals and treatment plans within one or more theoretical frameworks; 4) Provide psychological services to older adults with dementia; 5) Be familiar with community based interventions specifically appropriate to older adults including grief therapy and life review techniques; 6) Be familiar with intervention approaches appropriate to other underserved populations; and 7) Maintain appropriate boundaries and awareness of transference and counter transference. In the area of Supervision, intern graduates will have 1) Received supervision from at least 3 supervisory perspectives; 2) Responsibly learned from and carried out supervisory guidance; and 3) Learned principles of providing supervision. In Consultation, intern graduates will have 1) Gained experience and skill communicating with multi-disciplinary professionals, including social workers, physicians and nurses; and 2) Gained exposure to the use of psychological consultative skills in a multi-disciplinary geropsychological community. Research and Inquiry: Intern graduates are expected to 1) Understand the need to base assessments on appropriately researched and normed assessment tools; 2) Base interventions on the available foundation of scientific knowledge, outcome studies and accumulation of documented knowledge; and 3) Gain knowledge of life span development. Consumer protection: Intern graduates are expected to be trained to 1) Demonstrate clear and consistent adherence to legal and ethical principles; 2) Provide appropriate responses to emergencies; and 3) Complete necessary clinical documentation in a timely manner. Professional Development: Intern graduates are expected to be able to 1) Reliably and responsibly meet the needs of the clients and agency; 2) Work as a team; 3) Communicate effectively orally and in writing; and 4) Receive mentoring in preparing for future roles and careers. Interns are expected to achieve at least average-for-interns performance in each of the seven competency areas. Supervision, guidance and feedback are provided to interns throughout the training year to facilitate interns achieving and maintaining this level of performance. In order to develop these skills, predoctoral interns will become involved in many diverse clinical services of the Center. These services include: in-home psychotherapy with homebound seniors; individual, collateral and group psychotherapy in the clinic; psychological assessment, cognitive screening for older adults concerned with memory changes, clinical mental health outreach with hard-to-reach elders, clinical case management, consultation with multi-disciplinary professionals and psycho-educational outreach. Interns may provide group therapy, possibly including a caregivers’ support group, dementia support group, at-risk older parents group or parenting grandparents group. Cognitive screenings include the Folstein Mini-Mental State Exam, the Geriatric Depression Scale, substance abuse screening, and behavioral observation checklists. Psychological assessment batteries include a range of assessment procedures relevant to older adults. Therapy is offered largely in a longer-term model, although some clients are seen short-term. Most clients are seen throughout the training year. Interns will primarily provide services to clients in their homes; some are seen at the clinic. Interns will conduct intakes, offer limited case management services, and are on call with supervisory backup for urgent calls. Interns participate in multi-disciplinary team consultation with social workers, psychiatrists, nurses, physicians, etc., and multi-agency outreach and networking. Additional services provided can include community outreach, referral, trauma debriefings, community psycho-educational presentations and consultation. Interns receive two hours of regularly scheduled individual supervision and one hour of clinical staff consultation supervised by licensed clinical psychologists. Full-time interns receive three additional hours of group supervision per week. The three group supervisions offered focus on: Assessment, Relational Psychotherapy, and Professional Issues. Group supervision for group interventions is also available. Audiotapes of sessions are encouraged. The Center does not adhere to one particular theoretical orientation. Perspectives of the supervisors include Object Relations, Psychodynamic, Client-centered and Cognitive-behavioral, with psychodynamic perspectives being more prevalent. Interventions are planned with regard to both the longer-term conceptualization and the short-term, imminent needs of the clients. The internship begins with a one-day orientation in mid-September. Weekly, one-hour didactic seminars follow. Seminars focus on geropsychology, including: Psychotherapy with Older Adults, Elder Abuse Recognition and Reporting, Loss and Grief, Grief Therapy, Dementia, Substance Abuse, Therapy with the Cognitively Impaired, Depression and Suicide in Older Adults, Psychotic Disorders in Later Life, Psychopharmacology with Older Adults, Life Review and Reminiscence, Working with Ethnic Minority Elders, Religion and Spirituality, Death and Dying, Cognitive Behavior Therapy with Older Adults, etc. A broad array of Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health workshops is also available. The Center for Aging Resources is staffed by 5 licensed psychologists, 2 registered psychologists, 2 Masters in Social Work, 4 Psychological Assistants, as well as daycare and support staff. Trainees include 2 postdoctoral fellows, 3 predoctoral interns, 3 practicum psychology students as well as other volunteers. As Director of Training, Dr. Janet Anderson Yang oversees the training. Dr. Yang, Dr. Jamie Garis, Dr. Robin Kietzman, Dr. Sophie Eurich-Rascoe, Dr. Gia Shurgot, Dr. Regina McClure provide supervision. All psychologists are trained in geropsychology. The former 5 are licensed in the state of California; the latter one is a registered psychologist. The Center’s predoctoral internship is a member of APPIC (Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Center; 10 G Street NE, Washington DC 20002; (202) 589-0600). The internship is fully accredited as a pre-doctoral internship in clinical psychology by the American Psychological Association (750 First Street NE, Washington DC 20002-4242; (202) 336-5979). The Center offers a one-year full-time internship and a two-year half-time internship. Full-time interns will participate in the following activities and responsibilities. Half-time interns’ schedules are prorated accordingly.
Tuesdays from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm and Wednesdays from 10:00 am to 11:00 am are required for clinical meetings and training seminars. Intern, supervisors and Training Director arrange other hours as mutually agreed upon. No evening or weekend hours. Total hours per week are 40 hours full time or 20 hours half time. LENGTH OF TRAINING and STIPEND Internships begin in early September. One year (12 months), full-time positions are stipend at $15,000 plus health insurance and usual holidays. Two-year, half-time internships are stipend at $7,500 annually, with holidays. Interns receive two weeks of vacation and one week of sick leave. Vacation scheduling is negotiable, but not to be taken during the last month of training. Interns have a desk and phone usage in a common room. Computers are available for use. Most therapy is conducted in clients’ homes. Mileage reimbursement is provided. Therapy rooms are available in the clinic, by reservation for appointment time. Parking is street parking. The Center recruits applicants who are students of advanced standing from a Clinical or Counseling Psychology doctoral program. Students from APA approved programs are strongly preferred. Applicants will have completed the following requirements: Clinical preparation: at least 2 years practical training with a minimum of 1000 hours clinical training, and at least 180 hours face-to-face psychotherapy experience. Academic preparation: Completion of all doctoral course work, including courses in human development, assessment, intervention, psychopathology, professional standards and ethics, and cultural diversity, as well as doctoral dissertation proposal. Additional preparation: Expressed interest in working with older adults, expressed openness to a community-based service provision model, a valid CA driver’s license car and with active automobile insurance. Upon entry into the program, interns are expected to successfully passing background and drug screens. When all the above eligibility requirements are met, priority is placed on professional geriatric experience, additional psychotherapy experience and/or bilingual ability. APPLICATION AND SELECTION PROCESS To apply, send vita, cover letter with personal statement, APPIC application, official transcripts and 3 letters of reference to Dr. Janet Anderson Yang, Training Director, at The Center for Aging Resources; 447 N. El Molino Ave., Pasadena, CA 91101. In the personal statement, please address degree of interest in working with older adults. Application deadline is November 7h 2008. Interviews will be offered to the top candidates and will be held in January. Applicants are offered an interview based on the Center’s evaluation of depth and strength of clinical experience, doctoral course completion and geropsychology interest, in their written materials. Interviews consist of meeting with 2 psychology staff and a current trainee. Applicants are ranked for selection based on: a) degree of clinical experience; b) clinical acumen/ability to identify key clinical issues in interview case discussion; c) expressed eagerness to learn about geropsychology; d) openness to working in a community service provision model; and e) professionalism and responsibility. Additional value is placed on geriatric experience, additional psychotherapy experience and bilingual abilities. The Center will participate in the APPIC match, for which applicants and internship sites must submit rank order lists by February 4th 2009. Further information is available on the Center’s website at www.cfar1.org and from Dr. Yang by email or by mail to The Center for Aging Resources; 447 N. El Molino Ave., Pasadena, CA 91101.
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