This internship is accredited by the American Psychological Association and adheres to the Scholar-Practitioner model of training. The program aims to help interns become competent and knowledgeable psychologists working with a seriously mentally ill adult inpatient population. Although the majority of individuals carry diagnoses of schizophrenia or some other thought disorder, individuals with diagnoses of substance-related, mood, anxiety, and/or personality disorders are also well represented. The facility provides treatment using a multidisciplinary psychiatric rehabilitation model. The clinical training provides each intern with a unique opportunity to gain practical experience in assessment and intervention with a diverse patient population. The program's goals include increasing awareness of and sensitivity to the diversity, social, and psychological needs of special populations while learning to adapt traditional approaches to meet these needs. Interns will be afforded the opportunity to participate in a variety of treatment modalities while receiving direct supervision and formal didactic training. Interns will have a minimum of two hours of individual supervision with licensed psychologists as well as two hours of weekly group supervision, including case conference meetings, supervision of supervision group, and DBT consultation group. Additionally, on a weekly basis, interns will receive two hours of didactic seminars in the areas of assessment, diversity, forensic, trauma-informed care, or general psychology.
The internship program at SFSH offers two different tracks that are integrated with the core curriculum. Two matched interns would have an opportunity to receive focused training in the area of forensic psychology, and the other intern would have an opportunity to receive focused training in the area of clinical psychology. Independently of the track, all interns will have the opportunity to build skills in the areas of forensics, psychological assessment, and behavior assessment and consultation, as they complete a core curriculum in clinical practice.