The aim of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center (CPC) Doctoral Internship Program in Psychology is to provide an extensive planned and programmed sequence of training experiences which insures that our interns engage in compassionate, culturally appropriate, and evidenced-based mental health services for our psychiatric patients. Creedmoor offers a unique training opportunity for doctoral students in that it is one of the largest New York State Office of Mental Health adult psychiatric facilities to offer an extensive range of treatment modalities and clinical conceptualizations. Creedmoor has a culturally diverse patient population and staff which represent the multi-ethnic blend of this geographic area. The facility’s comprehensive service delivery focuses on individualized person-centered care in its in-patient treatment wards, out-patient Wellness and Recovery Centers, and residences, all aimed at supporting each patient’s path to recovery.
This highly sought-after internship creates a dynamic and creative learning environment in which education, training, experience, supervision, role-modeling, and mentoring blend with the interns’ strengths and abilities toward the achievement of their professional competencies. The supervisors and all psychologists in the program are extensively trained with years of experience in psychiatric settings. Their theoretical backgrounds and clinical interventions are broad and comprehensive which meet the challenges of the patients’ needs and abilities. The interns have the valuable opportunity of becoming a full member of multidisciplinary treatment teams which provide additional active and integrative learning environments. Having a strong interest in working with those in a culturally diverse and underserved population who have social, economic, educational, intellectual, cognitive, psychiatric, and legal challenges is in line with the mission of this facility.
The internship provides a formalized program of supervised training using a Practitioner-Scholar model which guides interns in integrating their graduate education into clinical practice. The interns are offered a broad and comprehensive experience which provides them with sequential learning opportunities toward their development as professional psychologists. The program assures breadth and depth of training and incorporates theory and evidenced-based practices so that the interns develop competencies as clinicians to manage and treat those with serious and persistent mental illness. One of the many highlights of the program is the four day per week in-patient placement with a one day per week out-patient placement. This experience allows the interns to develop a comprehensive knowledge of the full continuum of psychiatric treatment.
The Internship Program has the full support of the Executive Director, the Clinical Director, the CPC Cabinet, the Chiefs of Service, and the Treatment Team Leaders. The program supports the hospital’s mission of providing a high level of mental health services by the assignment of interns to direct care responsibilities for patients and the integration of the interns into the clinical teams. The program itself is chaired by Lawrence Shapiro, Ph.D., Training Director. The Director of Psychology, Constance Freeman, Ph.D., provides the administrative overview of the program.
