The Child Guidance Center of Southern Connecticut doctoral internship program provides a varied experience that will support interns in the development of their base of knowledge, their clinical skills, and their professional identity. Interns will receive training in individual, play, family, and group psychotherapy. As we are a community-based agency, our interns will gain experience working with a patient population that is diverse with regard to ethnicity, SES, and diagnosis. Training therefore includes emphasis on broad-based and empirically validated skills involved in listening and communicating with child patients across these spectrums. Training additionally includes a strong emphasis on the development of cultural awareness and self-reflection. The internship will include comprehensive training in clinical and developmental assessment with synthesis of dynamic, systemic, cognitive, biological, environmental and cultural influences. Interns will have the opportunity to gain experience in cognitive, educational, and projective testing. Training begins with a two week orientation which includes, among other things, learning clinical procedures, using our electronic record system, meeting with all supervisors, description of agency programs, mandatory reporter training, and receipt of all seminar schedules and syllabi, along with receipt and discussion of the agency's grievance and due process procedures for interns.
All interns will be required to present a Grand Rounds lecture before the end of the internship year. There will also be the opportunity for interns to receive training in specialty areas such as pre-school consultation, parent engagement, and crisis intervention. Training will take place through a variety of modalities including 2 hours weekly of individual supervision for treatment cases provided by licensed psychologist/supervisors. Didactic seminars in a variety of topics including play therapy, group therapy, and working with parents will all include the opportunity for case presentation and group supervisory experiences. Interns will also participate in interdisciplinary treatment planning teams, staff development seminars, didactic seminars designed specifically for trainees, case conferences, and staff meetings.
Interns function as an active member of our mobile crisis team on the Crisis Rotation, and provide comprehensive psychosocial evaluations and developmental evaluations.
A complete description of the program can be found on our website: https://childguidancect.org/apa-accredited-doctoral-psychology-internship/