Fraser comprises three complementary programs in which interns receive education and training in professional psychology, including preparation for post-doctoral fellowships or entry-level practice. These training activities are primarily experiential in nature, and have been designed to be sequential, cumulative and graded in complexity. Over the course of the training year and through didactic and supervised clinical experiences, interns gain competency in all of the substantive areas of professional psychology relevant to the presenting problems and concerns of children and families.
The Fraser psychology Internship program is structured around three four-month evaluation rotations. Interns will gain experience providing psychological evaluations in three rotations: Early Childhood Evaluation Rotation (birth through five), Children and Adolescent Evaluation Rotation (six and older) and Neuropsychology Evaluation Rotation. The Early Childhood Evaluation Rotation and Children and Adolescent Evaluation Rotation evaluations consist of mental health and autism spectrum disorder cases. The Neuropsychology Rotation typically involves children ages 6 through 18, although some younger children and young adults are also seen. Each rotation ensures interns will provide comprehensive evaluations for a variety of presenting concerns. Evaluations include completing a review of records, a clinical interview, collaborating with referring and other providers, completing a range of psychological measures, and providing feedback. Interns are supervised in completing, scoring, and interpretation of the measures, providing feedback, as well as in writing comprehensive, integrative psychological reports.
Up to four hours per week is protected for the intern to be involved in research or program development/evaluation with Fraser psychologists or other staff. Interns receive two hours of graduated didactics devoted to professional issues and ethics, individual and cultural diversity, assessment procedures and techniques, and empirically-supported treatments for children with diverse and complex developmental and mental health challenges and their families.
Fraser’s long history, experience with the early childhood population, reputation for excellence and rapid expansion across a metropolitan area create an array of opportunities for interns, including cutting-edge multigenerational work in trauma and prevention and consultation to educational, human service/courts and health care systems.
The core of professional psychology training at the internship level is supervision by licensed, doctoral-level psychologists who are involved in continuing knowledge acquisition and generation, and thus able to serve as strong role models. The Fraser internship provides both intense and high-quality supervision, with each intern having three supervisors, one/rotation, from each of whom they receive at least one hour per week of individual supervision. The three year-long supervisors include a neuropsychologist and one psychologist each to supervise psychotherapy cases in the Fraser Mental Health (FMH) and Autism Center of Excellence (ACE) programs. In both of these programs, Fraser utilizes evidence-based treatments, including Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and Child-Parent Psychotherapy in FMH and both behavioral and developmental interventions for autism spectrum disorders in ACE. Each intern also has additional supervisors for the developmental, psychological and family assessments which they provide in the FMH and ACE rotations. Beyond all of this individual supervision, interns participate in and present to weekly case conferences attended by Fraser’s multidisciplinary staff, including all mental health professions as well as speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists, educational specialists and consulting pediatric neurologists and child psychiatrists.
