The Rochester Psychology Internship Consortium (previously Priority Behavioral Health Internship Program at the College of Health Science and Technology (CHST) at Rochester Institute of Technology) is a consortium internship training program. The training program represents a cooperative endeavor between Rochester Institute of Technology and clinical placement sites within Rochester Regional Health (RRH), Hillside Children’s Center, Coordinated Care Services Inc (CCSI), Rochester Psychological Assessment & Testing (RPAT), Ontario County Mental Health (OCMH), and University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) Strong Recovery. Rochester Institute of Technology’s College of Health Science and Technology functions as a hub for the internship faculty, didactic training, and administrative processes.
Interns spend 4 days a week with their clinical track and 1 day a week with the entire cohort for additional supervision, didactics, clinical discussions, and scholar activities.
This internship year is first and foremost a supervised, intensive, experiential learning opportunity focused on the delivery of psychological services. The program embraces a scientist-practitioner model in which theory and evidence routinely inform professional practice and each intern has protected time to pursue a scholarly activity that can center on research, program evaluation, clinical care, or education. The training is competency-based.The training curriculum has been designed in accordance with the internship program’s required competencies. Each competency is met through both experiential and didactic training. While in their primary clinical settings, interns provide supervised behavioral health intervention and/or assessment services to individuals from diverse backgrounds. Intervention may include individual, group, and/or family therapy, and may be provided for children, adolescents and/or adults, depending on the primary clinical placement. Psychological assessment also is provided at each placement site, and interns are expected to administer, interpret, and provide written synthesis of psychological test batteries. Therapy clients, number of assessments, consultation work, and research vary depending on the specific site.
Interns across clinical sites have the opportunity to gain experience working with and consulting across a variety of disciplines as a major component of their training program, as each track involves collaboration across various systems of care. Experiences may involve collaboration and consultation with various agencies and/or providers within multiple care disciplines and settings.
All interns are provided with didactic and experiential training in the use of telehealth and interactive therapeutic technologies, as these skills are critical for providers in highly underserved areas and are core to the mission of the program.
Interns are provided with regular supervision, which focuses on clinical skills development as well as addressing such issues as ethics, diversity, and professionalism. Interns are also provided with training in the effective provision of supervision and are given opportunities to practice these skills through the provision of supervision to undergraduate students who provide support to the interns’ scholar projects.
All Interns are expected to conduct research at the internship sites through at least one ongoing “scholar project”, the focus of which is determined collaboratively between the primary supervisors and the intern.
A priority is placed on professional development, including assistance to doctoral fellows in securing opportunities after internship such as post-doctoral fellowships and employment. Our clinical sites have an interest in hiring the next generation of leaders.
Please visit our website in order to explore the various clinical sites: Priority Behavioral Health & Clinical Psychology Internship | College of Health Sciences and Technology | RIT