While our program offers two separate tracks, our unifying training experience involves working with individuals who have serious mental illness in a variety of settings. Most training experiences occur within a large academic hospital setting (Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, NY). Our Psychology Internship Program is part of the University of Buffalo Department of Psychiatry, which provides us access to diverse training environments and a rich depth of highly experienced faculty. Our program places a strong emphasis on experiential learning and building confidence in clinical practice through an increasing degree of autonomy across the yearlong experience. We place a strong value on preparing interns for independent practice and emphasize professional development. Interns gain extensive experience working in interdisciplinary teams, which include psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, and licensed mental health counselors. Our teaching model values learning from individuals in multiple mental health professions, though we have a large and growing faculty of psychologists.
The program has two separate tracks, one with a focus on the developmental approach to understanding mental illness and the other with a focus on substance use and mental illness. Applicants may only apply to one Track. The program offers every intern a standardized core training experience as well as the ability to customize training through the selection of three four-month rotations that focus on a variety of clinical populations in various treatment settings.
Our Developmental Track interns have year-long responsibilities in an outpatient Child Psychiatry Clinic, the outpatient On Track early psychosis program, and ECMC’s psychiatric adult inpatient program. Our Substance Use Track interns have year-long responsibilities in Inpatient Withdrawal and Stabilization, Outpatient Substance Use Treatment services, and ECMC’s psychiatric adult inpatient program.
In addition to the year-long core program, interns in both tracks individualize their training through the selection of three other rotations, which change every four months. Interns may have the opportunity to try a new experience or gain more in-depth training in multiple areas, including forensic work, clinical work with children and adolescents, and/or working in an inpatient hospital setting. Elective rotation options include adult forensic (in a jail setting), youth forensic (a Youth Detention facility), an adolescent inpatient service, a Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP), adult or child neuropsychology, psychology rehabilitation (in a hospital setting), or research. Please see the program's website for greater detail regarding these elective rotation opportunities.
Many other optional experiences are available to interns, including participation in research, presenting their own research at local conferences and academic events (both in the larger medical school or Department of Psychiatry), supervising psychology practicum students, gaining experience conducting fitness for duty evaluations for law enforcement, and providing educational presentations to other professionals (e.g., "lunch and learns" at ECMC and grand rounds).
Our program has a strong educational component, including attendance at our weekly unified didactic program (please see our website for topics), weekly grand rounds through the UB Department of Psychiatry, and training in the Rorschach, training in administering the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANNS), amongst many other opportunities. Interns in our developmental track receive additional didactic education at the Children's Psychiatry Clinic, and Substance track interns receive weekly didactics from Dr. Ken Leonard, an internationally recognized expert in addictions. Funding is available for interns to travel and attend professional conferences.
