Internship
The Psychology Internship Program at NINH is designed to combine training in clinical skills with education in neuroscience concepts. Specifically, the Program has three major goals:
- to train psychology interns in the administration, scoring, and interpretation of a variety of assessment tools;
- engage psychology interns in applied research related to trauma, psychopathology, and neuroscience;
- engage psychology interns in the provision of evidence-based clinical services to people of various ages, cultural backgrounds, and needs.
The Psychology Internship Program at NINH maintains a structured training program for all interns in order to ensure professional development within the field of psychology. The Program offers direct supervision, as well as seminars to enhance personal knowledge and professional development.
Supervision:
The Psychology Internship Program utilizes direct supervision to support the development of the Intern’s professional goals. Interns receive two-hour weekly supervision sessions with a licensed psychologist who will help the Intern integrate previously learned material with field-based service delivery. During supervision, Interns will have the opportunity to explore progress towards goals and objectives, treatment modalities, empirical questions that drive research, as well as personal career goals.
Supervision will include instruction related to treatment plan development, including the process for writing SMART goals and objectives. Documentation utilizing an electronic medical record will be reviewed, along with the use of language requirements for specific state and federal insurances.
Finally, Supervision offers opportunities for the Intern to gain insight into the professional field of psychology and may utilize a wide variety of teaching techniques such as process notes, review of written work, discussion, live or recorded observation, co-therapy, didactic exposure, and mentoring.
Seminars:
The Psychology Internship Program at NINH offers the following seminars:
- Grand Rounds is a two-hour weekly seminar where specified clinical cases are presented, which include neuropsychological assessment data, client history, and behavioral observations. Differential diagnoses are examined, as well as potential, evidence-based, therapeutic interventions.
- Assessment Seminar is a two-hour weekly seminar which includes the presentation of test administration, practice test administration, including the use of digital platforms, and review interpretation of test results.
- Neuroscience Seminar is a two-hour weekly training designed to help the intern understand the impact of one’s brain functioning on his/her mindfulness practice. The Intern will learn the process of brain mapping utilizing a qEEG and observe training with neurofeedback. Additionally, the Intern will participate in applied research combining assessment, clinical practice, and neuroscience by reviewing articles, collecting and analyzing data, and presenting at monthly round table meetings on data trends and interpretation of findings.
- Round Table is a four-hour monthly meeting in which the Intern will present a summary of the research literature on a focus-topic. The Intern will then discuss the observable trends in the data, and moderate a discussion about the research and data trends with other Interns, Neuropsychology Technicians, Clinicians, and the Internship supervisor.