Range Mental Health Center Pre-doctoral Internship

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1 Range Mental Health Center Pre-doctoral Internship I. Philosophy, Mission Statement, and Goals The goal of the Range Mental Health Center Internship is to train independent and competent psychologists able to assess and treat a wide variety of client needs within a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary agency. There are several components to this mission. The first component is clinical. The intern will be thoroughly trained in diagnosis using DSM-IV diagnostic criteria; relevant background history gathering; behavioral observations; psychological testing using a variety of instruments; and treating clients using individual, family, and group therapy techniques. Professionally written assessments, intake, and consultation reports will be emphasized. Interns will work for a full year in the outpatient program. They will plan for client termination, do mid-course therapy evaluations, and make modifications of therapy approaches with their clients as they are needed. Use of referral resources and reference to specific therapy literature will also be taught. A second component is the practical and case management aspect of a clinical practice. Skills will include becoming efficient in paperwork, learning organizational skills, writing insurance requests and prior authorizations, setting realistic goals, dealing with client resistance and attendance problems, understanding mandated reporting requirements, and handling ethical problems. The goal is a fully functioning, practicing psychologist versed in these practical issues, as well as demonstrating clinical competence. A third component is developing an appreciation and understanding of the whole client: their personality, health, and living situation. Our clients are not just suffering from anxiety, depression, or thought disorders. They are struggling with health issues, finances, parenting responsibilities, family conflicts, school performance, friendship issues, lack of social support, job performance issues or a lack of employment, and chemical abuse or dependency. The intern will come to understand clients within the context of their families and communities, design treatment interventions to address a variety of needs, and use other services within our two agencies or outside our agencies to meet these needs. A fourth component is to develop the intern s effectiveness within a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary setting. At RMHC, our interns work side by side with psychiatrists, social workers, other mental health professionals, medical doctors, nurses, and others. The intern will learn to appreciate the unique perspective of these other professions and team with them to develop holistic treatment approaches, learn effective interactions with other professionals, and provide the unique contributions of a psychologist on a treatment team. By the end of the year, the intern should be able to function as an independent psychologist and team player. He/She should be independent enough to diagnose, plan, and treat a variety of clinical problems, use supervision and the clinical literature to evaluate and modify

2 treatment approaches, and perform routine paperwork and insurance and case management responsibilities without extensive supervision. As a team player, the intern will appreciate and become familiar with a variety of mental health services and other professionals; understand the client s social, family, and medical context; and work effectively with other professionals and other agencies to develop holistic approaches for clients varied needs II. Range Mental Health Center Brief History of the Range Mental Health Center The Range Mental Health Center was founded in 1961 as the first federally funded and chartered community mental health center in Minnesota and one of the first community mental health centers in the nation. The Center started in Virginia, MN, and initially served the communities of the eastern Mesabi Iron Range. Over the years, we have expanded to Ely, MN, and in November, 1986, we were invited to assume and develop the mental health and chemical dependency programs of the Mesabi Regional Medical Center in Hibbing, MN. Our present catchment area serves approximately 100,000 people in rural northeastern Minnesota. Range Mental Health Center has developed a national reputation for quality, cost effectiveness, and innovation. Range Mental Health Center was a pioneer in developing sexual abuse treatment in smaller communities and has consistently received awards and recognition for its Community Support Programs, which treat individuals with chronic mental illness. In 1990, Range Mental Health Center was rated as one of the ten best community mental health centers in the nation by the E. Fuller Torrey Report. Current Services A. Outpatient Adult Mental Health services include individual, family, couples, and group therapy; psychological testing; psychiatric and medication management in our Virginia, Hibbing, and Ely locations. B. Children s Outpatient Mental Health offers the same range of services as above, including skills groups, and consultations in the schools and at Headstart. Our children s mental health staff has been one of our fastest growing services. C. Community Support Programs offer in-home services, independent living skills training, supportive group counseling, and crisis intervention services to enable severe and persistent mentally ill clients to live in the least restrictive setting within our communities. The Community Support Program also provides a Drop- In Crisis Center, emergency housing resources, and an Outreach Program to the homeless mentally ill. D. Adult Day Treatment Services are offered in both our Virginia and Hibbing locations. Specific programs are offered to severe and persistent mentally ill, dual diagnosed mentally ill and mentally retarded clients, and to older adults. E. Adolescent and Children Day Treatment Services are offered at two high school area learning centers, three junior high or middle schools, and eight elementary schools. This program offers social skill training, psychotherapy, family therapy, and recreation, closely coordinated with school personnel.

3 F G Adult Partial Hospitalization Program. Offers short term intense psychological services (6 hours per day, 5 days per week over 1-3 weeks) as an alternative to hospitalization. Psychotherapy, problem solving, skills-building, symptom management, and socialization groups are offered, as well as medication management Residential Chemical Dependency. We operate an 17-bed residential chemical dependency unit at the Range Treatment Center in Virginia, MN. This is a highly structured and intensive program using a Twelve Step or Minnesota Model. This program is licensed for adults and adolescents and draws clients from throughout northeastern Minnesota and into Canada. H. Outpatient Chemical Dependent Programs include an Evening Program; a Day Treatment Program, which is similar to Partial Hospitalization; and prevention, intervention, and educational classes at local schools. I. Detoxification services are offered by us in a short-term impatient unit in Virginia, MN, in the same building as the residential chemical dependency program. J. A 24-hour crisis intervention telephone service is manned by Range Mental Health Center clinical staff on an on-call rotation. Range Mental Health Center takes particular pride in its close coordination and excellent working relationships with other community resources, especially local schools, St. Louis County Health & Human Services, both hospitals, all three local medical clinics, the probation department, the police, courts, and board and lodging facilities. Many of our programs are teamed with these resources and care is highly coordinated. Basic Design of Internship Program The internship experience will provide the student with solid grounding in outpatient mental health, along with exposure to the richness of our community mental health center through rotations among the more specialized services. The internship year will run from the fourth Monday in August to the third Friday in August. The Range Mental Health Center intern s stipend will be $19,000 plus health benefits and 24 days of vacation. Beginning in , RMHC will offer four intern positions. Two interns will have offices in the Hibbing location at nd Ave. East. Two interns will have offices at the main building in Virginia at 624 S. 13 th Street. The intern will spend approximately 24 hours/wk of his/her time in outpatient services. The outpatient assignment will be for the entire year to allow for a realistic time frame of diagnosis and case conceptualization, implementation of treatment plans, and working with clients to the resolution of their goals. Sixteen hours/wk of the intern s time will be spent in a series of four, three month long rotations through the following services: 1. Community Support Programs and/or Partial Hospitalization Program 2. Residential chemical dependency program. 3. School-based Program (Virginia interns only). 4. Psychological Testing in the Outpatient Program 5. ADAPT/ Children s Therapeutic Services (Hibbing interns only)

4 The interns will provide direct clinical care whenever they are not in supervision. Therefore, there are approximately 160 hours in a month spent at work. The interns will be spending approximately 140 hours of direct clinical care per month. A. Range Treatment Center rotation The intern works two full days per week (Tues/Thurs) for three months. He/she will attend the Tuesday morning chemical dependency staff meeting. Lead psychoeducation groups with a focus on mental illness and the needs of the current residential treatment group. The intern will provide a mental health screening on each of the patients entering the residential program. He/she will conduct diagnostic evaluations and provide individual therapy on an as needed basis. The intern will learn about and co-lead treatment groups with primary CD counselor. The focus is on the Minnesota model of chemical dependency treatment. Interns will also assist with discharge planning. B. Partial Hospital Program (Hibbing interns only) / Community Support Program/ ARMHS/Day Treatment rotation The intern will lead/colead psychoeducational groups (relapse prevention, symptom mngt., relaxation) and co-lead traditional psychotherapy group a few days per week. The intern will complete documentation for groups. Attend PHP Tuesday staff meeting (3-4) and DBT team meeting (Wed. 1-2; 1 st and 3 rd Wednesday of the month) and assist with treatment planning and discharge planning. Co-lead therapeutic groups (DBT, anger management, MI/CD). The Hibbing interns will participate in 14 hours of face to face contact total, combining PHP groups and co-leading a DBT group. C. Children s Therapeutic Services (CTSS/ADAPT) rotation Interns will participate 2 days a week in the ADAPT/CTSS summer program. Co-lead various therapeutic groups for children. Provide transportation to and from the program. Develop therapeutic curriculum. Assist with treatment plans & progress notes. Attend monthly meetings with LICSW & Program Coordinator. Participate in 2 hour Family night presentations as scheduled. Participate in meetings with parents/caregivers. Complete Diagnostic Assessments for the program. D. Special Education/School Consultation (K-12) rotation (Virginia Interns only) Intern reports to Joe Caulfield, Ed D for assignment, scheduling, concerns. Dr. Caulfield provides one hour per week of individual supervision. Participate in the program two, 8 hour days per week (Monday & Wednesday). Administer, score, and interpret psychological test batteries. Perform student observations and provide consultation to classroom teachers. Attend school staffings, test feedback sessions, and IEP meetings. Develop behavior interventions programs to address problem student behaviors. Accompany school psychologist to Nett Lake school for student observations/testing.

5 E. Psychological Testing rotation Interns will spend two days per week completing 2-3 full psychological batteries per week in the outpatient program. Test subjects age ranges from 4 years old to 90 years depending on the referral which can include a variety of questions such as assessing for autism, learning disability, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, mood disorders, personality disorders, and dementia. Police cadet and bariatric evaluations are also fairly common. The total number of hours that interns work for the year is approximately 1888 hours. III. Supervision and Training Experiences Interns will receive up to two hours per week of individual supervision from the training director at their respective sites. The interns will receive one hour of individual supervision from the psychologist or licensed psychologists assigned to the other rotational assignments. The interns will also have significant experiences in didactic training and case conferences described below: 1. Didactic Training There is one didactic seminar provided per month. The seminars are mandatory for all interns. The seminars are for 4 hours. They occur once a month on a Friday morning. The list of topics changes depending on the availability of presenters. There are several topics that have been offered every year. A copy of this year s didactic training schedule is attached. 2. Individual Supervision: Interns will receive one hour a week supervision from their primary supervisor for the entire year. Primary Supervisors are: Ericka La Mar, Psy.D., L.P. Michaela Merrill- Mayfield, Psy.D., L.P. Interns will receive one hour a week supervision from their secondary supervisor for the entire year. Secondary supervisors are: Craig Stevens, Ph.D., L.P. Chad Scott Ph.D., L.P. Joe Caufield Ed.D, L.P. Lisa Streefland, Psy.D., L.P. Carrie Chomicz Psy.D., L.P. 3. Group Supervision: Interns will participate in group supervision for 2-3 hours (depending on the rotation) per week for the entire year. The group supervision times are as follows: Multidisciplinary Case Conference = 1hour/wk for 1 year Outpatient Case Conference= 2 hours/ month for 1 year PHP group supervision= 1 hour/wk. For 3 months CD group supervision= 1.5 hours/ wk for 3 months ADAPT group supervision= 3 hours/mo. For 3 months CSP group supervision= 1 hour/wk. for 3 months DBT group supervision- 2 hours/ mo. For 3 months

6 IV. As described above, interns will have a combined total of hours of individual and group supervision per month. A total of 1888 hours of training will be accrued by interns including vacation time and holidays. Application Procedures and the National Matching Service The RMH Predoctoral Internship is a member of APPIC and participates in the National Matching Service. Applicants much register for the Match using the online registration system on the Match web site at The deadline for application materials for each year is the second Friday in December. A face-to-face interview is not required, but highly recommended. It allows a large number of our staff to meet you, and you would have a better understanding of the programs and training experiences that we have to offer with a personal visit. We offer telephone interviews if a visit is not able to be arranged.