Externship Training Program in Behavioral Health
(February, 2008)

Contents

Overview
Facility Description
Training Opportunities
Program Components
Training Contracts and Supervision
Evaluations
Application and Interview Process

Overview

This document summarizes the externship training program in behavioral healthcare with Friends Behavioral Health Services. Clinical and administrative training opportunities currently exist within (but are not limited to) the following service areas:

• Friends Hospital Clinical Services ( a variety of inpatient hospital programs)
• Crisis Response Center (psychiatric emergency room including rapid assessment, crisis intervention and referral)
• Hillside and Greystone Adult Residential Programs

[NOTE: training opportunities and sites are subject to change with limited notice due to rapid changes in the healthcare marketplace]

This program is open to applicants from doctoral level psychology programs at the pre-internship (practicum) level.

Facility Description

Friends Hospital was founded in 1813 and was the first private non-profit hospital in America devoted exclusively to helping and serving the needs of the mentally ill. Currently, Friends Hospital has a total of 192 inpatient beds and a number of specialty units including eating disorders, older adult, general adult, children (5-12), adolescent (13-18) and a women’s unit. Adult residential programs are located on the main hospital campus. The hospital also provides the community with a state of the art 24/7 psychiatric crisis center. Taken together, these programs and resources serve a heterogeneous patient population of all ages, racial, socioeconomic, ethnic and cultural backgrounds with a wide range of psychiatric diagnoses, co-morbid diagnoses, and personal strengths and resources.

For further information on Friends Hospital’s many clinical services and programs, please visit our web site at www.FriendsHospitalOnline.org.

Training Opportunities

Friends Hospital has a longstanding commitment to academic and professional training. For over 19 years the hospital has sponsored a 12 month pre-doctoral internship program in clinical psychology that is accredited by the American Psychological Association. Training and educational affiliations exist with Drexel University, Jefferson University, Widener University and LaSalle University for psychiatric residents, nursing students and other trainees.

Due to a sustained high level of interest from regional graduate and undergraduate training programs, Friends Hospital has developed this externship to provide formal training and clinical opportunities for a broad range of students preparing to enter the mental health services field. These positions will not be funded, but will offer flexibility in terms of hours and types of opportunities and will provide formal and informal didactic training and clinical supervision. The externship is administered by the doctoral internship Training Director, and includes the participation of the hospital’s medical, nursing and professional psychology and social work staff and the doctoral level interns (this is described in more detail in the section below.) Supervision and training opportunities may also be arranged with other clinical and administrative hospital staff.

Program Components

The behavioral health externship position available is a graduate level position (pre-internship level doctoral students). A minimum of 16 hours per week over two or more days is required; more is preferred. A 12 month commitment is preferred however shorter commitments will be considered.

Listed below are a sample of activities (by externship level) that students may become involved in during their training. These activities may be tailored to fit individual student interests and skill levels or altered at times to fit with the changing needs and training opportunities within the hospital. Individual training plans or contracts will be developed and documented during the interview and acceptance process.

Graduate Externship (Practicum) Level:

Graduate students ( pre-internship level doctoral students) may participate in the following types of activities:

Receive training and supervised experience in the Crisis Response Center, which includes rapid assessments, level of care determinations, crisis intervention and triage.

Co-lead and/or lead inpatient and residential psychotherapy groups with psychology faculty, interns or professional staff.

Meet with inpatients and residential clients for individual psychotherapy.

Co-conduct or conduct short-term family sessions with inpatients and their families to address issues related to hospitalization and discharge.

Attend inpatient/residential community meetings and co-conduct/conduct psycho-educational groups, as well as prepare and deliver psycho-educational modules for inpatient and residential populations.

Attend multidisciplinary treatment team meetings and support the development and documentation of inpatient treatment plans.

Document interventions in the medical record 

Those students with appropriate graduate-level courses and experience in assessment will also have opportunities to assist in the administration and  scoring of personality, cognitive and psychodiagnostic test batteries  under the supervision of the psychology faculty. Interns have priority for all testing opportunities.

Receive training in utilization review to obtain approval from insurance companies for inpatient services. Knowledge of DSM IV is a requirement; knowledge of psychopharmacology is desirable.

Provide support for the hospital’s numerous institutional accreditation’s (DPW, JCAHO, MCOs, etc.) which may include inpatient  medical record audits.

Facilitate the acquisition of  inpatient clinical outcome measures data as well as patient satisfaction survey data.

Other clinical and/or administrative duties as indicated and assigned by supervisor

Attend in-service training programs, case conferences, didactic seminars, and various mental health lectures that occur on a weekly basis (with psychology and psychiatry faculty, fellows, residents and interns). A wide variety of topics in behavioral healthcare are covered in these educational activities including but not limited to:

• Assessment and diagnosis
• Individual, group and family therapy
• Mental health administration and service delivery
• Diversity, cross cultural and individual differences
• Health psychology
• Anxiety, affective and psychotic disorders
• Addictions
• Professional practice issues
• Professional ethics, mental health law and procedure
• Eating disorders, geropsychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry
• Psychopharmacology
• Training Contracts and Supervision

While some graduate training programs in the behavioral health field have established specific requirements for practicum experiences, some do not. There are programs that use fixed training contracts while others allow practicum experiences to be individually designed by the student and the agency. Where feasible, the Friends Hospital externship program will attempt to meet an applicant’s program specific contractual requirements for clinical experience, training and supervision. It is incumbent upon the student to know what these requirements are and to monitor compliance. In cases where there is no pre-existing training contract from the student’s school, the externship program will create one with the extern, which will include the following information:

Specific start and end dates for the duration of the student’s experience

Delineation of the minimum hours per week and days of service (not less than 16 hours per week)

Description of the types of clinical and training activities the student will participate in

If indicated, a clear description of any and all boundaries or limitations on the student's activities

Delineation of the student’s reporting relationships and names, titles and functions of all supervisory personnel

Clinical or other personal training goals

Description of evaluation procedures

Externship is designed to offer exposure to multiple levels of clinical supervision. Basic supervisory coverage is as follows:

All externs will receive a hospital based clinical and administrative orientation.

All externs will receive a unit/service based clinical and administrative orientation.

All externs are subject to supervisory input from all hospital professional personnel at all times

All externs will receive a minimum of 1 hour of scheduled formal group supervision weekly under the direction of a licensed doctoral level psychologist.

All pre-doctoral level externs will receive one hour of individual supervision weekly with a licensed doctoral level psychologist.

Externs may additionally be supervised by an intern for 1 hour per week depending on unit assignment.

Other supervisory needs or requirements are assessed and addressed on a case by case basis. As noted above, where feasible, the externship will attempt to work with the student or program to satisfy requirements. This includes consideration of the student’s quality, experience and commitment as well as the hospital’s resources.

The diversity in Friends Behavioral Health System’s clinical programs and the patient populations they serve is mirrored in the different types of supervisory experiences available to externs. Clinical supervision and training are provided by licensed psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, psychiatrists and psychology and psychiatric residents, post-doctoral psychology fellows and pre-doctoral psychology interns. Other professional hospital management and administrative personnel from departments such as marketing and business development, finance and hospital/health system operations provide administrative supervision and training.

The Training Director and other senior level licensed psychologists directly supervise all  psychology  pre-doctoral interns offering supervision. In addition to the training in supervision received through their own graduate programs, non-licensed doctoral level personnel providing supervision will attend a weekly seminar in supervision.  The licensed supervisor always has ultimate responsibility and control of both the supervisee and extern’s actions.

Evaluations

The externship program at Friends Hospital will provide program specific evaluations as can be reasonably accommodated. When a student has multiple supervisory experiences, evaluation is determined by consensus and a composite evaluation is written. The externship program will provide a formal written evaluation for each extern at the end of training on its own form if one is not provided by the student’s program.

If any concerns regarding an extern’s clinical performance or professional behavior arise, the primary supervisor will personally meet with the extern and attempt to resolve the problem. In the event this first level of intervention is unsuccessful, or in serious cases, the externship director and/or the director of Human Resources will intervene and if indicated, will contact the extern’s graduate program director and/or faculty advisor.

The Director of Psychology Training at Friends Hospital is ultimately responsible for the program and is available to all externs and their program directors for assistance.

Application and Interview Process

It is preferred that the student begin the application process at least 2-3 months prior to the desired start date. We prefer externs start in the fall but will consider other dates.  Applications should be submitted in writing to:

Paula Humphries, Psy.D.
Director of Psychology
Friends Hospital
4641 Roosevelt Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19124-2399
215-831-5380
phumphries@fbhs.org

For program information call:

Sally A. Dylinski
Administrative Assistant to
Paula Humphries, Psy.D.
Director of Psychology
Friends Hospital
4641 Roosevelt Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA  19124
Phone:  215-831-4057
Fax:      215-831-4563
Email:  sdylinski@fbhs.org

Applications are accepted at any time but are processed and decisions rendered only when they are complete. Personal interviews or group interviews are scheduled for those qualified applicants whose stated goals and needs best fit with the available opportunities and resources at a given time.

Applications will be evaluated only when complete. A completed application should include all of the following:

• A cover letter indicating the applicant’s specific interest in Friends Hospital, the type of externship experiences desired and the start and end dates and hours/days sought. A brief mention of how your education and experience have prepared you for what you want to accomplish as an extern. It is the responsibility of the applicant to verify that the externship at Friends Hospital (as described in this document) meets or exceeds his/her academic program’s requirements for supervision and evaluation as well as provide a name and contact number for the student’s externship/practicum advisor.
• An up-to-date resume highlighting formal and informal education, clinical and research experience, and achievements and work history both within psychology and otherwise.
• A current official transcript from the student’s program.
• Two letters of recommendation (including contact phone numbers). At least one of the recommendations must be from a faculty member and/or program director; the other may be a second faculty member or a reference that is familiar with the student’s character, academic background and clinical skills.

Formal acceptance as an extern at Friends Hospital is always contingent on the satisfaction of the following requirements:

• Specific hours, days, and start and stop date being mutually agreed upon and explicitly documented.
• Documented training and supervision agreement
• Completion of Human Resource database includes emergency contact information
• A signed and dated Friends Hospital Confidentiality Statement
• Satisfactory provision of an original "State of Pennsylvania" 1) Child Abuse Clearance and 2) Criminal Background Check. These are required of all personnel having contact with patients and/or confidential records. After a formal extern offer is made, please contact your school to obtain these forms.  If you are not able to obtain these forms from your school, you may contact Sally Dylinski at 215-831-4057.  The state charges a nominal fee for each of these 2 clearances. Out-of-state residents are required to obtain fingerprinting criminal clearances through their local police precinct (primary residence). Please note that this may take up to 90 days for all non Pennsylvania residents.
• Current insurance certificate from the extern’s academic program/institution or an outside insurance underwriter (e.g. APA student insurance) verifying the student named is covered by malpractice insurance.
• A medical clearance (Fit for Duty) form* signed by your personal physician or a copy of a recent school physical.

 Copyright © 2000 Friends Hospital. All rights reserved.
Revised: February 01, 2008