UIC, Dept. of Psychiatry

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Internship in Clinical Psychology
Overview

July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009

The Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois-Chicago is dedicated to providing outstanding research, education, and clinical service targeting the major psychiatric disorders of youth and adults. Our mission is to produce new and readily useful knowledge in neuroscience, prevention, social, and clinical areas that will positively affect the lives of people with mental illnesses as well as their families and communities. As part of our mission, we are dedicated to research in mental health that will ultimately enable us to prevent illness and disorder and to enhance our capacity to ameliorate and cope with these conditions until a cure is attainable. We have, therefore, developed the UIC internship in clinical psychology with the goals of teaching our students and trainees state of the art knowledge and skills while utilizing a model that emphasizes the integration of clinical work with research investigation.

The internship at UIC is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association. It offers a unique and rich training experience for those interested in learning to work effectively with children, adolescents, and adults, special populations, and individuals with cognitive and medical diagnoses. Interns may also work in schools, community agencies, or in the UIC hospital. The faculty has a strong commitment to a training model that integrates clinical service and research towards the advancement of clinical practice, assessment, and diagnosis. Trainees are offered a rich opportunity to gain practical and theoretical understanding of diagnosis, assessment, and intervention in a wide range of mental health concerns within a multidisciplinary urban mental health setting with a variety of patients of multi-ethnic origin.

The Department of Psychiatry receives referrals from many agencies and schools as well as departments within the University of Illinois Medical Center and UIC campus. Individuals also self-refer for clinical services, and we serve a diverse population. Many of our clients are from disadvantaged backgrounds, and many come to us with multiple problems. Our clinical services and clinical research grants provide the means by which we fulfill our primary responsibility for services training and research.

The main goals of the program include:

Intensive training in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders within a clinical-research model, in which clinical practice and research are integrated.
Training culturally sensitive psychologists by providing broad clinical experience across a variety of settings and populations with specific attention to issues related to individual differences and cultural diversity.
Preparing interns for practice in a variety of academic, mental health, and medical settings, in the public or private sector.

INTERNSHIP STRUCTURE

For many years, the UIC Department of Psychiatry operated separate psychology internships in child and adult areas, each fully accredited by the American Psychological Association. Currently the two programs are combined under one training model, although separate tracks are maintained in child and adult areas. Each track offers areas of "concentration" from which applicants can craft an individualized curriculum that fits their training needs and career goals. Although interns apply to and enter the program through only one of the tracks, their curriculum could include experiences across both tracks.

Eight interns will be selected for the 2006-2007 internship year, four in the child track and four in the adult track. The annual stipend is $18,750. In addition to the stipend, interns have four weeks vacation and personnel days, sick leave, medical and dental insurance, and life insurance.

Child Track: Clinical work through our outpatient clinics focuses on children with emotional and behavioral problems and their families. Experience with diagnostic intakes, psychological testing, individual, group, and family therapy, and school and community consultation is provided. Clinical opportunities are also incorporated into many of the clinical research projects, including direct service provision as well as supervision of direct service providers.

Adult Track: The patients treated by interns are diverse and include adults with serious mental illnesses, adolescents with severe emotional and behavioral disorders, university students, employed persons, medical patients, and others from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. As in the child track, experiences in assessment and psychotherapy of varying modalities are available. Integration of the science and practice of psychology is supported in all of the clinical, clinical research, and research opportunities.

Model of Integrated Training

The internship is designed to provide trainees with opportunities to be engaged actively in the integration of clinical research and practice. We adhere to the principle that psychological practice is based on the science of psychology, which, in turn, is influenced by the professional practice of psychology. Therefore, core experiences involve year-long rotations (20% time each) in a clinical research project and a clinical placement. Clinical research (CR) is defined broadly as patient-oriented research for which an investigator directly interacts with human subjects. This might include (but is not limited to) studies focused on mechanisms of human disease, therapeutic interventions, clinical trials, development of new technologies, epidemiological and behavioral studies, and outcomes and health services research. Clinical practice (C) involves direct service provision in a clinic setting, in the UIC hospital, or within the parameters of a clinical research project. Many clinic-based experiences involve intervention and/or treatment services research. Interns are expected to spend 12 hrs/wk in clinical work.

Year-long clinical research and clinical practice rotations are supplemented by four 6-month rotations (20% time each) in clinical research, clinical practice, or research opportunities (R). These rotations can be combined in a variety of ways to offer experiences that correspond to specific clinical or research interests and/or to provide breadth and exposure to clinical and research experiences (see section on Individualized Programs).

The year is rounded out by didactic experiences (20% time total), consisting of a core curriculum for all interns. In addition, specialized seminars and experiences that correspond to specific clinical or research rotations are included depending upon the intern's individualized curriculum plan for the year.