Psychology Internship Program
Mission Statement
The mission of the Nebraska Mental Health Centers Psychology Internship Program (NMHC-PIP) is to provide comprehensive, compassionate, effective mental health services to a diverse population of children, adolescents, adults, and their families. In addition to the provision of services to the public, the mission is accomplished by training future generations of mental health professionals in an open learning environment, building upon individual values and strengths, instilling an understanding of personal infinite potential within each individual, inviting and embracing the inevitability of change, keeping abreast of the latest scientific discoveries, and striving for excellence in meeting the dynamic health care needs of a diverse society.
Philosophy
It is the goal of NMHC-PIP to provide a spirited and safe environment enabling the successful transition from student into psychologist. To accomplish this goal, a philosophy of individualized development and supervision serves as the basis to train its interns to be competent and worthy practitioners with the ability to adapt and thrive in the ever-burgeoning field of psychology. These require an appreciation for the scientific basis behind the tools of the trade as well as how practice and outcome literature continually reforms the individual practitioner and psychology as a whole. Interns learn to incorporate the Developmental-Apprentice-Practitioner model into the foundation of their professional selves, which allows for better use of future learning and more continual self-analysis of their own methods of practice. As training is highly valued and regarded, NMHC-PIP provides an opportunity to practice and learn with the support and guidance of a knowledgeable clinical team. Over the course of the program, interns are exposed to an increasing amount of responsibility and expectations in regard to their knowledge of the field. With a diverse population served of varying ages, socio-economic classes and clinical presentations, NMHC-PIP offers a variety of special interests for interns to choose from.
Basic Requirements of the Internship Program
The internship program is designed as a 12-month learning experience with no less than 40 and no more than 50 hours per week for a total of at least 2,000 hours, beginning the first week of September and ending the first week of September the following year, unless there is a written agreement between the parties involved for alternative dates. NMHC requires interns to spend at least 50% of their time involved in direct, face-to-face service delivery.
All interns must have completed the necessary coursework and practicum training required of a regionally accredited doctoral level psychology program. Additionally, interns accepted are from an American Psychological Association accredited psychology program in order to ensure that interns have an adequate education prior to entering their internship year.
The Training Staff
Lee Zlomke, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and one of the primary supervisors for the NMHC-PIP Program. Dr. Zlomke specializes in behavioral treatments and interventions for a wide array of clinical presentations and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychological Specialties in Forensic Child Psychology.
Linda Hunter, Psy.D. is a fully licensed clinical psychologist who received her doctorate from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia and holds a current interest in forensic psychology. She operates a general rural psychology practice in Northeast Nebraska. Dr. Hunter performs court evaluations in Fremont for parental custody cases and has recently been approved as a provider of services for sex offenders and substance abuse clients for the State of Nebraska.
Lisa Logsden, Psy.D. is a provisionally licensed psychologist (full licensure anticipated 11/11) who completed her doctorate at California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University in San Francisco. She provides treatment and psychological evaluations at both the Lincoln and Fremont offices. She specializes in children and families, adolescents, autism spectrum disorders (particularly Asperger's Disorder), severe and persistent mental illness, and substance abuse treatment.
Megan Reddy, Ph.D., is a Provisionally Licensed Mental Health Practitioner and coordinates the Outpatient Substance Abuse Program at NMHC. She specializes in treating complex trauma through emotion-focused therapy, biofeedback, and mindfulness. Her interests include learning disability assessment, psychological assessment of children and adults, disability evaluations, parenting evaluations for child protective services, and neuropsychological testing of children and adults. Dr. Reddy served her internship at NMHC during the 2010-2011 year.
Sean Thomas, Psy.D. is a provisionally licensed psychologist with several years of experience assessing and treating persons with sexual offending behaviors and dangerous aggressive behaviors. He has expertise and interests in neuropsychological assessment and treatment planning for persons with cognitive impairments.
Natalie Swift, Psy.D. is a provisionally licensed psychologist. She has expertise in developing helping relationships and specialized interventions with culturally diverse clients. Dr. Swift currently works with persons with developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental health challenges and forensic assessments of patient's disabilities.
Jill Zlomke McPherson, MA, LIMHP, is a Licensed Independent Mental Health Practitioner and graduated with a Masters in Educational Psychology-Community Counseling from the University of Nebraska in 2005. She began her career as a therapist at NMHC before serving as Treatment Coordinator at Excelsior Youth Centers in Aurora, Colorado and later Director of Outpatient Therapy for Pediatric Psychology Associates in Beatrice. Her areas of specialization include cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal relationships and healthy communications, PTSD, and general mental health services surrounding issues of depression, anxiety, and adjustment disorders.
Intern Job Description
NMHC's interns must hold a masters degree or equivalent, finished all the doctoral class work, and be licensed as a Provisionally Licensed Mental Health Practitioner or Licensed Mental Health Practitioner and psychological assistant with the State of Nebraska.
Clinical
- 1000 hours of direct patient contacts
- 2000 total hours in a 52 week period
- Maintenance of adequate caseload to obtain the required hours
- Maintain documentation
- Attend all supervisions, ongoing training, and professional development seminars that are provided by Nebraska Mental Health Centers
- Complete psychological testing and assessments with their supervisors
- Follow the policies and procedures as described in NMHC manuals
- Provide all clinical services and maintain professional behaviors within APA ethical guidelines
Administrative
- Maintain documentation and authorization with the front office staff
- Ensure testing materials are returned to their proper location; ensure materials restocked when low
- Participate in Clinical Group Supervision (CGS)
- Maintain marketing contacts weekly
- Participate in continued development of the business aspects of the clinic
- Attend weekly face-to-face supervision with primary and adjunct supervisors as prescribed by APA, APPIC and State of Nebraska licensing requirements, if required.
- Participate in peer-to-peer intern supervision.
Services
NMHC provides psychological care for children, adolescents, adults and families through individual, marital, family and group therapy. The following is included in our service delivery:
Outpatient Programs for individual, couple and family needs across a diverse range of presenting issues. Multidisciplinary and integrated coordinated treatment protocols are unique to NMHC and provide interns great experience in diagnosis-specific treatment. Biofeedback and neurofeedback are also provided on an outpatient basis. Additionally, NMHC provides an Intensive Outpatient Chemical Dependency Group three times per week.
Inpatient Assessment and Treatment for adult and geriatric administered to patients experiencing a suspected neurological condition for the purpose of medical and psychological treatment and/or placement needs.
Assessments for all ages including: Achievement, Social Functioning, Intellectual Functioning, Personality, Forensic Issues, Psychological and Neuropsychological evaluations.
Programs & Groups:
Stress Management
Employee Relations
Managing Chronic Pain
Women's Issues
Grief & Loss
Domestic Violence/Batterer Intervention Program
Substance Abuse Aftercare
Eating Disorders
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Men's Issues
Mental Health Medications
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Anxiety Disorders
Depressive Disorders
Peak Performance
Consultative Services will be a major component of the intern's training experience. Each intern will participate as a psychologist-consultant in case conferences regarding psychological assessment, psychotherapy issues, and general patient management.
The Program
It is the goal of NMHC-PIP to provide a spirited and safe environment enabling the successful transition from student into psychologist. To accomplish this goal, a philosophy of individualized development and supervision serves as the basis to train its interns. The NMHC-PIP strives to teach interns to be competent and worthy practitioners, with the ability to adapt and thrive in the ever-burgeoning field of psychology. As training is highly valued and regarded, NMHC-PIP provides a true learning experience by offering knowledge and guidance without forcing interns to feel they are already in practice with absolute responsibility over their cases. With a wide variety of populations served including all ages, socio-economic classes, and clinical presentations, NMHC-PIP has a breadth of opportunity for interns to choose from in order to suit their specialty interests. Although allowing for personal choice, NMHC-PIP also ensures a wide variety of clinical experiences is gained by offering eight specific training opportunities.
For all interested students, it is important to understand the internship program itself has developed into a premier medical-psychology training center. Our goal is to teach young psychologists to be primary healthcare providers. That entails acquiring the knowledge to take the lead for patients in providing first-line psychologically based treatment as well as managing the patient's overall health care which requires making appropriate referrals and integrating the resulting evaluations and treatment.
Though we offer an internship experience of significant breadth, there is an underlying biopsychosocial model to all that we do. As a medical psychology internship, equal emphasis of the biological basis of mental illness is taught at similar depth of what is afforded psychological and sociological factors. Therefore, education provided through our internship program includes training of the biological etiologies and treatment of mental illness. This is accomplished through an integrated psychology and medical practice, incorporated into one comprehensive health care clinic.
NMHC-PIC requires the interns each internship year to have 50% direct face-to-face clinical service activity. This must equal 1000 hours at the end of the internship year. This is tracked by the NMHC Practice Administrator on a weekly basis and the information is provided to each intern's intensive individual supervisor.
Supervision
Interns receive two hours of scheduled, face-to-face individual supervision from their Intensive supervisor once per week as well as clinical group supervision and intern group supervision adds to an overall total of 4 hours of supervision per week. Additionally, much of the inpatient work is accomplished alongside a supervisor, providing daily contact. Such activities as briefing and debriefing group therapy, team meetings, treatment and discharge planning conferences provide rich learning and supervisory experiences.
Training
A weekly psychological and neuropsychological testing group and EPPP Study group are held for one hour each week. There is also a weekly didactic scheduled once per week, the list of topics is below. This is a total of 3 hours of didactic activities each week.
Didactics
Yet another aspect of the structured training offered by NMHC-PIP is weekly didatics covering a broad spectrum of topics. The purpose of these weekly meetings is to refresh interns on already familiar topics of clinical practice, provide new and more in-depth knowledge of material in the intern's repertoire and to furnish important information that is essential to the practice of psychology, but not taught in the traditional graduate program. This material includes understanding managed care, business administration of clinical practice, multicultural issues and more. A full list of topics for the weekly seminars is provided below. Each meeting is scheduled for sixty minutes and will commence one time each week for the entire 46 weeks of the internship program.
Training Site Locations
NMHC is a multi-site and multidisciplinary organization. The NMHC clinics (Lincoln and Fremont) and PPA sites (Beatrice, Lincoln, and Holdrege) are utilized for the internship program that covers eastern and southeastern Nebraska. In addition, the interns will provide services in hospitals, nursing programs, and day treatment programs.
A list of nursing homes affiliated with NMHC and in which interns will provide services are as follows:
Lancaster Manor - Lincoln, NE
The Ambassador - Lincoln, NE
Independence House - Lincoln, NE
Wilber Care Center - Wilber, NE
Beatrice Manor - Beatrice, NE
Good Samaritan- Beatrice, NE
Tabitha - Lincoln, NE
Tabitha Long Term Care - Crete, NE
The NMHC-PIP may also provide services to additional nursing homes not listed here.
The Evaluation Process
Formal evaluations will occur quarterly with the first commencing in mid-December, for a total of four evaluations during the internship year. Each intern will have two supervisors that split the intern's caseload and quarterly evaluations. It is the responsibility of the supervisors to provide ongoing evaluation and feedback to all of their interns. Both supervisors consult to arrive at a final evaluation of each intern at the end of the internship year. Other supervisors or site directors that spent a significant amount of time with any intern will be expected to submit an evaluation at the discretion of the training director. The intern will meet individually with the primary supervisor to review his or her evaluations. This process is designed to provide both evaluative feedback and suggestions and recommendations for improvement. Assuming that there is no aspect of the intern's performance that has been rated "Needs Substantial Improvement", both supervisors and the intern sign the evaluation indicating that both parties have reviewed it. A copy will be sent to the training director for review. If necessary, the training director will schedule a second meeting with each intern to integrate and discuss the intern's progress through the program noting areas of strength and skills the intern could improve. It is also at this time the intern can discuss their perceptions and any concerns on their experience within the program and to call attention to any problems felt with their supervisors. The training director and intern may modify the intern's program to fulfill the needs of the intern or of the Internship Program on a case by case basis.
Training Opportunities
There is a combination of training opportunities during the internship year that provide a vast array of experiences for interns in order to sequentially and thoroughly train him or her for the delivery of psychological services beyond the level achieved as a practicum student. Each specific training opportunity has designated objectives. Interns participate as an active contributor to the selection process regarding number and intensity of rotations completed. All interns must complete training opportunities in diagnostics, psychological assessment and general outpatient psychotherapy in addition to geriatrics, children and adolescents, developmental disabilities, rural practice, domestic violence and substance abuse group therapy. The Training Director meets with the interns to devise a sequential training plan at the beginning of the program. There is also an ongoing opportunity for interns to gain experience in specialized areas of interest.
Interns complete training opportunities of general diagnostic, psychological assessment, and general outpatient psychotherapy within the Lincoln, Fremont, and Beatrice offices. In addition, they complete six other training opportunities including geriatrics, pediatrics, developmental disabilities, rural practice, domestic violence, and substance abuse group therapy. Other elective training opportunities, such as neuropsychology and forensic psychology, are offered and available to all interns who demonstrate interest. Total number of hours completed during the internship year will be at least 2000.
The objectives for each training opportunity are described below and are designed to work in conjunction with the overarching objectives described above:
Outpatient Psychotherapy
Objectives:
- To develop and enhance skills in psychotherapy, consultation, emergency intervention, and supervision
- To continue the development of the intern in the knowledge and application of theoretical, scientifically validated models of treatment
- To familiarize the psychological intern with the outpatient population and their needs
- To prepare the psychological intern for practice in an outpatient setting
- To develop attitudes, behaviors, and skills which enhance private practice activity/clinic activity
Interns will manage a patient caseload throughout the entirety of the internship. The patients will present with a wide array of psychological disorders and are seen in the Lincoln and satellite offices.
General Psychological Assessment
Objectives:
- To enhance skills in utilizing and understanding various tests, test battery selection, and writing skills
- To gain an interactive grasp and appreciation for the assessment mentality which characterizes clinical psychology
- To develop an ability to utilize the information generated by testing for specific requested purposes
- To develop and enhance familiarity with a variety of assessment instruments, processes, and applications
Interns will conduct and interpret a wide array of psychological assessments Lincoln for the entirety of the internship.
Child and Adolescent
Objectives:
- To develop an understanding of accurate diagnosis of children within the influence of a dynamic family structure
- To gain an appreciation for the complexities of psychological assessment with children
- To understand the intergenerational nature of family behavior and functioning
- To identify family life cycle issues that may be blocking healthy individual and family development
- To identify the sequence of behaviors in individual and family functioning and intervene for therapeutic change
Interns will involve themselves in behavioral interventions, psychotherapy, school involvement, and family therapeutic interventions through the Fremont pediatric office. Also, they will complete the administration of neuropsychological, psychoeducational and psychological assessments of children and adolescents.
Alcohol and Substance Abuse
Objectives:
- To develop an understanding of dual diagnosis patients and underlying pathology that serves to maintain substance abuse disorders
- To refine skills of group psychotherapy
- To learn effective strategies of intervention for substance abusing patients, which can be much different than other outpatient cases
- To practice teaching patients about the medical, psychological, and social implications of substance abuse
Interns will be able to participate in Chemical Dependency evaluations, Drug/Alcohol education classes, as well as outpatient and intensive outpatient substance abuse programs.
Rural Mental Health
Objectives:
- To develop an appreciation for the diversity of culture in rural populations
- To gain an understanding of ethical principles of practice that may differ from traditional outpatient practice
- To produce aware and empathetic practitioners that will be devoted to improving the lives of the underserved populations of our nation
- To learn typical modifications of intervention that are common to rural practice
- To develop the ability to deliver psychological services in nontraditional settings
Interns will participate in the administration of mental health services including therapeutic interventions, psychological assessments, and community based interventions in our Beatrice office throughout the duration of the internship year.
Geriatric Mental Health
Objectives:
- To develop an understanding of the common concerns and symptoms of the geriatric population
- To gain an understanding of the specific needs of geriatric individuals and facilities and to plan effective strategies for intervention
- To further knowledge of degenerative brain diseases commonly found in the nursing home population
- To learn more about commonly used psychotropic medication with the elderly
Interns will interact with geriatric individuals in all phases of life including short-term rehabilitation to long -term care. Interns will provide therapeutic interventions throughout the duration of the training year and will complete assessments to identify appropriate level of care, consultations, behavior plans, medication recommendations and staff development starting the third quarter of the internship.
Developmental Disabilities
Objectives
- To learn about the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of common developmental disorders
- To learn effective treatment plan strategies utilizing residential staff and professionals of other disciplines
Interns will provide services to a wide variety of ages of individuals with diverse developmental disabilities. Psychological services provided are coordinated with the rehabilitative services provided by Transfiguration, a non-profit company of Lincoln who provides staffing and housing for individuals with developmental disabilities.
Domestic Violence
Objectives:
- To learn the history of domestic violence and the Duluth Model of Training and Intervention
- To refine skills of group psychotherapy and communicating psychoeducational information
Interns will lead psychoeducational groups through a program of domestic violence intervention based upon the Duluth Model. The Family Violence Council, a division of the Lincoln Medical Education Foundation, accredits the Domestic Violence Program of NMHC.
Elective Training Opportunities
Interns are provided the opportunity of choosing three to four elective training opportunities. Duration of elective training opportunities is based upon the intensity of training the intern desires. A list of current elective training opportunities is as follows:
Neuropsychology/Rehabilitation
This rotation includes outpatient and inpatient assessments in all NMHC clinics in addition to nursing homes, area hospitals and more.
Objectives:
- To learn the intricacies of neuropsychological tests and psychometric properties and including their limitations
- To formulate an understanding of neuroanatomy, neuropathology, and neurotransmitter function
- To gain knowledge regarding the most common neuropsychological symptoms associated with traumatic brain injury, neurodegenerative disorders, neurotoxic exposure, developmental disorders and more
Forensic Psychology
Interns in this rotation are involved in Court Ordered Evaluations, Child Custody, Commitment, Parental Assessments, Competency to Stand, Trial, Mediation, and other forensic services.
Objectives:
- To learn the use and psychometrics of assessment instruments of forensic psychology
- To gain an understanding of how to format evaluations to be used in the court system
- To begin a knowledge base of case law
- To learn fundamentals of expert witness testimony
Mental Health Administration
Interns involve themselves in the day-to-day operations, policy and procedure development, budget planning, board meetings, and staff oversight as a director of a mental health facility.
Objectives:
- To develop leadership skills
- To gain an understanding of management/clinical structures
- To develop skills in relation to employee development, enhancement, and management
- To gain a global understanding of how departments work together for the common good of the organization
- To prepare interns for the idiosyncrasies of administrating a mental health practice
Supervision
Interns will involve themselves in both group and individual supervisory roles as their skills develop over the course of the internship year.
Objectives:
- To learn how to assess the developmental levels of supervisees and determination of what they require
- To further knowledge of transference and counter-transference issues
- To further leadership skills
- To understand and practice effective communication skills when problems arise with supervisees or within the supervisor/supervisee relationship
Health/Medical Psychology
Interns will work with medical patients on an outpatient basis or within area hospital systems. Experience will include working with patients presenting a wide array of medical illness with combined psychological needs.
Objectives:
- To learn common medical illnesses that present with psychological symptoms
- To learn about psychological illnesses that present with physical symptoms
- To further communication and collaboration skills with other health care providers
- To learn the format of psychological evaluations used within the hospital systems and how to adequately answer referral questions
- To gain a foundation of knowledge concerning psychotropic and other medications commonly used within hospital settings
- To provide understanding of the alterations of interventions when providing services to medical patients, especially those with terminal illness
Research
In addition to the training described above, all interns will be required to identify and establish an advocacy relationship with a local agency servicing underserved populations. Interns will contribute to the field or community. They may (a) present a poster at the Nebraska Psychological Association's Spring conference, (b) contribute to the newsletter, (c) Make a publication or presentation to a community or professional event, or (d) Provide Professional training.
Supervision
Interns spend two hours of individual supervision per week in addition to one hour of intern group supervision and one hour of clinical group supervision. The Training Director and Primary Supervisor are on-site to provide full-time support and supervision. They, as well as adjunct supervisors, are also available for consultation as needed as well as for emergency situations. Interns also can contact supervisors after hours, as needed by the situation. Supervisors assume full legal and ethical responsibility for the entirety of the interns' services.
Internship Administrative Organization
The NMHC clinical director, Dr. Lee C. Zlomke, heads and oversees the supervision of all interns. NMHC-PIP's current staff includes three full-time licensed psychologists who participate in the training committee processes, such as monitoring the progression of each intern toward training goals, determining appropriate policies and procedures, and monitoring the training program. Additionally, all interns, residents, and staff members are involved in the recruitment and selection of future interns.
Training activities and administrative issues of the Internship Program are coordinated and monitored by the Training Director. Supervision and provision of all services is carried out under direction of the Clinical Director, who also serves as primary supervisor and Chief Psychologist for the Internship Program. Other primary supervisors participate in direct supervision and assume other responsibilities such as didactic presentations. The Internship Program also utilizes office staff and the Practice Administrator from NMHC who ensure all office and other administrative responsibilities of the program are met.
To increase the diversity of professional theoretical orientations and experience, NMHC-PIP also employs adjunct faculty to lead didactic interactions and increase the intern's exposure to the complex professional interactions occurring as a full-time clinical psychologist (e.g., medical doctors).
Affirmative Action Policies
NMHC takes affirmative action to assure fair and equitable treatment of all employees and applicants for training without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, physical disability, or political affiliation. Affirmative action policies address, but are not limited to: recruitment, training, promotion, and termination.
Diversity Statement
NMHC is sensitive and committed to the importance of diversity and the richness of human diversity. Our services and training focus on respectful and non-prejudicial treatment to people of all backgrounds. It is of utmost importance that NMHC promote the value and strength of diversity to all employees, applicants, trainees, and individuals served. As a clinical and training facility, we are motivated to addressing issues of prejudice and discrimination and the influence of those issues on the lives of the individuals we encounter in practice and training.
Benefits and Stipends
All Interns are paid $20,000 with other negotiable benefits
Grievance and Due Process
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HERE for Grievance and Due Process for the Program and the Interns
The actual paperwork will be mailed to the intern after the APPIC match has been completed. This information will also be reviewed during the first week of internship orientation.
Application
Interns interested in the NMHC-PIP should use the APPIC application form (AAPI) that can be directly obtained through http://www.appic.org. We are APPIC program code 178111.
There are no additional forms or attachments required for application. All materials required on the AAPI, including three letters of recommendation, graduate school transcripts, etc., are to be submitted through the AAPI online. Deadline for applications is
December 1st.
NMHC-PIP abides by all rules and regulations set forth by APPIC in regard to application for internship as well as the entire conduct of the internship program. Please be aware that all training time credited to internship is post-practicum.