Psychology Residency Program
(NMHC-PRP)
Mission Statement
It is the goal of NMHC-PRP to provide a spirited and safe environment enabling the further development of a early career psychologist through advance training experience by emphasizing culturally sensitive comprehensive, systemic, and intensive training in the areas of assessment, intervention, consultation, education, administration, and supervision. To accomplish this goal, a philosophy of progressive development and comprehensive supervision serves as the basis to train residents to be competent, worthy practitioners able to adapt and thrive in the ever-burgeoning field of psychology. Residents will be asked to integrate theoretical, clinical, and professional issues in psychology into the service delivery model of Nebraska Mental Health Centers. A developmental apprentice-practitioner model provides the guiding framework for the transition from student to professional by capitalizing on prior strengths, experience, and expertise while supporting the attainment, expansion, and implementation of conceptual, professional, and pragmatic skills. Additionally, to ensure the transition to autonomous practicing professional, specific supervision and training goals have been set in each of the relevant areas including Group Supervision, Case Consultation, Professional Development, and Didactic Activities.
In coordination with the philosophy of training and the stated goals of NMHC-PRP, specific objectives central to the professional development of residents have been identified. These objectives have been integrated into the planned, programmed sequence of training to maximize the quality and quantity of the learning experience of each resident. The objectives cover the areas of Relationships, Assessment, Intervention, Crisis Services, Management/Supervision, Consultation/Education, and Evaluation.
The focus of the NMHC-PRP is to comprehensively train psychology residents through didactic seminars and the provision of psychological services to the community of Lincoln, Nebraska and surrounding rural communities. NMHC-PRP actively seeks to provide psychological services to rural Nebraska areas through satellites offices as well as to geriatric populations within the area's nursing and assisted living facilities. NMHC-PRP adheres to consistent, structured policies and train residents under a uniform administration as demonstrated in the signed consortium agreement.
Nebraska Mental Health Centers was established in 1993 and provides approximately 15,000 hours of psychological patient services per year to children, adolescents, adults, groups, organizations, schools, families, and couples of all socio-economic levels. Under new ownership, direct services of NMHC include individual, couple, family, and group psychotherapy, psychoeducational groups, medication management, psychological assessment, neuropsychological assessment, consultation, forensic services, and biofeedback. These services are provided by licensed mental health practitioners, licensed psychologists, psychological interns, and psychological residents.
NMHC-PRP provides residents the opportunity to assume a comfortable, yet challenging degree of responsibility for carrying out major professional psychological functions while maintaining a high level of supervisory support, professional role modeling, mentorship, guidelines for ethical practice and awareness of administrative structures.
Services
NMHC provides psychological care for children, adolescents, adults and families through individual, marital, family and group therapy. Included in our service delivery are:
- 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 is also provided on an outpatient basis.
- 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.
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Programs & Groups
- Employee Relations
- Domestic Violence/Batterer Intervention Program
- Outpatient Substance Abuse Program
- Substance Abuse Aftercare
- Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
- Depressive Disorders
- Consultative Services will be a major component of the resident's training experience. Each resident will participate as a psychologist-consultant in case conferences regarding psychological assessment, psychotherapy issues, psychopharmacological needs, and general patient management.
The Program
It is the goal of NMHC-PRP to provide high quality, advanced training to professional psychologists who meet the demands and qualifications of the program. To accomplish this goal, a philosophy of individualized development and supervision serves as the basis to train its residents not only to be competent and worthy practitioners, but also to arm them with the ability to adapt and thrive in the ever-burgeoning field of psychology. As training is highly valued and regarded, NMHC-PRP provides a true learning experience by offering knowledge and guidance in clinical activities. With a wide variety of populations served including all ages, socio-economic classes, and clinical presentations, NMHC-PRP has a breadth of opportunity for residents to chose from in order to suit their specialty interests. Additionally, the residency program fulfills the licensure requirements for postdoctoral supervised practice in its jurisdiction. A unique contribution that NMHC-PRP provides through our close ties with the medical community is a truly interdisciplinary residency experience.
The residency program is designed to be completed over a twenty-four month period. It is intended to prepare the resident in a great many of the facets of clinical psychology that cannot be accomplished in a 1-year residency program. The first year serves as the post-doctoral year required by most states for licensure. The second year offers increased opportunity to provide supervision and participate in mental health administration, while receiving supervisory support. The program will prepare the resident in greater depth in the areas of psychological assessment, diagnosis, psychotherapy, psychotherapy supervision, consultation/liaison, clinical team management, and mental health administration. A graduate of this program will be well prepared to serve as a leader of a treatment team in number of environments.
Basic Requirements
The residency programs require a 45-60 hour workweek for a total of approximately 2000+ hours each year. All residents are expected to attend the program full-time and reach completion in 24 months for the advanced clinical program. Additional requirements are to be licensed within the first 16 months of residency. Approximately 28 hours of each week are spent in direct face-to-face service delivery. On average, four hours of supervision per week will be provided. The remainder of each week is spent in case conferences, didactic seminars, grand rounds, writing evaluations, etc.
The Evaluation Process
The Director of Training will meet semi-annually with residents to evaluate progress of meeting goals and the evaluation forms (signed by both the Training Director and resident) will be maintained in the resident's training file.
Supervision
Residents receive two hours of scheduled, face-to-face individual supervision from their primary supervisor per week as well as clinical group supervision and residency group supervision adds to an overall total of 3-4 hours of supervision per week. Additionally, much of the work is initially accomplished alongside a supervisor, to address resident questions. Such activities as briefing and debriefing group therapy, team meetings, treatment and discharge planning conferences provide rich learning and supervisory experiences.
Training Opportunities
The following training opportunities are provided to ensure that each resident will be provided the opportunity to develop through both experience and training, as they further develop their breadth as a psychologist.
- General Psychotherapy - residents 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 - residents will conduct and interpret a wide array of psychological assessments conducted out of the Lincoln and satellite offices.
- Child & Adolescent - residents will involve themselves in behavioral interventions, psychotherapy, school involvement, and family therapeutic interventions through the Fremont office. Also, they will complete the administration of neuropsychological, psychoeducational, and psychological assessments of children and adolescents.
- Alcohol and Substance Abuse - residents will participate in Chemical Dependency evaluations, Drug/Alcohol education classes, as well as outpatient and intensive outpatient substance abuse programs.
- Mental Health Administration - residents will involve themselves in the day-to-day operations, policy and procedure development, board meetings, and staff oversight as a director of a mental health facility.
- Supervision - residents will involve themselves in both group and individual supervisory roles as their skills develop over the course of the residency year.
- Training Groups - Residents will lead a weekly training group: psychological and neuropsychological testing group or clinical and professional study group. These groups will provide an opportunity to present an area of interest, support the development of psychology interns, and develop the role of mentor.
- Didactic Seminars - Yet another aspect of the structured training offered by NMHC-PRP is weekly seminars covering a broad spectrum of topics. These seminars are primarily for the educational benefit for the psychology interns at NMHC. However, the purpose of these weekly meetings for residents is to refresh them on already familiar topics of clinical practice, provide new and more in-depth knowledge of material in the resident's repertoire, and to furnish important information that is essential to the practice of psychology. The resident will also be expected to lead various seminars of their choice. Each meeting is scheduled for one hour and will commence one time each week for the entire 46 weeks of the residency program.
Elective Training Opportunities
All residents will have the opportunity to engage in elective training opportunities with the NMHC system as well.
- Rural Mental Health - residents can participate in the administration of mental health services including therapeutic interventions, psychological assessments, and community based interventions in our satellite offices.
- Geriatric Mental Health - residents can interact with geriatric individuals in all phases of life including short-term rehabilitation to long -term care. Residents will provide therapeutic interventions and will complete assessments to identify appropriate level of care, consultations, behavior plans, medication recommendations and staff development.
- Forensic Psychological Assessment - residents can be involved in Court Ordered Evaluations, Child Custody, Commitment, Parental Assessments, Competency to Stand Trial, Mediation, and other forensic services.
- Biofeedback - Residents can be introduced to assessment and treatment utilizing biofeedback instruments for various mental and medical diagnoses.
- Domestic Violence - residents can co-lead psychotherapy and psychoeducational groups through a program of domestic violence intervention based upon the Duluth Model. Individuals participating in the groups are court-referred.
- Psychopharmacology - this training opportunity is available to residents interested in consultative psychopharmacology. Training for this specialty is provided through the Lincoln clinic only.
- Neuropsychology/Rehabilitation - includes outpatient and inpatient assessments in all NMHC clinics in addition to nursing homes, area hospitals and more.
- Health/Medical Psychology - residents 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.
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 focuses 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.
Clinical Training Staff
Lee Zlomke, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and Director of Training for the NMHC-PRP Program. Dr. Zlomke specializes in behavioral treatments and interventions for a wide array of clinical presentations. He also has a forensic specialty.
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.
NMHC also has a large support staff for managing clerical, insurance, and other business responsibilities thereby increasing the time interns and other professional staff can use for providing services and in other learning activities. In addition, NMHC employs and partners with licensed mental health practitioners, neuropsychologists, and licensed alcohol and drug abuse counselors.
Training Sites
NMHC is a multi-site and multidisciplinary organization. The NMHC clinics (Lincoln, Beatrice, and Fremont) are utilized for the residency program that covers eastern and southeastern Nebraska. In addition, the residents will provide services in, nursing programs, assisted living programs, and day treatment programs.
A list of nursing homes affiliated with NMHC and in which interns will provide services are as follows:
- Wilber Care Center - Wilber, Nebraska
- Scribner Good Samaritan, Scribner, Nebraska
- Beatrice Manor - Beatrice, Nebraska
- Ambassador Care Facility - Lincoln, Nebraska
- Good Samaritan - Beatrice, Nebraska
- Tabitha - Lincoln, Nebraska
- Tabitha Long Term Care Center - Crete, Nebraska
- Homestead House - Beatrice, Nebraska
- Samaritan Springs - Beatrice, Nebraska
- Lancaster Manor - Lincoln, Nebraska
- Eastmont Towers - Lincoln, NE
Benefits and Stipends
Salary is evaluated yearly. Residents are given paid time off for all major holidays when the clinics are closed. In addition, residents are allowed two-week paid vacation per year following a two-week notification and approval of the Jill Zlomke, CEO.
Prior to passing the EPPP, residents will receive one-week of paid time off to prepare. After the EPPP, residents will be able to receive 20-hours of paid time off to attain additional training.
Grievance and Due Process
Click
HERE for Grievance and Due Process for the Program
The actual paperwork will be mailed to the resident after an offer has been made to the resident. This information will also be reviewed during the first week of residency orientation.
Application
NMHC-PRP requires all applicants to have completed all doctoral degree requirements from an APA accredited program and completion of an APA or APPIC-member internship. Qualified applicants interested in the NMHC-PRP should provide the following information to receive consideration to enter the program:
- The APPIC application form that was submitted for internship year. No changes need to be made to this document. However, please include an additional document including detailed information of your internship experience as well as ideas for your career plans.
- Personal Statement
- An official transcript from graduate institutions
- Three letters of recommendation
- A signed consent granting faculty of the NMHC-PRP program to contact references and training directors of both graduate and internship program. Please provide a list of these individuals names along with their mailing address, phone number, and email address.
Deadline for applications is February 15th. Selection is based upon quality of the application and level of fit between applicant's interest and NMHC-PRP goals and objectives. NMHC-PRP abides by all rules and regulations set forth by APPIC in regard to application for residency as well as the entire conduct of the program. Completed applications should be mailed to the attention of Lee Zlomke, Ph.D. at the Lincoln office with the following address:
Nebraska Mental Health Centers
Attn: Dr. Lee C. Zlomke, Training Director
4545 South 86th Street
Lincoln, NE 68526