Internship Training Program Overview

Program graduates at the graduation ceremony held at The New York Botanical Garden each year

The internship experience at Montefiore Medical Center is rich, stimulating and intensive. The internship year begins on July 1st  and ends on June 30th. Internship experiences include direct clinical work with psychiatric patients, intensive supervision and didactic seminars.

Specializations

Our internship program offers two different specializations: Adult and Child/Adolescent. During the application process, applicants must choose and apply to one specialization. We place four interns in the Adult specialization and two interns in the Child/Adolescent specialization. In a typical year, we receive approximately 230 applications for the Adult positions and 120 applications for the Child/Adolescent positions.

Each of the specializations offers different training and clinical rotations. Below are the core "templates" for the typical rotations in each specialization. Although these templates outline the major clinical rotations for interns in each track, interns are able to individualize their experiences by adding elective rotations (described in the "Clinical Rotations" section).

Adult Specialization Template

Major Rotations

• 6-month rotation in the Adult Outpatient Psychiatry Department
• 4-month rotation on the Adult Psychiatric Inpatient Unit
• 1-month rotation in the Psychiatric Observation Suite (Psychiatric ER)
• 1-month rotation in the Addiction Psychiatry Consultation Service
• Electives that can be added include:
  • Substance Abuse Treatment Program (SATP)/New Directions Recovery Center (NDRC)
  • Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program
  • Geropsychology
  • Psychiatry AIDS Connected Ambulatory Program/HIV Clinic (PACAP)
  • Child Outpatient Psychiatric Department
  • Transplant Psychiatry Service
  • Supporting Healthy Marriage Program
  • Neuropsychology Assessment Service
  • A research elective and others
• Some electives can be selected as a one-month full-time rotation (reducing or eliminating a month from other rotations)

Child/Adolescent Specialization Template

Major Rotation

• 12-month rotation in the Child Outpatient Psychiatry Department (includes cases in the Adolescent Depression and Suicide Program and the Child and Adolescent Assessment Service)
• Elective options that can be added include:
  • School-Based Mental Health Program
  • Children's Hospital at Montefiore Behavioral Consultation Team
  • Mental Health Team, Butler Child Advocacy Center (CAC)
  • Psychiatric Observation Suite (Psychiatric ER)
  • Adult Psychiatric Inpatient Unit
  • Supporting Healthy Marriage Program
  • Adult Outpatient Psychiatry Department
  • A research elective, and others

Supervision

We place great emphasis on supervision, representing at least five hours per week, done one-on-one, in dyads, groups, and on multidisciplinary treatment teams, using a variety of different theoretical orientations including psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, dialectical behavioral, family systems, interpersonal stages-of-change and life-span developmental approaches. Supervision may also include the review of audio and/or videotapes of sessions or process notes, as well as being observed behind a two-way mirror.

Didactics

Curriculum seminars run throughout the year, comprising at least four hours of the interns' time per week. This seminar series is organized around a number of modules and workshops where members of the faculty and other invitees present on topics central to internship training including:

• General psychiatry
• Emergency management
• Psychopharmacology for psychologists
• General psychopathology
• Psychological testing
• Neuropsychology
• Learning disabilities
• A variety of specific therapeutic approaches, including:
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy
  • Psychoanalytic Therapy
  • Trauma-Focused Therapy for Children
  • Motivational Interviewing
  • Mindfulness Training
  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
• Therapy modalities, including:
  • Family Therapy
  • Couples Therapy
  • Marriage/Relationship Education
  • Group and Milieu Therapy for Children
  • Sex Therapy
• Specific disorders and populations, including:
  • Disruptive Behavior Disorders
  • Substance Abuse
  • Geriatrics and End of Life Issues
  • Survivors of Torture
  • Sleep Disorders
  • Headache and Pain

There are a number of special topics, including:

• Culture and diversity
• Careers of psychologists in different settings:
  • Pediatric Consultation/Liaison Psychology
  • Family and Social Medicine
  • AIDS Center
  • Integrated Primary Care Center
  • Transplant Programs
  • School-based Mental Health
  • Forensic Psychology
• Professional development issues:
  • Psychology Licensure
  • Private Practice
  • Ethical Issues
  • Becoming a Supervisor
  • Dealing Effectively with the Media

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 2011-12 CURRICULUM

Each clinical service to which an intern is assigned has its own weekly case conferences, which provide an opportunity to receive consultation with experts and specialists on current clinical cases.

Interns also attend the weekly Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds series with distinguished invited speakers from across the nation who present on various topics in psychiatry and psychology. Several of these speakers are invited for a lunch with the interns and, at times, a practical workshop, immediately following Grand Rounds.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE 2011-12 GRAND ROUNDS SCHEDULE