Child & Family Track

Purpose: The core purpose of the MCG-Charlie Norwood VAMC Internship is to produce professional and racially/ethnically diverse psychologists who are well prepared for and seek out careers that are directed toward integrated approaches to health care issues, who have experience with and interest in serving in mental health and medically underserved areas, who are well prepared to stay abreast if not lead the way in the development of evidence-based practices in the field of mental health care, and who aspire to cultural competence in their practice. The Child/Family Track endeavors to provide additional emphasis training in preparing professional psychologists to provide services for children and their families who represent diverse populations in regard to socioeconomic, cultural, racial and ethnic characteristics. 

Settings:        

• Medical College of Georgia/Augusta University Hospital and Clinics
• Children’s Hospital of Georgia
• Healthy Grandparents Project of Augusta

Emphasis Track Faculty:    

• Alex Mabe, PhD, Director
• Bernard Davidson, PhD
• Catherine Davis, PhD
• Chris Drescher, PhD
• Richard Camino, MD
• Sandra Sexson, MD

Emphasis Goals/Objectives of the Child/Family Track:

1. To train Interns to function effectively in Child Psychiatry and Pediatric interdisciplinary settings.
2. To train Interns in consultation and psychological assessment strategies in child psychiatry and pediatric contexts to include developing understandings of the key patient, family, and system issues. For Interns obtaining emphasis training in child/family psychology, proficiency in the following assessment instruments must be demonstrated:

One of the following Intellectual Assessment Instruments:

• WISC-V or WPPSI-III or DAS-II                 

One of the following Academic Achievement Instruments:

• WIAT-III or WRAT-4                       

One of the following Broadband Symptom/Personality Assessment Instruments:

• BASC-3                                             
• MMPI-A or PAI-A                            

Screening/Treatment Progress Monitoring Instruments

Specific instrument proficiencies will be determine by the specific site of training within the Child and Family Track.

1. To develop a working knowledge of common child psychiatric and pediatric illnesses and their associated psychosocial issues.
2. To train Interns to become proficient in the assessment of a broad range of patient populations in child psychiatry and pediatric settings.
3. To train Interns to become proficient in the implementation of interventions with a broad range of patient populations in child psychiatry and pediatric settings. Emphasis will be placed on family therapy, parenting training, and psychoeducational treatment approaches to child and adolescent problems.
4. To train Interns to provide mental health education involving child-related areas for consumer and providers in mental health and underserved areas.

Measurable Outcomes for Emphasis Training in the Child/Family Track:

1. Interns will work comfortably and professionally as a member of a child psychiatry service program. This will be determined by ratings of the rotational supervisors.
2. Interns will work comfortably and professionally as a consultant to an interdisciplinary pediatric service. This liaison project must result in a written product that will increase the opportunities for a sustained benefit from the liaison activity.  The quality of the liaison performance will be determined by ratings of the rotational supervisors.
3. Interns will demonstrate proficiency in consultation strategies by completing a minimum of ten consultations in pediatric settings. The quality of the consultations will be judged by the responsible clinical supervisor on the basis of the accuracy of the consultation and the effectiveness of communication with the consultee.

Interns will demonstrate proficiency in psychological assessments by demonstrating the following:

1. Cognitive and Personality Assessment: Proficiency will be demonstrated by the completion of a minimum of 4 cognitive and/or personality assessment batteries resulting in an integrated psychological assessment report requiring only minimal corrections by the clinical supervisors. In these integrated reports, the Intern must provide pertinent data for the purpose of a clear formulation of the case, demonstrates a thorough conceptualization of the case and the data obtained, and must provide treatment recommendations that effectively follow from the integration of the data and empirical support for relevant interventions.
2. Interns will demonstrate knowledge of common child psychiatric and pediatric illnesses and their associated psychosocial issues as determined by the quality of their assessments, consultations, and associated treatment recommendations.
3. Interns must be rated as “competent to implement interventions independently with supervision/review” in at least four child psychiatric/pediatric disease-related categories by the completion of the internship.
4. Interns will successfully participate in the Healthy Grandparents Project of Augusta which is a program supported by the Georgia Department of Human Resources Safe and Stable Families Program and the AU School of Nursing.

 Educational Implementation Plan: The Child/Family Track makes use of the following educational components in efforts to achieve the identified Goals/Objectives of this emphasis track:

1. For Child/Family Track Interns, the preponderance of the clinical education experience throughout the year will be completed in the MCG/AU Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic and the Children’s Hospital of Georgia providing assessment and treatment services through the Child, Adolescent, and Family Psychiatry Program. Activities in this program will include traditional outpatient intakes, assessments, and interventions. Interns will participate once each month in the Child Psychiatry Interdisciplinary Case Consultation meeting.  This consultation meeting provides an opportunity for psychology and psychiatry trainees to present assessment/treatment cases from a biopsychosocial perspective and obtain supervision from an interdisciplinary team consisting of health care professionals representing education, nursing, psychiatry, psychology, and social work. The Wednesday Track day provides a continuity of training experiences in child and family throughout the year that includes consultation services to the Children’s Hospital of Georgia, and outpatient care services.  In addition, a 4-month Track Rotation is provided that focuses on child and family training experiences in a more intense and diversified way for that training period. 
2. The Intern will participate in the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Program for one 8-session cycle providing and supervising peer friendship skills training for children ages 7-13 with ADHD. The Intern may also elect to observe and participate in one cycle of the parent training portion of this program.
3. The Intern will participate and co-lead the DBT Skills training for adolescents and their parents throughout the training year. This program is based on the Dialectical Behavior Therapy model and includes the following skills: a. Mindfulness – living in the present & improving attention; b. Distress tolerance – tolerating difficult situations & emotions; c. Parent-adolescent interaction – balancing discipline & flexibility; d. Emotion regulation – reducing emotional vulnerability & reactivity; e. Interpersonal effectiveness - building & maintaining positive relationships.
4. Child/Family Track Interns will participate in the Healthy Grandparents Project of Augusta which is a program supported by the Georgia Department of Human Resources Safe and Stable Families Program and the AU School of Nursing. This program promotes health and wellness in grandparent-headed families, assists families to access available resources, and facilitates maintaining the children in a stable home.  The Intern will provide consultation for the project staff and psychoeducational interventions for grandparents in this program based on their identified needs. 
5. Child/Family Track Interns will be assigned to various Child Psychiatry Consultation-Liaison Services throughout the year. Specifically, the Intern will be on-call for consultation to the pediatric inpatient services at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia throughout the year and the Intern will participate in a liaison activity with one of the pediatric specialty outpatient clinics for a minimum of 4 months.
6. For research activities, Child/Family Track Interns are provided the opportunity to devote a significant portion of their research efforts to working with the Georgia Prevention Institute in their on-going child research activities.