The Center for Brief Therapy serves as a site for PCOM masters and doctoral level students completing practicum experiences in order to obtain training hours toward degree completion and internship preparation.
In addition, the Center offers a pre-doctoral internship program for training future psychologists through participation in the Association of Psychology Post-doctoral and Pre-doctoral Internship Centers (APPIC).
The pre-doctoral internship in clinical psychology is designed to train future psychologists to work in health care settings as providers of comprehensive psychological services that stress multidisciplinary collaboration.
Trainees have the opportunity to:
• Work in the Center for Brief Therapy and the PCOM's healthcare centers
• Collaborate with PCOM medical faculty, physicians, and medical and allied health students in the following primary care settings:
o Family Medicine
o Geriatrics
o Cambria Division
o Lancaster Division
o Roxborough Division
• Provide clinical and behavioral health interventions in consultative, individual, and group settings
• Build skills for using empirically supported and CBT focused treatments in practice
• Complete psycho-educational and behavioral assessments
• Receive intensive clinical supervision from our highly skilled clinical psychologists
• Interact with Psychology Department faculty to gain experience in teaching, writing, or presentation
• Provide services to the community through mental health outreach programs
• Conduct student support programs through CARES
• Supervise students in training
• Participate in clinical research
In addition to the experiences at the Center, there are five seminar training days over the course of the year where practicum students and interns receive supplemental and advanced training in areas such as:
• Suicide assessment
• Assessing and treating victims of domestic violence
• Psychological and educational testing for learning disabilities and reading disorders
• Assessment and treatment of specific disorders such as ADHD in adults and children, anxiety disorders, and chronic pain management
• Use of specific behavioral treatment techniques to enhance therapy: progressive muscle relaxation, relaxation breathing, mindfulness etc.
• Examination of specific topics in therapy such as developing the use of therapist self-disclosure.
Click here for more information on the pre-doctoral internship in clinical psychology at PCOM.
For additional information about the training components of PCOM’s psychology programs, please refer to the specific psychology program in which you are interested.
