Training Rotations

The internship training occurs in two settings; a clinical setting with an educational component and a traditional educational setting.  Three days each week, the intern trains at the Sarah Reed Children's Center Residential Treatment Program and Campus School.  The other two days each week, the intern's training occurs in one of several schools in local school districts.

Residential Treatment Program

Three days each week, interns provide a wide range of clinical and psycho-educational assessment services in our residential treatment program.  The Residential Treatment Program serves 58 children and adolescents with a range of psychiatric and educational needs requiring an intense level of service.  Underlying many if not most of our client's psychiatric problems, are their experiences of chronic, complex trauma.  Interns will be exposed to children who have histories of physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, psychological and emotional abuse, and witnessing domestic violence.  Many of our children have been in and out of foster homes and other out of home placements.  The children served in this program typically function within the low average to average range of intelligence, and are between the ages of 6 and 16 years.  This program is staffed with a range of professionals including psychologists, nurses, psychiatrists, therapists, and direct clinical staff, providing the intern with the opportunity to work within a multidisciplinary environment.   Most of the children attend the on-grounds Campus School, and the interns play a critical role as school psychological consultants to the Campus School.   In this aspect of their training, the interns are involved in psycho-educational assessment, consultation services to the campus school classrooms, including direct intervention, behavioral programming, indirect intervention, teacher consultation, curriculum development and functional behavioral assessment. The interns are supervised in these activities by certified school psychologists.

External School District Placements

In addition to their work in the Sarah Reed Residential Program, each intern is assigned to a local school district to complete two days per week of supervised public school experience.  Interns are supervised by doctoral level licensed school psychologists. Following is a brief description of the current school district placements:

Millcreek Township School District

The Millcreek Township School District is a moderately sized district serving a lower middle to upper middle class suburban population. Two interns will be assigned to this district. The specific school placement will be determined based on district need. In this placement the typical activities will include psycho educational assessment, consultation, screening for mental health problems, individual counseling, group counseling, crisis intervention, and program evaluation. Dr. Kimberly Quirk who is a doctoral licensed psychologist, and certified school psychologist supervises the intern.

Wattsburg Area School District

Wattsburg is a rural school district located approximately 15 miles south of Erie. The internship is a collaborative program between Sarah A. Reed Children's Center, the Northwest Tri-County Intermediate Unit and the Wattsburg Area School District. One intern is assigned to this district, typically at the elementary school level. The intern will assess referred students to determine level of need and then work with the student, school personnel, and parents to meet the students' needs. Interns at this site have worked with students with such diverse problems as externalizing disorders, depression, and anxiety disorders. The intern also participates in weekly team problem-solving meetings for high needs students. There is some flexibility for interns to  develop intervention programs, run groups, conduct individual therapy with high interest clients, etc... Consultation with school staff around students' needs will be an essential part of this experience.  Dr. Dennis Valone, Director of Early Intervention and Mental Health Services at the Northwest Tri-Count Intermediate Unit supervises the intern.  Dr. Valone is also the leader of our Professional Seminar.

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