Introduction      

The Sarah A. Reed Children's Center offers a 2000 hour Pre-doctoral Internship program in Psychology that is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association.  The internship funds three full-time training positions beginning in early August and lasting 12 months. The goal of our internship is to provide a unique experience to doctoral students through a broad range of training opportunities in clinical and school settings.  Although we primarily attract and prefer applicants from School Psychology Programs we are willing to review and give consideration to students from Clinical or Counseling Programs who have had significant prior experience (practica/work) in school settings (Please see the section on Application Requirements).  Applicants from APA approved doctoral programs are preferred.   We participate in the APPIC Matching Program and abide by the policies set forth by APPIC. For additional information or questions pertaining to the Sarah Reed Children's Center Predoctoral Internship Program in Professional Psychology, please contact the American Psychological Association's Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation at 750 First Street, NE Washington, D.C. 20002-4242 or telephone (202)336-5500. 

Sarah A. Reed Children's Center is a  private, non-profit mental health agency for children and adolescents age’s 3-18 years with emotional, behavioral and psychiatric difficulties.  It is accredited by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).   

Internship Mission

Training Philosophy

Sarah Reed offers an intensive, high quality, and progressive internship experience in the practice of professional psychology. The Director of Clinical Services and Psychology Internship Training along with the Internship Advisory Council is directly responsible for the integrity and quality of the internship program. The internship is broadly focused on preparing the intern for the autonomous practice of professional psychology with an emphasis on integrating evidence-based and best practice approaches across settings. Evidence-based practice is viewed as integrating interventions from currently accepted research/efficacy-based programs as well as implementing practices and intervention strategies informed by hypothesis generation, data gathering, and outcome measurement at the individual client level. As a faculty, we believe that there is a mutual influence between research and practice in the broad professional practice of psychology.   Our general philosophy primarily reflects a commitment to the Practitioner-Scholar/Scientist model integrating ideas and concepts from other models of training (i.e. Local Clinical Scientist and Reflective Practitioner). Professional competence, mastery, critical thinking, and identity are nurtured and consolidated through regular and formal supervised clinical practice, didactic training, scholarly inquiry, research, and the opportunity to work and collaborate with professionals in a multidisciplinary model. In a coordinated, organized, and selective manner, interns are able to assume increasingly major clinical responsibilities with appropriate supervisory direction, guidance, role modeling, and support.

The philosophy and goals of the internship training program derive from several sources including models of training in professional psychology, the priorities and strengths of the psychology staff and the internship site and the mission of the Center.  

Sarah Reed Children's Center Predoctoral Internship Program in Professional Psychology is committed to maintaining a balanced foundation between science and practice, by affirming our disciplines historically strong links between the inquiry of the scientist and the application of the practitioner.  There is a strong emphasis on understanding the “local environment” and the impact of the local context in practice.  Fundamentally underlying our model and foremost among the critical linkages between science and practice is the psychologist’s reliance on observational skills, data collection, and hypothesis testing in the context of practice (Stricker and Trierweiler, 1995, 1997-1998; Schon, 1983, 1963). By providing an internship experience fostering professional development and growth, our program prepares interns in their final stages of training for practice as competent, ethical, and responsible professional psychologists.

 Training Rotations

Interns are assigned three days per week to Sarah A. Reed Children's Center's Residential Treatment Program and two days per week to a local school district.  This unique arrangement provides the intern with experience serving a broad range of children, some functioning within regular school settings and others struggling with very severe behavioral and emotional difficulties, often resulting from chronic exposure to traumatic relationships.  There is a very strong emphasis on providing truama-informed care.  During the latter part of the internship year, there may be additional training opportunities in one or more of our other mental health programs.   The specific duties and sequence of training experiences will be developed in cooperation with the intern, the agency, and the sending graduate institution.

Residential Placement

The Residential Treatment Program serves 58 children and adolescents with a range of psychiatric needs and diagnoses requiring an intense level of service.  Most clients function within the 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. The children live in units separated by gender. We have two boys units and one grils unit. We also have a fourth unit, which is coed and is generally for children transitioning to a less restrictive level of care.   Most of the residents attend the school located on the facility's grounds, referred to as the Campus School. There are two components of the Campus School. The Campus School Emotional Support program is staffed with teachers certified in special education, with specific training in teaching children with behavioral and emotional problems, and are provided by the local school district.   The other component is a Therapeutic Alternative Education program for children who are unable to be maintained in the ES program. These classrooms are directly located in the units and are staffed by Sarah Reed Children's Center employees. These classrooms offer a greater degree of structure and psychosocial intervention along with academic instruction.

Interns play a critical role as school psychological consultants to both the ES classrooms and the Therapeutic Alternative Education classrooms. Each intern is responsible for providing regular formal consultation services to the classrooms and may be engaged in a variety of activities such as direct intervention, behavioral programming, indirect intervention, teacher consultation, curriculum development and assessment. The interns are supervised in these activities by certified school psychologists.

External School District Placements

In addition to their work in our Residential Program, each intern is assigned to an approved school district site to complete two days per week of supervised public school experience.  Every effort will be made to place the intern at a site that is the best match between the needs of the site and the interests and experience of the individual intern.

Training Activities

There are six core areas of training an intern can be expected to be exposed to during their internship year. Specifically, these include the following activities:

• Psychotherapy /Psychological Services: Interns will be required to conduct psychotherapy on a regular basis with children/adolescents and their families selected on the basis of treatment objectives, special needs, intern interests, or pressing situational adjustment difficulties. Interns may also develop, participate, and conduct groups focused on a variety of issues. Parent education and family therapy are strongly encouraged and form the foundation of all interventions.  Participating on multi-disciplinary teams designing and implementing treatment interventions are an essential part of the intern's work with their clients.  The interns will provide consultation to staff in the areas of child and adolescent behavior management, clinical issues, social skills development, and other identified areas.  The intern may also provide on-going consultation to teachers and support staff in classroom management and educational programming.

• Psycho-Educational Evaluation: Interns will plan and conduct at least 10 comprehensive psycho-educational and/or psychological assessments throughout the year.   Interns will be expected to describe, conceptualize, organize, and plan assessments based on the identified needs of the client.  These evaluations provide interns with the opportunity to assess a unique sample of children with complex biopsychosocial needs including learning disabilities and other educational concerns, differential diagnosis, clarification of treatment issues as well as treatment recommendations.

• Consultation: The intern will provide consultation to staff in the areas of child and adolescent behavior management, clinical issues, social skill development and other identified areas.
  

• Crisis Intervention:  Interns will be trained in Safe Crisis Management and will be expected to demonstrate skills in the area of crisis intervention.  Interns are not expected to participate in any type of physical restraint during their training. 
  

• Research: Interns are required to participate in a research project throughout the year, either independently, with faculty, or with another intern.  Interns are expected to spend up to 4 hours each week engaged in research.  The projects have typically focused on program efficacy, program development, treatment and program outcomes, and the development of new treatment strategies.  The specific project will be determined based upon the interns' interests and goals of the agency.  Past interns have, for example, completed a program evaluation of our alternative education classroom, developed a survey investigating how residential treatment facilities across Pennsylvania were addressing the needs of sexually abused children, and developed and implemented an outreach program focused on training staff at community daycare programs.  Currently there are research projects focused on consultation within classroom settings, social skills training with clinical populations, outcomes in residential treatment, and female aggression. 
  

• Supervision:  There may be opportunties for interns to supervise masters level trainees in psychoeducational assessment, consultation, and behavioral interventions.

Didactic/Experiential Seminars

• Professional Issues Seminar/Didactic Training: Interns participate in a weekly 1.5 hour professional training seminar combining didactic activities, review of literature, research, presentations, and scholarly inquiry emphasizing awareness of professional, ethical, legal, and clinical issues in the practice of psychology.  Time is also dedicated to exploring topical issues impacting the specific role of the psychologist in the schools, clinical settings, and the general role of the psychologist in society.  There will also be a series of Grand Rounds with invited speakers covering a wide variety of topics.  Interns, if resources permit, will have opportunities to gain training at conferences outside the agency.  In addition, interns will make presentations to local and regional professional groups.
• Cultural Competency Seminar:  This is a monthly seminar focused on exploring a myriad of individual and group variables that influence the way in which services are provided and received .  Specific attention is paid to working with clients of different ethnic, racial, cultural, and socioeconomic groups as well as exploring the interns' own cultural background as a backdrop for clinical work.
• Family Therapy Seminar:  This is a monthly seminar focused on didactic and experiential training in models of family therapy.  There will be opportunities for discussion, review of the literature, presentations, and video-tape consultation. 

Internship Faculty

Dennis Valone, Ed.D.(Educational Psychology) Supervisor and Professional Seminar leader. Dr. Valone is a licensed Psychologist and certified School Psychologist. He is the Director of Early Intervention/Mental Health Services at the Northwest Tri-County Intermediate Unit. He is a regular and important contributor to the internship program. He co-leads the weekly Professional Seminar series for interns. Dr. Valone also supervises the intern placed in the Wattsburg School District. He is a member of the Internship Advisory Council. Dr. Valone received his doctorate from the University of Buffalo in Educational Psychology. Dr. Valone's interests include School-based Mental Health Services, Early Intervention, Wraparound models of care, and transdisciplinary models of care.

Pat Hanna, Ph.D.: Co-leader of Professional Seminar. Dr. Hanna is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Erie. He provides valuable information regarding intern self-care.

Walter Schamber, (School Psychology); Certified School Psychologist. Walter coordinates the assessment and consultation service at our residentil campus school program.   He supervises the interns psychoeducational evaluations and is responsible for overseeing their consultative work in the residential campus school program.  He is a former intern at Sarah Reed.  Walter is completing his dissertation. 

Adrienne Dixon, LMFT (Doctoral Candidate, Gannon University): Adrienne is the Supervisor of Residential Clinical Services. She is a former Predoctoral Intern and Director of Community Outpatient programs at Sarah Reed.. Adrienne leads the intern Cultural Competency Seminar and is an Intern Mentor.

Robert Iddings, (Doctoral Candidate, The Fielding Institute): Rob is the Clinical Supervisor of our Partial Hospitalization Programs. He is a former Predoctoral Intern who now leads the Family Therapy Seminar.  He is an Intern Mentor.

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Previous Interns and Post Internship Employment

Sarah Reed is a unique internship program. We strive to attract a diverse group of students interested in obtaining intensive clinical experience while continuing to develop their skills as psychologists in the schools. Recent interns have come from the following programs: University of Kentucky (School Psychology), James Madison University (Combined Program), University of North Carolina (School Psychology), University of South Carolina (School Psychology), University of Iowa (School Psychology), Gannon University (Counseling Psychology), University of Florida (School Psychology), Teachers College at Columbia University (School Psychology), University of Northern Colorado (School Psychology), The Fielding Institute (Clinical Psychology). Argosy University, D.C. campus, Clinical Psychology Program, Oklahoma State University School Psychology Program, the School Psychology program at the University of Texas-Austin, and the combined School Psychology/Counseling Psychology program from the State University of New York at Buffalo.  For the 2005-2006 internship we had three students, one from Teacher's College at Columbia University, one from Texas A&M, and one from SUNY Buffalo.  In the current class (2006-2007) we have interns from Ball State University, Michigan State University and Alfred University.  Beginning in August 2007, we will have students entering from the University of Florida, University of South Carolina, and Indiana University.  All the interns for the 2007-2008 year are from School Psychology programs.  The one characteristic that all of our interns share is their desire to move beyond the traditional roles of school psychologists and become proficient at intervening in multiple systems with a broad range of clients.

Briefly, our interns have been quite successful at securing employment upon completing their internship. While many have moved on to school district positions, we have students who have gone on to academia, mental health settings, and post-doctoral positions. 

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Stipend and Benefits

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Qualifications and Application Procedures

We are interested in attracting interns of diverse backgrounds who are energetic, creative, and flexible.  The following bullets are general guidelines for prospective applicants to consider when applying to our site.  Three internship positions are available for the 2007-2008 internship training year.  Interns will receive a stipend of $20,000 dollars, subject to withholding of taxes. We are looking for:

• Students from APA-approved doctoral programs.  School Psychology students are strongly preferred.  Students from Clinical and Counseling programs please refer to the information below. 
  
• Students accepted into doctoral candidacy and completed dissertation proposal approval process by their interview for the intenship. 
  
• Students who have completed at least three years of practicum/field placement experience which includes direct experience/practica in psycho-educational assessment (at least 10 integrated batteries), diagnostic and treatment methods (minimum 1,200 hours).  This should include at least 50 hours of direct psychotherapeutic experience with children.
• Students who have direct experience working in schools providing teacher consultation, psycho-educational assessment, and group counseling.
  
• Students who have experience working directly with families is helpful but not essential. 
  
• Students who have experience with children with emotional and behavioral disorders as well as trauma and abuse is helpful, but not necessary.
• Students who have a good working knowledge of test administration, scoring, and interpretation with the at least the following: WISC IV, Woodcock Johnson-Achievement and Cognitive, BASC, CBCL, and Adaptive Behavior Scales.
• Possess an understanding of child development.
• Have a working knowledge of psychiatric diagnosis.
• Have experience providing child psychotherapy.

• Interns from School Psychology programs are preferred.  These individual should be interested in  moving beyond traditional activities and should have clinical practica and/or work experiences that demonstrate a commitment to obtaining non-traditional clinical skills (individual and family therapy) with emotionally and behaviorally disordered children and adolescents.  School Psychology Intern candidates matched to our site will be required to apply for certification as a school psychologist in Pennsylvania once matched with our site.  Click here for the summary of the requirements for PA certification in school psychology (PDE). A current certification in school psychology from the applicant’s home state is highly desirable. 

• <><>Students from Clinical or Counseling Psychology programs will be reviewed only if their application includes documented experience  working in a school district under the direct supervision of a certified school psychologist.  The application must also include a letter of recommendation from the supervising school psychologist.

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Interested applicants should complete and send the following documents:

• Current APPIC (AAPI) application (downloaded from APPIC site)

• Current Vita

• A copy of a full psycho-educational evaluation including a WISC-IV and/or Woodcock Johnson Achievement and/or Cognitive.  Please make sure all identifying information is redacted/changed. 
  

• A copy of a psychotherapy treatment summary involving a child.  Please make sure all identifying information is altered to protect the client's confidentiality.
  

• <>Official transcripts of all graduate studies. Sealed envelopes containing official transcripts with the official registrar stamp may accompany the application sent by the student. 
  

• Three letters of recommendation from supervisors and faculty knowledgeable about their academic and clinical work.  Applicants from Clinical Psychology and Counseling Psychology programs must submit at least one letter of recommendation from a supervisor who is a School Psychologist attesting to their experiences in schools. 
  

• It is the candidate's responsibility to make arrangements with the recommending persons and transcript offices so that all materials are received by the application deadline.  We prefer to receive applications as complete packets with all requested information provided in one envelope.  Reference letters and transcripts included in the packet should be sealed and signed on the back seal.
  

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This information should be forwarded to Dr. Eric Schwartz, Director of Clinical Services and Psychology Internship Training, Sarah A. Reed Children’s Center, 2445 West 34th Street, Erie, PA 16506. The deadline for all materials is November 15, 2007.

The Sarah A. Reed Children’s Center is an equal opportunity employer. We strive to create an environment that embraces diversity.  We strongly encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds to apply.

Accreditations/Memberships

• Accredited since 1979 by the
  American Psychological Association
  750 First Street NE
  Washington, D.C., 20002-4242
  p: (202) 336-5979
• Member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral
  and Internship Centers (APPIC)
  10 G Street, NE, Suite 750
  Washington, D.C. 20002
  p: (202) 589-0600

Residential Campus: 2445 West 34th St. Erie, PA  16506 814-838-1954
Preschool Early Intervention Center: 310 East 10th St. Erie, PA  16503 814-455-6562
School Age Early Intervention Center: 1020 East 10th St. Erie, PA  16503 814-453-4309