Interns begin our program during the first week of September. There is an intensive two week orientation program, in which the interns get to meet all supervisors representing all the major and minor training sites. During this time there are numerous activities and trainings designed to fully educate and orient the new intern to the organization. Interns are asked to assess their strengths and weaknesses by means of filling out the intern competency evaluation. Interns meet with the Internship Director and are assigned to their primary placement (which is pre-set based on the track to which they applied) as well as to their secondary placement. The secondary placement which will run for the full year will be chosen by considering intern interest in conjunction with choosing a placement which will provide some divergence from the primary placement. Child/adolescent interns can choose an adult rotation as secondary and vice versa.

By the third week interns will begin the transition to their primary and secondary rotations. They will have one licensed psychologist per site who will serve as their supervisor at that site. This supervisor will be responsible for all supervision, both individual and group, at that site. Each supervisor will also serve as the primary evaluator of the intern’s competency development over the year. These clinical rotations will provide a rich array of clinical training experience which will include opportunities to develop consultation and supervision skills, as well as sharpen awareness of ethical practice. These clinical rotations will account for approximately 4 days per week.

The fifth day is a didactic day. This includes three separate seminars which collectively focus on issues such as empirically validated treatments, assessment and interventions with specific diagnostic groups, psychological assessment, tests and measures, ethics, risk assessment and management, cultural competency, psychopharmacology, quality improvement, career tracks in psychology, effective lecturing skills and in-house research. In addition to the above requirements, all interns will be involved in a quality improvement project, will prepare and present a clinical case as part of our “mock orals”( which mimics the oral examination component required for NJ licensure, will participate in interdisciplinary seminar and case presentation with our psychiatry residents, and will be responsible for two trainings (with articulated goals and objectives). Finally, all interns are required to complete 5 psychological testing batteries, produce an integrated testing report and provide feedback to the referring clinician as well as the testee.