Full Required Rotation
Supervisor: Albert B. Poje, Ph.D.

On this rotation, our interns are actively involved in patients’ care while gaining critical professional and clinical skills as important members of the inpatient psychiatry team at The University of Kansas Health System Strawberry Hill Campus. Interns will:

• Attend daily interdisciplinary psychiatry team staff meetings and provide detailed updates on patients’ status and relevant inpatient and outpatient treatment considerations
• Provide individual and group psychotherapy to patients
• Maintain an active patient caseload
• Follow patients on an outpatient basis after discharge from the inpatient psychiatry service
• Participate in psychology supervision meetings to help achieve team membership goals

This full rotation entails approximately 60% of the intern’s time during this quarter.

Skill development areas

• Gain understanding of various psychotherapeutic interventions and treatment plans and how to tailor them to a patients’ needs. Examples of interventions include:
  • Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)
  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
  • Interpersonal psychotherapy
  • Problem-focused psychotherapy
  • Client-centered
  • Supportive
• Learn the potential effects of neuropsychological considerations and factors impacting a patient's behavioral, emotional and cognitive functioning
• Conduct psychological assessments and write reports on patients’ status and function as part of a multidisciplinary psychiatric team
• Work with patients of varying levels of functional difficulties

Full Required Rotation*
Supervisors: Tyler Droege, Psy.D., Danielle Johnson, Ph.D.

Our interns work with a multidisciplinary team while providing inpatient psychological testing and group psychotherapy. The rotation is based at The University of Kansas Health System Marillac Campus, which houses both residential and acute psychiatry patients.

Emphasis is placed on learning to effectively communicate and coordinate appropriate testing, findings and recommendations with the treatment team and patients’ families. Trainees also gain experience writing appropriate therapy notes, especially in acute hospitalizations situations that often last for only a short period of time.

This rotation accounts for approximately 60% of the intern's time during the quarter.

Skill development areas

• Competently administer psychological evaluations to children and adolescents in an inpatient setting
• Effectively provide psychotherapy to children and adolescents using group, individual and/or family strategies
• Work effectively with the inpatient multidisciplinary team

Additional child psychology experiences such as evaluating patients with potential developmental disorders may be available during the internship, including working with inpatients through behavioral pediatrics.

Required Activity
Supervisors: Varies by case

Interns on this rotation provide outpatient evaluation and treatment of adults and children with mental health needs. They dedicate approximately 6 hours per week to a caseload of 12 or more patients who they may see on a weekly, bi-weekly or occasional basis either in person or via telemedicine appointments.

Interns will also complete a small number of comprehensive psychological evaluations for disorders such as:

• ADHD
• Personality disorders
• Other psychiatric disorders and/or developmental disorders

Skill development areas

• Deliver effective, evidence-based interventions to mental health patients on an outpatient basis who have varying mental health diagnoses, including, at minimum:
  • Mood disorders
  • Psychotic disorders
  • Anxiety disorders
  • Personality disorders
• Competently perform comprehensive psychological evaluations with outpatients utilizing objective, cognitive and observer-focused instruments

Full Elective Rotation
Supervisor: Monica F. Kurylo, Ph.D., ABPP

On this rotation, our interns are trained to perform the basic and essential functions of a clinical psychologist on a rehabilitation, burn and other medical unit in a hospital setting. They serve with the neurorehabilitation psychology group, which consists of the intern, a neurorehabilitation psychologist and a neurorehabilitation postdoctoral fellow. The group offers a range of services:

• Evaluates, monitors and treats mood and cognition
• Administers cognitive and emotional screens
• Offers feedback and education to patients, families and staff
• Provides psychological treatment
  • Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)
  • Relaxation training
  • Supportive counseling

At the beginning of the rotation, interns observe other therapy sessions such as speech, physical and occupational therapies, as well as social work/case management. Throughout the training experience, our interns work closely with the neurorehabilitation psychology team, while learning critical skills and providing crucial services, including:

• Brief screening assessments of cognition and mood
• Brief and focused psychotherapeutic interventions
• Psychoeducation
• Occasional presentations to burn survivor and traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivor groups
• Treating adolescents and adults with diverse diagnoses, typically including:
  • Traumatic and non-traumatic brain and spinal cord injury
  • Stroke
  • Burn injury
  • Limb amputation
  • Orthopedic injuries
  • Neurological diagnoses such as multiple sclerosis and Guillain-Barre syndrome
  • Oncological diagnoses, including brain tumor and debility from treatments
  • Solid organ transplants
  • Other medical conditions requiring rehabilitation services

Interns on this rotation also provide consultation and services to burn, trauma/surgery and other medicine services at The University of Kansas Health System. Training in a 29-bed acute and short-term inpatient rehabilitation unit and a 15-bed burn unit with four ICU beds, interns will gain necessary clinical experience interacting with a multidisciplinary team of experts, including:

• Rehabilitation medicine physicians (physiatrists)
• Medical rehabilitation resident physicians
• Rehabilitation nurses
• Occupational and physical therapists
• Speech language pathologists
• A social worker
• A nutrition specialist/dietician
• A clinical pharmacist
• An activities specialist
• Neurorehabilitation psychologist and postdoctoral fellow (Neurorehabilitation psychology services)

In addition, interns typically participate in regular meetings for the rehabilitation and burn units as well as the multidisciplinary team. The neurorehabilitation psychology group also is called to other units in the hospital for similar consultative services.

This rotation will take approximately 60-70% of the intern’s time during this quarter.

Skill development areas

• Independently conduct a neuropsychological screening evaluation, including administration and scoring of standard cognitive screening instruments. Write an evaluation report, including elements found in medical records and in clinical interview with the patient and family, and formulate a treatment plan.
• Independently conduct an evaluation of psychological functioning, including administration and scoring of standard screening instruments of mood. Write an evaluation report including elements found in medical records and in clinical interview with the patient and family and formulate a treatment plan.
• Have an understanding of a diversity of medical diagnoses and be able to apply that understanding to properly and thoroughly evaluate and treat the psychosocial needs of patients, provide education to patients and families, and work on a treatment team with staff to help them understanding how best to work with and treat patients with mental health and cognitive and behavioral needs in a medical setting.
• Work within a medical team setting to evaluate, treat, provide education to patients, families, and staff, and cooperatively intervene in conjunction with other health disciplines using best practices of care. Provide brief verbal summaries of assessment findings on specific inpatient(s) to the inpatient treatment team during weekly staffing conference.
• Demonstrate an understanding of and attend to issues of cultural and individual diversity as it applies to patients, their families, and staff, on the rotation.

Full Elective Rotation
Supervisors: Jessica Hamilton, Ph.D., Heather Kruse, Ph.D., Marcus Alt, Ph.D., Elizabeth Muenks, Ph.D., Ashley Rhodes, Ph.D., and Hannah Katz, Psy.D.

The University of Kansas Cancer Center is a comprehensive multidisciplinary outpatient facility that offers psychological services (psycho-oncology) for the patient population it serves. This full rotation at the cancer center, which is the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in the region, accounts for approximately 60% of the intern’s time. Here are some of the services our interns provide during their training experience:

• Individual, couples or family therapy
• Pre-transplant evaluation for blood and marrow transplant
• Psychological testing or screening
• Health and behavior consultation and intervention
• Urgent needs consultation to cancer patients

Interns also provide consultation to and work in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment teams at the KU Cancer Center. These teams often include following experts:

• Oncology physicians
• Nurse practitioners
• Nurses
• Social workers
• Dietitians
• Pharmacists
• Medical assistants
• Medical trainees such as medical students and residents

Other training activities that may be part of this rotation are:

• Tumor Board meetings
• Daily clinic activities
• Serving patients in the outpatient treatment, clinic and consultation areas of the KU Cancer Center

Supervision
To ensure the best possible training experience, the intern meets once a week with a psycho-oncology faculty member at the KU Cancer Center for individual supervision and meets once a week with all clinical psycho-oncology staff for group supervision.

This rotation accounts for approximately 60% of the intern’s time during the quarter.

Skill development areas

• Gain an extensive knowledge of the variety of medical illness represented in the KU Cancer Center’s population
• Conduct competent psychological evaluations and psychotherapy with individuals suffering from a variety of forms of cancer, including brief and crisis-oriented therapy as well as more traditional therapy

Full Elective Rotation
Supervisors: Wendi Born, Ph.D., Kate Conover, Ph.D.

Interns in this rotation earn valuable clinical experience delivering services within a primary care setting to a diverse population that includes underserved individuals. Services may include:

• Individual group and family psychotherapy
• Psychological evaluation
• Participation and consultation on a multidisciplinary team involving an innovative approach to patient care

Emphasis is placed on traditional delivery of mental health services in this population and, more importantly, the coordination of services with multidisciplinary involvement.

• Medical Student Clinic
  • Every morning and Wednesday afternoons
  • Patients are treated using a multidisciplinary team approach
  • Behavioral health issues are a common reason for the psychologist to be involved
• Individual patients by appointment
  • More traditional mental health or behavioral health concerns
  • May include follow-ups from Medical Student Clinics visits
• Behavioral Health Group
  • Focus on patients diagnosed with an anxiety or mood disorder
• Cognitive
  • Behavioral focus

This rotation involves approximately 60% of an intern's time during the quarter. 

Skill development areas

• Work cooperatively as part of an interdisciplinary group during a primary care visit with caregivers from medicine, nursing and pharmacy
• Deliver brief behavioral interventions for common concerns such as sleep problems, smoking cessation, depression and anxiety in the context of an interdisciplinary primary care visit
• Effectively document brief visits in ways that enhance patient care in a primary care environment

Full Elective Rotation
Supervisor: Tara Pixley, Ph.D.

This rotation is embedded within a fast-paced primary care setting. It requires flexibility and adaptability to meet the needs of patients and primary care providers (PCPs). During the training experience, our interns provide a range of services while expanding their clinical expertise.

• Brief assessment to identify problem areas
• Collaborative selection of treatment targets
• Goal-focused intervention with clinic patients

In this setting, interns see a variety of integrated behavioral health referrals. Examples include:

• Management of chronic medical conditions
  • Diabetes
  • Chronic pain
  • COPD
  • Cardiac disease
  • Sexual dysfunction
  • IBS
• Mental health conditions
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Panic
  • PTSD
  • Alcohol or substance use/abuse
  • Adjustment
  • Grief
• Health risk behaviors/behavioral health conditions
  • Diet/weight management
  • Exercise/activity
  • Insomnia
  • Tobacco use
  • Medication adherence
  • Stress management
• Evaluation and intervention for suicide risk
• Inappropriate high utilization of medical services
• Communication issues
  • Patient/provider
  • Assertiveness

In total, the rotation will involve approximately 60% of the intern’s time during this quarter.

Skill development areas

• Conduct brief review of medical chart to identify reason for referral, diagnostic and treatment history, and other likely areas of intervention
• Build quick rapport with patients and provide brief informed consent in time-limited setting to reduce stigma for mental health and promote ease of access to services
• Work cooperatively as part of an interdisciplinary setting with PCPs, nursing staff, social worker, dietitian, and clinic staff
• Provide psychoeducation and deliver brief, evidence-based, mental and behavioral health interventions. Use motivational and solution-focused interviewing strategies to promote patient strengths and change for improved health
• Assess therapeutic response and side effects of psychotropic medications, understand appropriate limits and boundaries when discussing medication concerns
• Effectively document brief visits in ways that enhance patient care in a primary care environment
• Communicate results of evaluations to the primary medical provider
• Know when to appropriately provide referrals to outside resources

*All interns who have a primary care rotation will participate in either the Family Medicine Primary Care Clinic or the Internal Medicine Clinic or a combination of both.

Required Activity for Underserved Populations Track
Supervisor (Psychology): Elizabeth C. Penick, Ph.D. APA Fellow (Division 50 Addictions), MAC Additional Preceptor: Roopa Sethi, M.D.

The University of Kansas Addition Treatment Center (ATC) is housed and operates out of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC). The center is an integrated network of clinical and academic professionals specialized in treatment, research, and education of addictions. It aims to provide the highest quality, state-of-the-art patient care. The ATC clinic provides medication, evidence-based counseling and behavior therapy and case management services to persons who are dependent on opiates including heroin, many prescription pain medication types, methamphetamines and other narcotic drugs, and alcohol. The center operates in alignment with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS). 

The clinic operations span treatment to individuals who have no means of paying to high functioning professionals including members of the KU Medical Center community. Some funding is available through state and federal grant programs based on financial need. Demographic characteristics are 64% male and 35% female with 1% nonbinary. Whites make up 84% of the patients, with 7% Black, 3% Native American or Pacific Islander, 1% Asian, 6% Hispanic or Latino and 5% other.

The ATC is an interdisciplinary treatment program, including:

• Physician psychiatrists
• Psychiatric residents and fellows
• Psychologists
• Nurses
• Addiction counselors
• Case managers

The clinic operates according to a Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) model integrating medication interventions with evidence-based behavioral interventions and counseling. Medication interventions include suboxone, methadone and naltrexone (Vivitrol). There is a higher degree of comorbidity for psychiatric disorders in our populations due to being housed in a Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Behavioral interventions include:

• Contingency management
• Motivational Interviewing
• Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
• Patient-centered counseling

For some disorders, no medication is indicated for treatment, particularly methamphetamines, and behavioral interventions become the only line. Therapeutic modalities include individual counseling and psychotherapy, group psychotherapy and family therapy.

Interns are led by a psychologist supervisor. 

Skill development areas

1. Work collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team in an integrated substance abuse treatment center
2. Understand the principles of Medication Assisted Treatment for Substance Use Disorders and other theories and approaches to treatment.
3. Effectively apply evidence-based psychological interventions for Substance Use Disorders including, but not limited to Opioid, Methamphetamine, and Alcohol Dependence
4. Apply evidence-based psychological interventions to co-morbid psychiatric conditions within an alcohol treatment facility. 

This is a 4 hour per week activity for 9 months.

Full Required Rotation for Underserved Populations Track/Substance Use Disorders Track
Supervisor (Psychology): Jay Middleton, Ph.D.  Additional Preceptors:  Eric Thomason, PMHNP; Julie Stewart, MD; Vickie Malle, MS., LCAC

Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas is a rural federally qualified health center (FQHC) and Kansas not-for-profit corporation. CHCSEK serves 13 communities throughout Southeast Kansas and Northwest Oklahoma. CHCSEK service area county health risk factors and health outcomes remain in the 10^th percentile within the state of Kansas. CHCSEK is recognized as a Rural Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA):

• Dental HPSA Score of 25
• Mental Health HPSA score of 22
• Primary Care HPSA score of 21

CHCSEK provides approximately 60 different services (family practice, addiction treatment, dentistry, behavioral health, mammography, etc.) as a part of holistic multidisciplinary treatment. Tele-behavioral health and tele-addictions counseling are utilized to assist in covering a large service area.

The overall rotation will allow interns to participate in behavioral health and addictions primary care integration, individual/group addictions counseling and MAT evaluations.

Behavioral health and addiction care integration will take place in our internal medicine clinical setting. The psychology intern will be responsible for completing Screening Brief Intervention and Referrals to Treatment (SBIRT). The psychology intern will work in collaboration with CHCSEK behavioral health consultants and the internal medicine team. As behavioral health complaints arise, the psychology intern will provide brief intervention and assess need for additional referral. At points throughout this rotation, the psychology intern will be co-scheduled with MAT providers (psychiatry APRNs and internal medicine physician) to participate in the assessment and pharmacological treatment of substance use disorders.

Traditional addiction counseling services will include individual and group modalities. The implementation is done by multidisciplinary team members including:

• Addictions counselors
• Social workers
• Peer support specialist
• Postdoctoral psychology fellows
• Addiction trained nursing staff

The role of the psychology intern is to co-facilitate group sessions as well as participate within the individual counseling sessions. As part of the training, services to correctional inmates will be provided via telehealth. Correctional inmates and correctional based groups will utilize the Matrix Model curriculum. The pychology intern will be responsible for completing Screening Brief Intervention and Referrals to Treatment (SBIRT). The psychology intern will work in collaboration with CHCSEK behavioral health consultants and the internal medicine team. As behavioral health complaints arise, the psychology intern will provide brief intervention and assess need for additional referral. At points throughout this rotation, the psychology intern will be co-scheduled with MAT providers (psychiatry APRNs and internal medicine physician) to participate in the assessment and pharmacological treatment of substance use disorders.

Additionally, the psychology intern will be integrated into CHCSEK’s Community Health Action Team (CHAT) for one week. Each one of CHCSEKs patients receives a Social Determinants of Healthcare (SDOH) screening as a part of their integration into clinical services. CHAT is led by a paramedic who works to help overcome some of the SDOH that may limit access to evidenced based services. These services may include:

• Delivery of medication
• Transportation
• Driving to the patient to collect diagnostic samples
• Utilizing an IPAD to connect the clinician to the patient
• Food deliveries

Skill development areas

1.  Work collaboratively with a team of multidisciplinary providers in caring for patients in primary care settings.
2. Work effectively with economically and culturally diverse specialty populations including correctional, adolescent, homeless, and individuals with chronic medical and psychiatric comorbidity.
3. Understand and apply the principles of addictions counseling assessment and interventions including readiness for change, motivational interviewing.
4. Understand neurobiological components of addiction.
5. Understand challenges associated with rural healthcare. 

This is a full rotation approximately 80% of the time for 3 months.

Please note that CHCSEK main clinic is approximately 1 hour and 55 minutes south of the KU Medical Center campus. Interns may commute as they wish but there is a nice house used for interdisciplinary trainees at the site. You can stay there for any number of days overnight. It is provided free of charge by CHCSEK.