C.O.R.T.E. Comprehensive Outpatient Recovery, Treatment & Evaluation, Inc. Comprehensive Forensic Psychological Services Predoctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology Training Brochure 2016-2017 Scott M. Costanza, Psy.D. Executive Director Rebecca Parnell, Psy.D. Training & Clinical Director South County Location North County Location 4733 W. Atlantic Avenue, Suite C-21 1280 N. Congress Avenue, Suite 206 Delray Beach, FL 33445 West Palm Beach, FL 33409 Phone: (561) 279-9295 Fax: (561) 330-3423
Comprehensive Outpatient Recovery, Treatment & Evaluation Agency Description Comprehensive Outpatient Recovery, Treatment & Evaluation (herein after referred to as CORTE ) was founded in 2002 and has been providing comprehensive forensic and clinical services for the courts, various agencies, individuals, and the legal community since its inception. The CORTE program is the mental health contract provider for the Department of Corrections Probation for the 15 th Judicial Circuit and also contracts with the Department of Children and Families / ChildNet to provide a wide range of clinical and forensic services in Palm Beach County. The services provided include, but are not limited to, individual therapy, family therapy, couples therapy, psychological evaluations, parental fitness evaluations, psychoeducational testing, substance abuse evaluations and topic-specific group therapy (i.e., parenting, anger management, domestic violence, etc.). Additionally, CORTE houses one of the largest sex offender specific treatment programs in Palm Beach County and is one of the forefront providers of Batterers Intervention Program. Scott Costanza, Psy.D. is the Executive Director of CORTE and is a seasoned and well-respected forensic psychologist. Dr. Costanza graduated from Nova Southeastern University in 1996 and has worked extensively in criminal, civil and family court settings as an expert evaluator. Rebecca Parnell, Psy.D. is the Training & Clinical Director of CORTE and graduated from Nova Southeastern University in 2012. Dr. Costanza and Dr. Parnell are responsible for supervising all predoctoral clinicians. In addition to predoctoral interns, the program offers practicum placement opportunities through local educational institutions as well as a postdoctoral residency program. Training Program Goals and Theoretical Orientation The CORTE predoctoral internship program provides a robust clinical training opportunity for future psychologists in the field of forensic psychology. The experience gained at CORTE will prepare interns for the psycholegal nature of forensic practice as well as to provide specialized training opportunities in areas such as sex offender specific treatment, court testimony and evaluations and/or Batterers Intervention. Interns who complete the program will have refined diagnostic and clinical skills in working with highly resistant populations diagnosed with major mental illness and personality pathology and comfortability in navigating court-ordered psychological services. In addition to specialized training in the field of forensic psychologist, the goals of the predoctoral internship program are to provide direct experience in the many roles of a professional psychologist (i.e., administrative, case management, treatment planning, consultation, etc.), to refine integrative report-writing skills for both private and legal settings and to provide a training environment that is conducive to the development of a competent, Page 2 of 8
professional clinician. The program offers a unique and intensive experience during which interns become proficient in the understanding and use of psychodynamic psychotherapy. Given the tendency for intergenerational transmission of abuse, maladaptive parenting, poor affect regulation and unstable relational patterns, our treatment approach is largely conceptualized using a psychodynamic framework while treatment is integrative to address both underlying areas of distress as well as day-to-day dysfunction. The goal of therapy with the clients served by our program is to foster insight that allows the client to understand this repetition and make longterm emotional, cognitive and behavioral changes to prevent this cycle from continuing in their current lives. While it is preferred that interns have some exposure and familiarity with psychodynamic theory, supervision is geared toward professional development in this area and both Dr. Costanza and Dr. Parnell have been trained as psychodynamically-oriented psychologists. The CORTE program is a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) and abides by all internship policies set forth. Services Provided Individual, Couples & Family Therapy Interns will provide individual therapy to adults and families involved with the Department of Children and Families. In many cases, the children have been removed from the parents care due to findings of maltreatment, neglect, abuse, substance exposure and/or domestic violence. Individual and family therapy are typically offered in conjunction with other services, many of which are provided in-house. As such, the treating clinicians are expected to work in close collaboration with one another to best address the client s areas of deficiency. Additionally, clinicians are expected to maintain ongoing communication with Dependency Case Managers involved in the case to ensure that the accurate updates on treatment progress and assessments of risk are clearly communicated. It is not uncommon for clinicians to be subpoenaed to provide treatment updates directly to the courts in determinations of visitation modifications, reunification and/or termination of parental rights proceedings. Group Therapy The CORTE program offers parenting education, anger management, domestic violence and substance abuse awareness counseling groups to adults involved in the dependency system as well as those referred due to pre-trial intervention or probation requirements. Many groups are psychoeducational in nature though there is a continual emphasis on interpersonal functioning, affect regulation and communication. All groups are time-limited and the treating clinician has the ability to recommend additional services as deemed necessary by the clinician and his/her supervisor. Evaluations & Formal Assessments Interns will have the opportunity to provide psychological evaluations and substance evaluations on a regular basis throughout the internship year. Psychological evaluations include the use of Page 3 of 8
objective and projective testing measures along with a thorough clinical interview and a review of relevant legal records. A great amount of supervision time will be devoted to assisting in the integration of all sources of information to adequately answer the referral question for the Court. At the sole discretion of the intern s supervisor, parental fitness evaluations may be assigned once the intern demonstrates a significant degree of competence in other types of evaluations. Interns will also complete clinical assessments on those individuals referred through the Department of Children and Families to clarify diagnostic impressions and formulate treatment recommendations. Specialized Treatment Programs At the sole discretion of the Batterers Intervention Treatment Program Coordinator and Sex Offender Treatment Program Manager, interns with a particular interest in these areas of treatment may be invited to participate in these groups. Training in Batterers Intervention may also be available and can be discussed with the supervisor. Internship Content Interns will be responsible for a combination of individual/family therapy cases, evaluations/assessments, intakes and group therapy. Upon accepting an internship offer, each intern will be asked to specify those groups and/or populations that are of particular interest and every effort will be made to accommodate these requests. Each intern will receive a minimum of two hours of individual face-to-face supervision a week. Supervision with Dr. Parnell will focus on therapy clients and groups and supervision with Dr. Constanza will focus on testing cases. Both Dr. Parnell and Dr. Costanza are licensed by the State of Florida. Additional supervision will occur in a group setting for one hour each week. The group supervision is particularly valuable as this allows us to take a multi-faceted approach to treatment and consider the functioning of multiple individuals within the same family system who are being seen by different clinicians. Seminars and didactic trainings will be conducted each week and will last approximately two hours. The content and nature of the trainings will be tailored to meet the interests and needs of the current interns and will be discussed in great detail at the start of the internship period. A typical caseload consists of: Individual / Family Therapy 12 to 15 cases Group Therapy 1 to 2 groups Evaluations/Assessments 3 to 4 per month Intakes 3 to 4 per week Interns are provided with a one-hour break each workday as well as administrative and writing time as allowed by their schedule. Interns should speak with their supervisor if additional indirect clinical service time is needed. Page 4 of 8
The new intern will complete a comprehensive orientation upon starting the predoctoral program. The orientation will include familiarization with services provided by the program, administrative procedures, reporting and will also include training on HIV/AIDS, fingerprinting and other requirements to maintain our contractual responsibilities with outside agencies. Expectations for Quantity and Quality of Work Three full-time internship positions will be available and the internship period will last 12 months for a total of 2,000 direct and indirect services hours. Interns will be scheduled 40 hours per week and are expected to split their time between the program s Delray Beach and West Palm Beach offices with flexibility given in the specific hours worked. As with any position, interns are expected to conduct themselves in a professional and ethical manner at all times and uphold those responsibilities outlined in the Employee and Clinical Manual. Our program is looking for interns with strong clinical skills and an ability to work with clients who present as defensive and resistant to treatment. Many of the individuals served by our agency have a history of major mental illness and/or personality pathology that significantly impacts their day-to-day functioning and decision-making. As a result, interns should exhibit confidence in their clinical skills and be open to feedback and guidance from supervisors. Strong report writing skills are required as well as familiarity in writing integrative psychological batteries comprised of objective and projective testing. Experience in working with forensic populations is preferred and taken into consideration when evaluating the goodness of fit of applicants. However, this is not a requirement, particularly if the applicant demonstrates clinical competency in other areas of practice. Cases are conceptualized using a psychodynamic framework and treatment is integrative and eclectic; therefore, interns should have a level of familiarity with psychodynamic psychotherapy and demonstrate an openness to refinement of their conceptual and practical skills in this framework. Evaluations of an intern s progress and skill are completed every three months. In addition to clinical competence in therapy and report-writing, an intern s professionalism and willingness for professional growth will be assessed. Interns should demonstrate an investment in their training and willingness to receive feedback. Evaluations will be reviewed with each intern and, as necessary, remediation plans will be provided to ensure that the intern has an opportunity to correct areas of deficiency. Should an intern fail to satisfactorily comply with the terms of a remediation plan, the intern may be dismissed from the predoctoral training program and documentation of such will be provided to the intern s doctoral program training director. Once informed, the performance and/or ethical concerns will be addressed with an intern no later than seven (7) business days (or sooner depending on the severity of the concern). The Director of Clinical Training at the intern s graduate program is informed of the proceedings so as it support remediation efforts and successful completion of the internship year. The following procedure will be followed: 1) The supervisor will informally discuss the concerns with the intern either during a Page 5 of 8
scheduled supervision or at another agreed upon time. A corrective plan is agreed upon and communicated to the intern in writing no later than seven days after discussion/meeting. 2) If a more serious concern is raised that has either resulted in or is likely to result in material damage to the client and/or treatment progress or an ethical violation OR if informal discussions were unsuccessful, the intern will meet formally with the Training Director. The Training Director will document the concern, provide a remediation plan and the both the intern and Training Director will sign such document acknowledging an understanding of the information contained within and agreement to comply with the remediation plan. The remediation plan will be provided in writing within seven days after discussion/meeting. 3) If, after the length of time set in the remediation plan, the corrective actions have not taken place and/or the intern continues to engage in the behavior(s), the intern will be informed that he/she is being formally removed from predoctoral internship. This meeting will take place with the Training Director and Executive Director present. This will be documented by the Training Director and a copy provided to the intern immediately. Intern s Rights to Appeal An intern has the right at any time to appeal a corrective action plan, remediation plan and/or removal from the internship program. Such appeals should be made in writing within seven (7) business days of being provided with the program s written decision/plan. The following course of action will be taken: 1) If an intern is appealing a corrective action and/or remediation plan, he/she should notify the Executive Director within the above listed time frame. A meeting will take place within three (3) business days to review the intern s written appeal and all supporting documentation should also be provided at that time. A written decision will be provided to the intern regarding the appeal within seven (7) business days. 2) If an intern is appealing removal from the program, he/she should provide the appeal in writing within the above listed time frame. A meeting will take place within three (3) business days to review the intern s written appeal and all support documentation should also be provided at that time. A written decision will be provided to the intern regarding the appeal decision within fourteen (14) business days. Intern Reporting of Grievances If, at any time, an intern has concerns regarding any aspect of the training program or agency, he/she should communicate these concerns to the Training Director during a scheduled appointment time. Once informed of a concern, the Training Director will schedule such meeting to occur within three (3) business days. Following this meeting, the Training Director will confer with the Executive Director as to the best course of action to address the intern s concerns. A follow-up meeting with the Training Director and intern will occur within seven (7) business days of the initial meeting. Page 6 of 8
Time Off and Benefits Interns are provided with an annual stipend of $17,000 and are given ten days of paid time off to include vacation, sick leave and professional development. Interns will be paid for the following office closures: New Year s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Executive Director and Clinical Director will review requests for additional time due to documented extenuating circumstances. Health insurance benefits are not available to interns. A $200 stipend will be provided annually for professional development and/or materials. Testing materials that are purchased using these funds will remain the property of the CORTE program. Prerequisites for Internship & Application Process Interns must have completed all doctoral course work and practicum requirements prior to inception of the predoctoral training program. He/she should be familiar will all areas of psychology, including theories of personality, processes of therapy, psychological assessment, physiology of behavior and different modalities of therapy. It is expected that all interns have had supervised experience in providing individual therapy, group therapy and psychological assessments. A minimum of 500 intervention hours and 100 assessment hours must be completed prior to the start of the internship year. Applications should be submitted in accordance with the standards of the APPIC Predoctoral Internship Match. The application materials should include: 1) Completed online AAPI (APPIC application) 2) Cover letter 3) Current Curriculum Vitae 4) Three letters of recommendation, two of which must be from persons who have directly supervised your clinical work 5) Official transcripts for all graduate coursework 6) Supplemental materials one de-identified psychological evaluation and a clinical case summary (no more than two pages) that includes, at a minimum, a clear conceptualization and treatment formulation. If selected, interviews are offered in-person and, on a limited basis, via telecommunication. Interviews are held in mid-january in the Delray Beach office and will take approximately two hours. It includes both group and individual interview formats and the prospective interns are offered an opportunity to speak with current interns as well as postdoctoral residents. In addition to the requirements and criteria outlined in the brochure, CORTE will also take into consideration the potential commitment or interest in remaining at the agency for a postdoctoral Page 7 of 8
residency rotation. While there is no guarantee of a position, current interns are given preference in the selection of residents if they perform at or above standards during the internship year. The CORTE program will not discriminate against any qualified applicant with respect to any terms, privileges, or conditions of the employment because of a person s physical or mental disability unless it directly interferes with their ability to perform patient care and may potentially compromise the health, safety, and the welfare of the patient. Employment decisions are based on merit and business needs, and not on race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, age, weight, religion, veteran status, political affiliation, or any other factor protected by law. Questions regarding the program should be directed to the Training Director, Rebecca Parnell, Psy.D., at rebeccacorte@att.net or (561) 279-9295. Page 8 of 8