Residency Training Manual (Cont.)
Florida Department of Corrections
Postdoctoral Residency Program in ClinicalPsychology
TRAINING MANUAL
2016-2017
1.The Florida Department of Corrections Postdoctoral Residency Program in Clinical Psychology mission is to provide advanced training and educational experiences that prepare our residents to successfully work as licensed psychologists in general and/or correctional clinical settings. We provide residents with an organized, planned program of sequential learning experience designed to provide advanced training that will prepare them to successfully work as psychologistsin those settings. It is also designed to meet the requirements for Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centersmembership and the accreditation standards of the American Psychological Association.
The residency program funds two full-time residents each year. The residency year begins September 1st and ends on August 31st of the following year. Psychology Residents will use the working title of “Psychology Resident” on all of their clinical work so that their status as a trainee is clear. Additionally, all of their patients’treatment plans and psychological evaluations will be co-signed by a faculty supervisor.
2. Training Director: The program’s training director is a licensed psychologist with clear evidence of professional competence and leadership as a clinical psychologist in a correctional setting. The training director is responsible for the overall integrity and quality of the program. More specifically, the training director: organizes and manages the training program and its resources; chairs the training committee; monitors, evaluates and modifies the program including its goals and activities on a routine basis; coordinates the collections of records including resident training records and other residency documentation; coordinates the applicant interview and selection process; and has administrative authority over the residency program. The training director may also serve as a faculty training supervisorandprovides individual and group supervision.
3. FacultyTraining Supervisors: The residency has at least 2 full-time licensed psychologists, in addition to the training director, with expertise and training in clinical psychology in a correctional setting who serve as faculty trainingsupervisors. They provide formal individual and group supervision. At least one serves as a member of the residency training committee. Each resident will be provided with supervision from at least 2 different faculty training supervisors during the year.
4. Other Faculty: The program has a number of contributors, both psychologists and members of other professions who contribute greatly to the training experience of our residents. They include Adjunct Faculty and Resource Faculty.
Adjunct Faculty: The residency has adjunct faculty who provide formal training for residents in their areas of expertise and serve as informal resources for residents during their training. They include psychologists who are in positions of authority within our system and are invested in our program. They participate in didactic training and serve on our training committee.
Our non-psychologist adjunct faculty are generally treatment team members involved in the treatment of patients assigned to the residents.They may includepsychiatrists, master level mental health clinicians, medical physicians, nurses and/or other professionals with expertise in the care of mentally ill individuals who are incarcerated. They provide didactic training and often provide informal supervision and training that is of great value to our residents but does not count as part of the formal required hours of supervision or training.
Resource Faculty Our program has a number of highly qualified professionals interested in the success of our residents. They may have expertise in medical issues, grant writing, research, correctional psychology or other areas. They do not have regular contact with the residents but are available for consultation.
A full listing of faculty is provided in the Residency Brochure.
5. Supervision: Residents are provided with at least two hours per week (on average) of regularly scheduled, face-to-face individual supervision focused on the psychological services rendered directly by the resident to patients. This supervision is provided by faculty supervisors who carry professional practice responsibility for the cases being supervised. Faculty supervisors will be clinically responsible for patients treated by residents and will have their names listed on and will sign the treatment plans of the residents’ patients as well as patient reports and summaries. At least 100 hours of individual face-to-face supervision must be provided during the residency year.
6. Other Training Activities: At least 100 hours per year (typically two hours per week) of regularly scheduled, clinically focused, learning activities will be provided, in addition to (over and above) the required 100 hours of individual supervision mentioned above.The other training activities will include group supervision, didactic seminars dealing with clinical issues, grand rounds, and may include additional individual supervision, or co-therapy with a faculty supervisor. Group supervision will generally comprise 50 of those hours. The total hours of individual supervision plus other training activities must be at least 200 hours over the residency year, with at least 100 of those hours consisting of individual supervision. For a complete list of all requirements to complete the residency, please refer to the Checklist of Requirements for Completion of Residency form in Appendix A.For a list of other training activities (including seminars, grand rounds, and research and journal readings) that are typically provided during the year, please refer to the Residency Training Schedule in Appendix J.
Group Supervision: Residents will generally present individual therapy patients or assessment cases for consideration during group supervision. Cases may also be brought by faculty supervisors, interns and occasionally by other professionals for consultation or demonstration purposes. Relevant research and or theoretical readings are required to be brought to group supervision and serve to augment the learning experience. At the beginning of the year group supervision will include role playing. Audio and video tapes of patients along with presentation of and discussion of critical points in therapy or other clinical issues are also addressed. The residents serve as supervisors of master level staffduring their inpatient and outpatient mental health services rotations. and the residents are generally familiar with the interns’ patients. Therefore, they are invited to participate in joint group supervision with the internship program in order to provide the residents with augmented clinical learning opportunities, and with supervisory experiences.
Didactic Seminars: Seminars are an integral part of the residency and are scheduled routinely throughout the year. Typical topics include: evidence based treatment modalities such asDBT, CBT, group therapy, crisis intervention, management of self-injury, supervision techniques, psychopharmacology, legal and ethical issues, expert witness testimony, competency, civil commitment, risk assessment, individual/cultural diversity, program organization, management, administration and evaluation, treatment planning, competency evaluations, and sex offender assessment and treatment. Seminars are most often presented by psychologists, but may be lead by psychiatrists or others with expertise in the area (e.g. neurologists, pharmacists.)
Grand Rounds: Formal case presentations are an important part of the residents’ training as they require their reflective integration and discussion of the research, theory and practice of psychological assessment and treatment. Formal case presentations additionally serve as one of the formats for improving the residents’professional presentation skills.
7. Resident’s Grand Rounds Presentations:During the year, residents will present at least four Grand Rounds presentation. One should be done in each quarter of the year. One presentation will be on an assessment instrument appropriate for use in the correctional setting including research data to support its application to our diverse correctional population, recommendations for its use and training for staff in its use. A second presentation will be a treatment case presentation that incorporates etiologic conceptualizations, diagnostic justifications, identification of at least one psychotropic medication with an explanation of potential efficacy, a specific treatment plan with an explanation of planned treatment progression for at least 2 symptoms, along with current research and theory to support them. A third presentation will be another case presentation that incorporates interpretations of formal assessment, diagnosis, case conceptualizations, issues of unique diversity, treatment plans based on current research and theory and consultation concerns for nursing, security and psychiatric staff. The fourth presentation will be a professional 1 hour training presentation suitable for improving staff interactions with and management of difficult patients or the clinicalknowledge and skill of mental health supervisees and/or interns.
8. Professional Psychological Services: At least 25% of the resident’s time (500 hours) will be spent in the provision of professional psychological services to patients, consultees, and/or agencies. This will consist of at least 350 hours of face-to-face patient contact and 150 hours that includes some of all of these: consultation; provision of supervision; program organization, management, administration and evaluation; training; and clinically relevant research. At least 900 hours of the resident’s time will be spent in activities related to direct patient contact. This may include individual and group therapy, patient assessment and report writing, individual and group therapy, supervision, case presentations, patient staffings as well as other activities related to patient care and contact.
9. Eligibility:Residents must have:1) completed, prior to the beginning of the residency, all requirements for a doctoral degree from an American Psychological Association accredited program in Clinical or Counseling Psychology (including completion of a doctoral internship that is a member of and meets the standards of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers standards) that is a regionally accredited institution of higher education; 2) demonstrated interest and aptitudes that are appropriate for our postdoctoral residency program’s goals and objectives; and 3) express interest in working as a psychologist in a correctional setting upon completion of their training. They must have on the first day of the residency either the doctoral diploma or a letter from their training program’s director of graduate studies or registrar verifying the completion of all degree requirements pending institution graduation ceremony and actual receipt of their diploma. Specialty change applicants who have earned doctoral degrees in fields other than clinical, counseling, or school psychology must have received a certificate of equivalency from an American Psychological Association accredited university program attesting to their having met all American Psychological Association standards, including internship.
Preference will be given to those applicants who have completed an American Psychological Association accredited doctoral internship in a correctional setting and/or have experience working in correctional settings and inpatient forensic psychiatric facilities. Please see our Brochure for additional information including application procedures.
10. Evaluation:TheFlorida Department of Corrections Residency Brochure and this Training Manual are made available to residents, faculty, applicants and other interested parties. Residents should refer to them for valuable information about the program. They include descriptions of the program’s mechanisms for evaluation of resident competence and requirements for successful completion of the program.
Residents are expected to demonstrate an advanced level of competence in the areas of Therapeutic Interventions; Psychological Assessment and Diagnosis, Scholarly/Evidence Based Inquiry; Professional Conduct, Ethics and Law; Supervision; Consultation; and Program Organization, Management, Administration and Evaluation. See Appendix B for a complete list of Residency Program Goals and Objectives.
Our residents are provided with informal supervisory feedback on an ongoing basis throughout their training year. They are required to obtain live supervision at the beginning of the year and must video or audio tape sessions for individual and group supervision. They are formally evaluated in writing by their supervisor using the Psychology Resident Evaluation Form (see Appendix C). Written formal evaluations are done at least at mid-year and at the end of the year. Residents are expected to have ratings of 2 or higher on all items and an average rating of at least 2.5 across each of our seven competency areas by midyear. They must have a rating of 3 or higher on every item by the end of the year. If a supervisor feels that a resident is having trouble performing certain tasks, they may complete a written evaluation at any time during the year in accordance with our Due Process, in an effort to identify the area of concern and assist the resident in successfully completing their residency. The residents will also evaluate their rotations, their supervisors and the residency as a whole, at the end of the year.
11. Certificate of Completion: A Certificate of completion is granted upon fulfillment of the program requirements. See Appendix D for a sample copy.
12. Training Committee:The residency training committee will meet at least quarterly to review the progress of residents, to assist in evaluating the quality of the residency program, to suggest and evaluate alterations to the residency program, to assist in the selection of new residents and to participate in due process and grievance procedures.
The training committee will consist of 5 voting members including the
1) residency training director, an FDOC employee, who will chair the committee
2) the residency president or his designee, an FDOC employee
3) onefaculty training supervisor employed by Corizon Healthcare
4) one adjunct faculty member employed by the FDOC
5) one adjunct faculty member or another faculty supervisor
A quorum of 3 is required for meetings. A current resident may be invited to participate as a non-voting member of the committee. However, the invited resident may not be present during discussion specific to any one resident’s performance, progress, due process or grievance procedures.
13. Administration: The president of the residency program is the director of mental health services for the Department of Corrections. That person is responsible for hiring the residency training director and is the individual with the final decision making authority in due process and grievance procedures.
The postdoctoral residency training director is a psychologist who is licensed in the State of Florida and is a full-time employee of the Florida Department of Corrections whose primary duties are centered on the psychology residency and internship training programs. This person has extensive training and experience as a clinical psychologist working, leading and training others in correctional settings. The training director is responsible for organizing the residency training program and its resources, resident selection, and the monitoring, evaluation and improvement of the program, its goals and activities. The training director also chairs the training committee and documents and maintains the residents’ training records within the Florida Department of Corrections. The training director recommends individuals to serve as faculty supervisors, adjunct faculty, contributors and members of the training committee. These recommendations are approved by the training committee and are reported to the American Psychological Association. The training director plans, directs and coordinates the training activities of the program on an ongoing basis. Major changes to the structure or organization of the program require training committee approval. Routine expenditures are requested and authorized by the training director. Requests for materials or resources that exceed $1,000.00 require approval of the president.
Residents’ applications are reviewed by the training director, faculty supervisors and current residents. They select applicants for interview offers, complete interviews and then rank applicants for offers of residency positions. Residents are supervised clinically by the training supervisors. They report administratively to the training director and are subject to the Florida Department of Corrections security rules and regulations.
14. Due Process Procedures: The Residency Due Process is a procedure that is to be used when a Psychology Resident's behavior is problematic. Problematic behaviors will, generally, first be made known to the resident informally as part of their on-going supervision, during which efforts will be made to assist the resident in remediating the concerns.
Step One: When problematic behaviors do not appear to be improving through an informal supervision process the resident has the right to be and must be provided with a written formal evaluation using the Psychology Resident Evaluation Form (see Appendix C) that states that the resident needs to make improvements or may be at risk of not successfully completing the residency. This may be done at any time during the year that the supervisor feels that there are issues that need particular attention, but should be done sooner rather than later in the year. This is not to be considered a disciplinary action and is aimed solely at clearly identifying and addressing possible impediments to the resident’s successful completion of the residency.
The evaluation form will be discussed by and signed by both the supervisor and the resident and then given to the training director for review and signature. The resident has the right to be and will be invited to discuss the evaluation and issues surrounding it with the training director in an effort to find additional means of assisting the resident. The training director then has the responsibility for providing the resident with a written training plan describing the problem, goals to be reached, as well as a method for and timeframe for remediation of the issues. The resident will sign the training plan and it will be shared with appropriate supervisors so that they can provide support to the resident’s efforts.
Step Two: If the goals of a training plan are not met within the specified time frame the issue will be presented to the training committee by the training director. If the training committee is concerned about the issue, they have the responsibility for providing the resident with a written statement notifying the resident that the goals of the training plan were not met, specifying the problematic issues or concerns and inviting the resident’s written response. The resident has the right to have 10 working days to prepare a written response to the training committee including any documentation or other information that the resident wants to have considered.