SUPERVISION

Core Supervision

Our program places particular value on personal exploration in supervision. This exploration takes place in both individual and group supervision sessions.

As part of the core program, interns will have four primary supervisors as follows.

• Each intern will have one primary supervisor for the core caseload of clients in the Outpatient Services. This supervisor will meet with the intern individually one hour per week to discuss the three to five cases in the Outpatient Services. Where resources allow, the primary supervisor for each intern will change mid-year, providing each intern with an opportunity to have two different individuals as the primary supervisor over the course of the year.
• Each intern will have a supervisor for the six months spent in a partial hospital/milieu treatment program. This supervisor will meet individually one hour per week to discuss the intern’s caseload, including individual therapy, family therapy, group therapy, case management, and/or leading milieu activities.
• Each intern will have a supervisor for the three months spent in the Acute/Crisis Treatment services who will meet with the interns in small groups one hour per week.
• Each intern will participate in an hour of individual weekly supervision for psychodiagnostic testing.
• Thus, each intern receives a minimum of two hours per week of individual core supervision throughout the year, and more at specific points during the year. The interns also receive an hour of group supervision with the other interns that is led by the Director and Assistant Director of Training.

In addition, though not formally a supervision experience, interns discuss their cases and receive feedback in structured clinical team meetings as follows.

• A weekly team meeting in the designated outpatient service.
• A weekly team meeting in the designated milieu service.

Elective Supervision

All approved elective experiences have a designated supervisor to whom the intern is responsible. Elective supervisors include psychologists, psychiatrists, and licensed clinical social workers. Supervision in these settings may be in the form of individual meetings, small group supervision, or apprentice experiences. Each intern's program is unique, but considering both core and elective supervision, an intern typically receives at least three hours per week of individual supervision, and at least five hours per week of paired or group supervision.

Performance Improvement/Program Development Project

Interns develop projects in small groups with a clinical or administrative supervisor or within an ongoing performance improvement team, to whom they report regularly. The Director of Training maintains frequent contact with the interns about progress on their projects. Interns are required to complete their projects in the late Spring and all projects are submitted to the annual UBHC Performance Improvement Fair.

Educational/Training Experience

Interns work with a mentor to develop and execute two educational/training programs. The Director or Assistant Director of Training monitors the progress of these projects through on-going discussions with the interns. Interns present at least two trainings, of at least one hour in length, about a body of psychological knowledge to a target audience. The first should be a presentation to unit staff, on a topic of expertise by the intern. The second should cover some aspect of diversity. Audiences can be mental health professionals inside UBHC, UCHC, or University Hospital, or professionals or non-professionals who have requested training from UBHC.

Mentors

A number of psychologists have expressed a willingness to serve as individual mentors for the interns. Mentors are not the core supervisors for interns. Some of the psychologists who have offered to serve as mentors are on the staff at UBHC, others are psychologists in the Department of Psychiatry whose responsibilities are outside UBHC, and still others are voluntary faculty members with no service responsibilities at UMDNJ. Mentors are available to meet with interns individually on an as needed basis over the course of the year to discuss career goals, research interests, or problems that may have developed that would benefit from another perspective. Contacts with mentors are confidential and feedback from mentors is not sought as part of the evaluation of the intern’s progress.

EVALUATION

At the start of the training year, interns are given a set of written program expectations and an orientation to program resources and staff. Each intern also does a self assessment to define strengths and identify areas in which he or she wants to develop additional skills. In consultation with members of the internship administration, the intern then develops an individualized training plan that includes electives to be completed in the coming year; that plan is finalized by the Director of Training and shared with the student’s home graduate program. The interns are also given a statement of policies and procedures that outlines steps to be followed if an intern does not fulfill program requirements.

Throughout the year, evaluation and feedback occur continuously through both formal and informal channels. Twice during the year, supervisors conduct formal written evaluations of each intern's work. At the end of the year, interns are asked to evaluate their supervisors as well as the training program. Student suggestions are incorporated into program changes for following years.