Clinical Psychology – Practicum Sites
Cherokee Health System
Cherokee Health System serves residents of the Lakeway region of East Tennessee. Through its main office in Knoxville and satellite clinics located throughout its service area, Cherokee provides a comprehensive array of clinical, consultative, and community support services as well as medical treatment and integrative care. Outpatient behavioral services include individual, family and group therapy, day treatment, and pharmacotherapy. Cherokee also provides a broad spectrum of evaluative services, including psychodiagnostic, forensic, psycho-educational, and vocational assessment. A strong commitment to influencing the psychological sophistication of the region is reflected in various programs of consultation and education offered to schools, physicians, business and industry, the courts, and other community agencies. Cherokee staff are licensed and certified by the State of Tennessee and national professional organizations. Training at Cherokee consists of supervised involvement in all phases of Center services appropriate to the specific training needs of each student. Clients are adults, adolescents and children, and the intervention strategies range from cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, family systems, and interpersonal. They also are part of multi-disciplinary treatment teams.
Cornerstone of Recovery
Cornerstone of Recovery is a residential substance use treatment hospital that treats adult patients from across the country. Students at Cornerstone gain experience conducting family therapy sessions, facilitating group therapy sessions, participating in interdisciplinary treatment team meetings, and administering comprehensive structured intake interviews and other assessment procedures. Cornerstone’s treatment philosophy integrates Jeffrey Young’s cognitive-behaviorally based Schema Therapy with a traditional AA/NA model. They also utilize family therapy techniques, dialectical behavioral therapy, cognitive processing therapy, mindfulness meditation, and appropriate psychopharmacological treatments.
East Tennessee Children’s Hospital – Pediatric Psychology Placement
ETCH is a children’s hospital medical setting with exposure to various populations of children, adolescents, and families with acute and/or chronic physical conditions and co-morbid psychological concerns. Students have the opportunity to be involved in interdisciplinary clinics, especially the pediatric outpatient weight management clinic. In this clinic, students work with children, adolescents, and their families who struggle with obesity and their endeavor to make healthy lifestyle and behavioral changes. Students also have the opportunity to learn and engage in the consultation-liaison process as well as having the opportunity for outpatient assessment and/or therapy. Students with research-related interests may have some exposure and participation in ongoing research projects within the pediatric psychology.
By the time these placement experiences occur, students have had two years of doctoral study which includes a year of supervised clinical practicum in our Psychological Clinic, plus two years of supervised research experience. Thus, most students are ready to see patients and clients in off campus settings or to serve as instructors in undergraduate courses (e.g., Introductory Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Child Psychology, Research Methods). The off-campus clinical placement sites all offer supervision by licensed clinical psychologists.
Participating agencies have a strong training mission, as evidenced by their willingness to provide supervision, regular feedback on student performance, and financial support (an agency typically does not completely recoup its costs through capitation contracts). Based on the supervisor’s written feedback (twice per year), there is a consistent basis for faculty reviews of the student’s experience. While each student’s transition from the second year campus clinic practicum (i.e., comprehensive assessment and both long and short-term psychotherapy) to the real world of clinical care may be awkward at first, most quickly gain breadth in their assessment and intervention skills. When students are ready to leave for internship, they appear to be comfortable in most clinical settings and seem to have well thought out views of their professional identities.