Psychology Internship Program
APA-Accredited Doctoral Internship Program
The Astor Home for Children was founded in 1953 to provide residential treatment to emotionally disturbed children as an alternative to hospitalization. Since that time, the agency has evolved and expanded and currently provides a broad array of residential, community and preventive services using a strength based treatment approach. The Astor Home for Children uses empirically validated treatment approaches which guide our treatment and planning.
With program sites located in both rural and urban environments (Dutchess County, Orange County and the Bronx) the agency serves a population that is diverse with respect to race, religion, ethnicity and socioeconomic background. The Astor Home for Children is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
The Astor doctoral psychology internship program has been in existence since 1964 and is accredited by the American Psychological Association, Committee on Accreditation, Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation at 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 2002-4242. The phone number of the Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation is 202-336-5500. The last site visit was in March 2004 with re-accreditation conferred. The next site visit will be in 2011.
The 45-50 hour per week internship program provides trainees with a practitioner / scholar model through supervised experience in assessing and treating emotionally disturbed children and their families in settings ranging from residential to day treatment to outpatient counseling centers. The internship begins September 1st and continues through August 31st with a 5-day TCI Crisis Training preceding start date. At the end of the internship, Certificates of Completion are awarded.
The Director of the APA Internship Program, Athena A. Drewes, Psy.D., is also the Director of Clinical Training for the agency. She is a licensed psychologist and a member of the American Psychological Association, is a Board of Director for the Association for Play Therapy and is Registered as a play therapist and supervisor (RPT-S). She is an adjunct professor at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY and Sage College in Albany, NY, and author/editor of several books.
This internship site agrees to abide by the APPIC Match policies (http://www.appic.org/).
Application
The Astor Home uses the APPIC application along with three letters of recommendation, copies of graduate school transcript(s), curriculum vitae, and an integrated psychological assessment report of an anonymous client that includes cognitive and projective testing (including Rorschach) for consideration as the application. One application can be used to apply to all three program sites but each site requires a separate match number and applicants must be specific about which site(s) they are applying for in their cover letters. The deadline for applications is November 15th and applicants invited for interviews are notified by December 14th. In-person interviews are preferred, but other arrangements can be made on an individual basis. Each program may require a separate interview. All applicants matched must be cleared by an agency physical, the NYS Abuse Registry and fingerprint check, as well as have five consecutive days of TCI Crisis Intervention training prior to starting. TCI training is scheduled at the Rhinebeck Residence for all six interns prior to the September 1st start date, and involves being available during the last week in August.
Application materials and cover letter should be mailed to:
Director of Clinical Training and APA Internship
The Astor Home for Children
13 Mt. Carmel Place
Poughkeepsie, N.Y. 12601
Salary and Benefits
Each intern receives a salary of $23,660.00 financed entirely through The Astor Home for Children. Interns, considered Astor employees, receive the full package of benefits: health and dental insurance (the employee contributes a portion of the premiums), disability insurance, 20 vacation days, 4 personal days, 12 sick days and 12 paid holidays. Interns receive professional training days for special agency-wide training which are subject to supervisor approval, productivity levels and paperwork status.
Training Locations
There are 6 full-time internship positions for 3 different match-site programs. Interns divide their week between two program settings, which remain the same for the full year. Two interns work in rural Dutchess County dividing their time between the residential program (three days) and a counseling center (two days): match # 148812. A third intern works in rural Dutchess County in the residential program (3 days) and the school-age Day Treatment program (2 days): match #148813. And three interns work in an urban setting in the borough of the Bronx in New York City split between the Day Treatment (3 days) and Counseling Center settings (2 days): match #148814.
Dutchess County:
The original site of The Astor Home for Children is located in the historic and picturesque rural Hudson River Valley on a fifteen-acre estate in the village of Rhinebeck, New York, approximately ninety miles north of New York City. The Village of Rhinebeck (population 5,000) traces its origin to the 17th century settlers who found the Hudson River and surrounding countryside to be similar in beauty to the Rhine Valley in their native Germany. Today, Rhinebeck strives to preserve its historic and colonial character and nearly half of the residences in the village are on the National Register of Historic Homes. There are several fine restaurants in the village and the Culinary Institute of America is a 10-minute drive. Transportation to New York City (90 miles south) is very convenient via regularly scheduled trains between Rhinecliff (two miles from Rhinebeck) and Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan. Express bus transportation and easy automobile access to New York City are available via the New York State Thruway or the Taconic Parkway. The city of Albany, the capital of NYS, is 60 miles north and has a major State University with a medical school and APA-approved doctoral programs in both Clinical and Counseling Psychology.
Outdoor recreational activities include hiking in the Catskill Mountains, sailing and boating on the Hudson River, ice skating, downhill and cross country skiing, golf, camping, fishing and hunting. Numerous cultural activities are available as well. Musical performances are offered by the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Orchestra in Poughkeepsie, and both Tanglewood in the Berkshires and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center are accessible as are various museums, historical mansions, and theaters. Vassar College, Bard College, SUNY New Paltz and Marist College offer library services, lectures, and film series in addition to other cultural activities.
The Bronx:
The urban New York City borough of the Bronx has a population of over 1.2 million people. It ranks first of New York's 5 boroughs in the percentage of its population who live in poverty. Historically the Bronx has been the home of immigrant families, a trend that continues today. Despite the poverty there are vibrant communities which strive to maintain their cultural traditions and sense of identity. During the summer the borough abounds with street fairs and festivals. Pregones, the premier Puerto Rican travelling theater, performs throughout the borough. Arthur Avenue, the "Little Italy" of the Bronx, is the scene of festivals dedicated to various saints. Irish pubs are frequented by popular musicians and singers from the greater metropolitan area. Gaelic Park hosts the Sunday Irish football and hurling matches, which draw large crowds from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The historic City Island, with its small houses and shore "village" environment, has many of the best seafood restaurants and marinas on the East Coast as well as excellent sailing.
The Bronx is the home of the New York Yankees, the Bronx Zoo and the New York Botanical Gardens as well as several universities and colleges. There are also two well-maintained golf courses that are open to the public. The Bronx is easily accessible to the borough of Manhattan giving one access to all the cultural, educational and entertainment opportunities to be found there.
Training Positions:
Counseling Centers - Dutchess County:
The Astor Home has Counseling Centers and several satellite clinics in Dutchess County. One intern works in the Counseling Center located in Red Hook, a rural area, with the client population comprised of more middle class families as well as migrant families. One intern works in the Counseling Center in Poughkeepsie, a small city within the surrounding rural community.
The counseling center is a fast-paced environment in which the intern has full responsibility for case management of their treatment cases, as well as keeping up productivity hours. The client population is varied, and includes working class families, middle class families, as well as families on public assistance. At both counseling centers, the interns work as part of a multidisciplinary team that includes psychologists, social workers and psychiatrists, to provide a variety of consultative and direct treatment services to the child and adolescent clients and their families. Both clinics serve varied populations with many of the families facing multiple challenges including poverty, separation and divorce, domestic violence, and substance use issues. Many of the children present with difficulties in the home, school and social domains. The treatment philosophy is oriented toward the involvement of the family in the treatment process. Treatment modalities include individual, family and group therapy. Therapeutic orientations include psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, social learning, and family systems approaches. Interns conduct their sessions within their office.
Interns are assigned to spend up to 18 hours per week, which includes one evening, in the counseling center. Eight to ten contact hours per week are required and this includes intakes as well as 12 open cases seen at various intervals (e.g. weekly, biweekly, monthly) with accompanying paperwork. The counseling center experience gives the interns the opportunity to consult with various community agencies and school districts as well as to face the "real life" issues of productivity and managed care billing. The interns are expected to manage treatment responsibilities, billing, case consultation, treatment team meetings and timely completion of paperwork along with the seasoned staff members. Interns are considered members of the treatment team. There are occasional, as-needed, psychological evaluations.
Residential Treatment Center/Facility – Dutchess County:
The Astor residential programs are housed in together in rural Rhinebeck, New York, and provide specialized services to 75 boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 13. There are two components to the residential program, the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) and the Residential Treatment Facility (RTF). The RTF serves 20 boys and is licensed and funded by the New York State Office of Mental Hygiene, while the RTC serves 55 children referred by county and New York City (ACS) Departments of Social Services and by Committees on Special Education from various school districts. The children in the RTF tend to have more severe emotional difficulties and more extensive histories of psychiatric hospitalization than do the children in the RTC. However, there is some overlap between the two populations and children in both programs receive a broad array of clinical services. Many of the children present with histories of trauma, externalizing disorders, and mood disorders and some have psychotic disorders.
Children live in groups of 10 to 12 supervised by childcare staff under the direction of a childcare supervisor. Each living group has a psychologist as its clinical coordinator and a social worker who serves as the liaison between Astor and the children's families. In addition to the therapeutic milieu, available treatment modalities include individual, family and group therapy, expressive arts therapy, relationship therapy, behavior modification, and recreation activities. Psychiatric services and psychotropic medication treatment are available for those children that require it. The children attend school on site for a full day, at our three-time National Blue Ribbon Award-winning Astor Learning Center. In addition to academic instruction the program offers art, gym, library, music, computer lab and remedial reading. Children also receive speech/language and/or occupational therapy as needed. After school there are a variety of recreational activities as well as special events, community activities and trips.
The interns spend three days in the residence which has a slower pace and less required paperwork than the more intensely paced counseling centers or day treatment program. Within the residence, interns are assigned psychotherapy cases for a total of 8 treatment hours (individual and group/social skills therapy) per week. They also provide family therapy for one of their individual cases. They work closely with the clinical coordinators in treatment planning and progress review conferences. The average length of stay of the children is between 12 and 18 months, which gives the interns experience in long-term therapy. Within the residential setting the interns each complete up to ten integrated psychological evaluations over the course of the year. They also offer consultation services to childcare and teaching staff on a weekly basis regarding their therapy and testing cases. Interns are expected to attend a number of treatment team meetings, to prepare therapy progress reports and offer treatment goals and objectives for these meetings.
Day Treatment - Dutchess County:
The Astor Day Treatment Center, located in the more urban Poughkeepsie, New York, provides treatment and educational services to 56 children aged 5 to 13 referred from school districts throughout Dutchess County and surrounding counties. It is licensed jointly by the Office of Mental Hygiene and the State Education Department. Children are referred for services by their district Committees on Special Education. All of the children have been designated emotionally disturbed and have been unable to function adequately in less restrictive educational settings. The most common diagnoses are Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder. There are some children with psychotic disorders as well. Many of the children are also learning disabled. The children often come from multi-stressed families and some are in foster care. There is a satellite program for preschool children that is well integrated into Astor's Early Childhood Programs in Poughkeepsie.
Day Treatment is a school-based intensive treatment program with all treatment being provided during the course of the regular school day. The treatment approach is primarily a combination of psychodynamic, developmental, cognitive-behavioral, and family systems therapies. The school also uses behavior modification and social skills training with an emphasis on helping children develop problem solving skills and working with them collaboratively. Each child receives individual, group and family therapy when possible. Psychiatric services are available for those children who require psychotropic medication. Other special services include speech/language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy and intensive reading remediation. Clinicians work closely with the teachers and other staff to develop an effective individualized treatment approach for the child. Most therapy is long-term in nature as children are generally placed in the program for an entire school year at a time.
The intern is assigned to two days at the Day Treatment program and three days at the Residence. (See above description of the Residence for specific details on training and caseload.) At Day Treatment the intern is expected to carry a caseload of five children and to serve as a co-therapist for one group. The intern is also responsible for the classroom consultation, treatment planning, and individual and family therapy for the cases assigned. The intern works closely with any other programs and agencies involved with the child such as the Department of Social Services, Astor Intensive Case Management, and Child Protective Services. The intern may also complete as-needed psychological assessments during the course of the year. These assessments would consist primarily of personality testing to resolve diagnostic issues, as the school districts are responsible for the cognitive testing. The intern works closely with the other clinicians in the program and participates in the monthly peer supervision, group psychodrama supervision, and as-needed testing supervision.
The Bronx programs, known collectively as The Astor Child Guidance Center (ACGC), are located in the urban northeast Bronx in New York City and include The ACGC Outpatient Clinic, The Astor Day Treatment Program, The Lawrence F. Hickey Center for Child Development (a therapeutic nursery), and Astor Family Services. The interns spend three days per week in a Day Treatment Program and two days per week in the Outpatient Clinic. Interns in the Bronx programs experience a fast-paced experience with a varied client population from inner-city life, with accompanying multiple problems and crises, and often low socio-economic status, with drug, alcohol, single-parent, domestic violence, and abuse histories.
Day Treatment Program - The Bronx:
The Astor Day Treatment Program serves 200 three to thirteen year-olds at several sites. The program strives to provide an intensive therapeutic program for severely emotionally disturbed children and their families through the combined efforts of an interdisciplinary team of certified mental health professionals and educators.
Referrals are accepted from school systems, social service agencies, psychiatric hospitals, day care centers, psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians and parents who believe their child needs an intensive treatment program. Most children referred to the program have been unable to function adequately in less restrictive special education programs or have been discharged from more restrictive residential programs (e.g., inpatient psychiatric facilities, residential treatment facilities).
The clinical component of the program is based upon behavioral, social learning and cognitive / behavioral principles. Therapy focuses on helping the child develop adaptive problem solving, interpersonal, and cognitive skills. Interns have mostly groups, in-classroom consultation and some individual therapy cases. Classroom management techniques are based on an ongoing, highly structured, and consistently administered token economy. Family participation is required to address problems occurring in the child's home and to maximize therapeutic effectiveness. Some children require psychiatric consultation and psychotropic medication. Where appropriate, the child's treatment team and parents meet to discuss rationale, recommendations, and procedures.
Two interns are placed in the Byron Avenue day treatment program, working with school age children for 21 hours per week. One intern is placed in the Tilden Avenue day treatment program with younger children for 21 hours per week. Interns are may be called upon to help staff in initiating or assisting in therapeutic holds, and to be available for crisis intervention within the classroom. Interns will need to be flexible and have coping strategies for managing personal stress that can be created by repeated client crises that interfere with scheduled appointments, and the demands of timely completion of regularly required paperwork. All interns receive TCI training for crisis intervention before receiving cases.
The Outpatient Clinic - The Bronx:
The Outpatient Clinic of the Astor Child Guidance Center at Tilden Street provides a range of services to the urban communities of the northeast Bronx. It is licensed by the State Office of Mental Health (OMH) and holds a contract with the New York City Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Alcoholism Services (DMH) to provide services for children and their families. The services are open to all regardless of ability to pay, provided admission criteria are met. Prospective clients must be between the ages of four and eighteen, must live within the specified catchment area, and must have a diagnosable psychiatric disability. Preference is given to those cases which meet the OMH criteria for Severely Emotionally Disturbed, or who present with serious psychiatric symptoms. Exclusion criteria include a primary diagnosis of substance abuse or mental retardation. A small number of adult cases are on the rolls - parents who have (or have had) children in treatment in the Clinic.
The program is staffed by an inter-disciplinary team of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and art therapists. There is also an active student internship program in social work and art therapy, along with the APA Psychology Internship program.
The services provided by the program include individual counseling and psychotherapy, group therapy, family therapy, psychiatric evaluation and medication evaluation and therapy, psychological testing, crisis intervention and case management. Psychodynamically-oriented psychotherapy is the primary treatment model employed in the clinic, though evidence-based cognitive models are also used in the treatment of anxiety and depression. Several clinicians specialize in treatment using an object relations model.
Referrals are received primarily from schools, psychiatric emergency rooms, inpatient units, general hospital outpatient units, other agencies, and community members who know Astor through word of mouth and former clients. Clients are initially evaluated during their first three visits and the treatment staff meets once weekly to discuss new cases and plan treatment. During the initial phase of treatment, all clients undergo extensive psychodiagnostic assessments by the psychology department. Findings and impressions are presented to the staff at large for treatment planning.
Interns are able to work with a varied inner-city population with a variety of referring problems, that include externalizing behaviors, mood disorders, parent-child problems, family difficulties stemming from drug, alcohol addictions, domestic violence and single-parent stress. Evening work is required in order to see individual and family cases, as well as complete intakes and psychological assessments. The interns are together in the outpatient setting on the same two days for 21 hours per week. Interns are required to be in charge of their patient's billing, as well as being up-to-date on paperwork demands as per OMH and New York State time requirements.
Intern Caseloads and Responsibilities
The Bronx internship programs provide a primarily clinical psychology experience, but do involve opportunities for consultation directly with educational staff. Interns have cases in both the outpatient clinic and the Day Treatment Program. Interns provide individual, group, and family therapy, crisis intervention, teacher consultation, and psychological assessment. On occasion, interns provide adult individual therapy to the parents of clients. Interns also work closely with foster agencies, law guardians, and the Administration for Children's Services (ACS). On occasion, they have been asked to provide information to ACS and appear in Family Court.
Within the outpatient program, interns carry six individual and family cases and complete a variety of full and partial testing batteries and assessments throughout the year. Within the Day Treatment Program, interns are expected to carry a total of seven cases. These may be individual or group cases. Day Treatment individual and family cases are seen weekly and session times range from 15 minutes with the youngest clients to one hour for older clients and their families. Interns conduct up to ten psychological evaluations per year.
Supervision
Each intern is assigned a psychologist as a supervisor at each site where he or she works. Each intern receives a minimum of 2 hours per week of individual supervision with a licensed psychologist. Often there is additional individual supervision available up to 4 hours per week. In addition the interns receive group supervision in family therapy, child/play therapy and testing with licensed psychologists.
Interns are required to use videotape or audiotape (with prior client or agency written consent) to record individual and family sessions for use in supervision and group seminars in family and child/play therapy. The agency supplies the necessary equipment, and rooms with one-way mirrors are also available in the Residence and the Bronx at Tilden Street for live supervision.
Clinical Seminars
Clinical seminars presented by Astor staff as well as outside presenters provide training on a variety of clinical topics relevant to child and family mental health. Interns attend these seminars biweekly and each intern has an opportunity to present to the clinical staff up to twice during the year, either on testing cases or another topic of interest to the intern. Interns are encouraged to give input regarding seminar topics they are interested to receive training in.
Training
Family Therapy
Didactic training and supervision in family therapy are provided bi-weekly by either Dr. Suzannne Button (Dutchess) or Dr. Ronna Weber (Bronx), certified by the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. Each intern presents a family therapy case either via videotape or for live supervision. Interns also have the opportunity to periodically attend family therapy case consultation and training with outside consultant Andrew Fussner. At times Astor may contract additional consultants for a variety of training, which interns are able to participate in.
Child Play Therapy
The Astor Home for Children is an approved provider of CE hours and certificates by the Association for Play Therapy. All play therapy training and play therapy seminars count toward becoming a Registered Play Therapist. The Director of the APA internship conducts a three-hour per month child play therapy seminar in both Dutchess and the Bronx Counties. The interns present, in rotation, videotapes of their work in therapy with one child throughout the year-long seminar. All 6 interns meet with the Director of the Internship, along with any interested Post-Doctoral Fellows, for didactic and theoretical play therapy training at least four times per year. Interns are also invited to attend at no-cost periodic presentations in play therapy. Some are given by the New York Association for Play Therapy (of which the Internship Director is founder and past president) and are held at Astor in Rhinebeck. Interns may also attend at no-cost monthly play therapy seminars, held on a Saturday, given by The Play Therapy Institute (founded by the Internship Director) at the Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel in Poughkeepsie, NY. Interns are also encouraged to attend the annual state conference of The New York Association for Play Therapy held in the spring. By the end of the internship, Interns are able to accumulate up to 80 play therapy hours, toward the 150 required hours by the Association for Play Therapy in order to become a Registered Play Therapist.
Additional Training Opportunities
Astor is committed to utilize evidence-based treatment, as well as assess the treatment efficacy of our programs. To that end, Astor has focused its agency-wide training toward bringing in renowned researchers and noted clinicians to train the clinical staff on various treatment issues. Over the past few years we have received training from Dr. Nancy Boyd-Franklin, Dr. Donald Meichenbaum, Dr. James Garbarino, and Dr. John Norcross. In addition, on-going consultants in cognitive-behavioral therapy, and parent-child interaction therapy are utilized to train staff in EBT and best practices. Whenever possible, interns are included in these special trainings.
Attendance at special agency-wide training is available during the year with supervisor approval pending status of the intern's productivity levels and paperwork completion. The Director of the APA Internship and Clinical Training distributes a monthly listing of additional clinical training available to all agency staff.
Development of Professional Identity
All six interns meet regularly, averaging monthly, for lunch with the Director of the APA Internship and Clinical Training giving them an opportunity to share their experiences and personal and professional interests as well as to discuss clinical and ethical issues. This time allows for the formation of professional friendships, professional identity as a psychologist, and provides peer support. Interns also meet regularly during training modules, and have ample opportunities to network with one another. The Hudson Valley Psychological Association also holds at least one annual forum of all doctoral interns and their training directors throughout Dutchess, Ulster and Sullivan Counties. This forum allows all the interns a chance to meet and network as well as learn about community resources, while developing their professional identity.
Professional Library
A professional library containing over 2,300 professional books and journals is located at the main agency site in Rhinebeck. The librarian will assist interns in obtaining any books, reference materials or literature reviews needed. Materials not available in-house can be obtained through Inter-Library Loan. Interns can easily email the librarian their request and the book or article will be sent to them via inter-office mail if they are unable to come to Rhinebeck to pick it up.
