Adult Community Mental Health Services / 34 Park Street

APPIC #118319 and APPIC #118312

Overview

The Adult Community Mental Health (ACMH) placement offers fellows the opportunity to learn about and deliver state of the art care for individuals with serious mental illnesses (SMI) and co-occurring disorders within a comprehensive, integrated system of services. This placement is based at the Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC), which serves individual adults with a wide range of SMI and co-occurring mental and substance use disorders. As a community mental health center, CMHC offers not only psychological and psychopharmacological services, but also many other wellness-oriented programs designed to enhance recovery. The placement provides a broad range of rich, diverse training opportunities, which may include but are not limited to: serving as a primary clinician and representing psychology on interprofessional treatment teams; providing individual and group treatment; developing positive behavioral support plans; providing case management; providing training and consultation with community service agencies; and carrying out a scholarly project related to SMI.

Fellows with a primary placement with ACMH may select one of two secondary CMHC placement options:

Placement Options

#1: APPIC #118319

Primary Placement at ACMH with a Secondary Placement at the Inpatient Services Unit

A full year, 30-hour per week primary placement of outpatient experiences, combined with a full year, 15-hour per week secondary placement at CMHC Adult Inpatient Services/Inpatient Unit.

#2: APPIC #118312

Primary Placement at ACMH with Secondary Placement Options

A full year, 30-hour per week primary placement of outpatient experiences, combined with 15-hour per week secondary placement at one of the following: CMHC

Applicants are encouraged to indicate their preferred secondary option in their cover letter; decisions about secondary placements are confirmed post-Match.

The Setting

CMHC provides outpatient and inpatient mental health services to adults with SMI and co-occurring disorders who live in the greater New Haven area. CMHC’s treatment model is firmly grounded in the concept of recovery. This involves a focus on empowerment and individualized, person-centered services to help individuals achieve their highest potential. The recovery emphasis at CMHC is built on the principle that in order for a community mental health system to provide state-of-the -art care, it must include not only clinical services but also social support, assistance in finding housing, employment, and other interventions to promote community inclusion and citizenship.

The primary units of organization for the ACMH placement are interprofessional outpatient teams that specialize in serving adults with a range of SMI and co-occurring disorders, including mood, anxiety, personality, substance use and psychotic disorders. Members of the teams include psychiatrists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, peer recovery specialists, community clinicians, supported employment specialists, and social rehabilitation staff. Most commonly, people receiving services within the ACMH placement are engaged in individual and/or group therapy and medication management, depending on their individualized recovery plans.

The Internship

The ACMH placement is designed to develop a broad set of core competencies related to the delivery of psychological services to individuals with SMI and co-occurring disorders within a community mental health center grounded in a recovery framework. At the core of the training experience is the fellow’s role as primary clinician on interprofessional treatment teams.

ACMH fellows generally spend 8-10 hours per week in face-to-face clinical contact: 8-10 in outpatient services. The majority of clinical time involves providing psychological services individually and often in groups, as well as case management and other supports. Caseloads are selected to provide a variety of treatment experiences, as well as focused experience in a diagnostic area of particular interest.

While many individuals engaged in services are seen in long-term therapy, there are some opportunities for briefer, more focused interventions. Within the recovery model, a variety of treatment modalities and theoretical models can be used, all grounded in a strengths-based, person-centered approach.

Evidence-based Practices

Evidence-based practices (EBPs) used within the ACMH placement include, but are not limited to, person-centered planning, peer support, supported housing, supported employment, strengths-based case management, integrated treatment for co-occurring disorders, family psychoeducation, and psychopharmacology. Others may include Illness Management and Recovery, Seeking Safety, Social Skills Training for Schizophrenia, Motivational Interviewing, Dialectical Behavior Therapy and CBT for Psychosis. Fellows are exposed to a variety of these practices through didactics, supervision and their work on the interprofessional teams.

Psychological Assessment

The psychological assessment experience for ACMH fellows involves routinely conducting a number of brief assessments to assess the presence and severity of symptoms, or to assess change in symptoms over time. Fellows usually conduct at least two comprehensive psychological assessments during the course of the training year, typically behavioral assessments focused on Positive Behavioral Support Planning.

Diversity

Individuals who receive services at CMHC are diverse on a variety of dimensions, including gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, culture, geography, country of origin, disability status, and other characteristics. As a public mental health center, most individuals receiving services experience lower socio-economic status and live with mental illnesses. One in eight residents of Greater New Haven are born outside of the U.S. and that international diversity is reflected in those who come to CMHC.

Scholarly Activity

Scholarly activity in ACMH can take many forms. In cooperation with the primary advisor, the fellow can choose to engage in an ongoing research project, often in conjunction with the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health; evaluate a clinical service or program; or design and implement a consultation or performance improvement project. The advisors for ACMH are eager to engage fellows in a collaborative process to determine the scope and content of the scholarly project.

Faculty

Thomas Styron, Ph.D., Primary Advisor
Allison Ponce, Ph.D., Primary Advisor
Erika Carr, Ph.D., Supervisor
Elizabeth Flanagan, Ph.D., Supervisor

Supervision

Supervision is provided by the fellow's Primary Advisor and by other full-time and voluntary faculty. Each primary fellow is provided with at least four hours of individual supervision each week with licensed psychologists from a range of theoretical orientations. Secondary fellows typically have at least two hours of weekly supervision pertaining to their ACMH placement. The focus of each supervisory relationship is determined by the supervisor-fellow dyad, but normally will include discussion of clinical material, the fellow's role on an interdisciplinary team, research and scholarship as it applies to the clinical work, and professional development issues.

Seminar

In addition to the internship core seminar, the fellows in this placement participate in a weekly ACMH-based seminar for a portion of the training year: A continuing clinical case conference, focusing on recovery-oriented care and person-centered planning. This seminar provides fellows with an opportunity to present and discuss their work at CMHC and to develop professional relationships with other trainees and faculty seminar leaders.

Applicant Qualifications

Strong applicants for this placement have substantive experience and demonstrated commitment to working with adults with SMI, often including research focusing on an aspect of SMI.

Applicants selected for this placement must be able to successfully pass background checks conducted by Yale University.