The Center for Developmental Behavioral Health offers doctoral internship training in individual and family therapy approaches as well as diagnostic evaluations.
The Center for Developmental Behavioral Health is a multidisciplinary treatment program focused on the needs of children with complex psychiatric, developmental and medical conditions. Also housed within the Center for Developmental Behavioral Health is the Clinical Trials Unit (CTU), which brings together patients, families, physicians, and private sponsors in an effort to further our understanding of how currently available and newly developed interventions may improve the lives of individuals affected by genetic, developmental, behavioral, and psychiatric conditions.
The goal of internship training at Center for Developmental Behavioral Health is to provide education and experience in evidence-based treatment and assessment modalities. Trainees gain clinical experience assisting families to understand typical and atypical childhood development and how this interacts with psychological and emotional challenges. Among the challenges the children face are anxiety disorders (including generalized anxiety and phobias), mood disorders (including depression, DMDD and bipolar disorder), externalizing disorders (including ADHD, oppositional behavior, and conduct problems), obsessive compulsive disorder, and tic disorders. Many of the children with these diagnoses also experience medical, developmental, and/or social/cultural challenges.
Interns at the Center for Developmental Behavioral Health participate in a didactic seminar in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (C-BIT) early in the training year. They participate in weekly interdisciplinary case discussions on the ERP and CBIT models. They may also choose to receive training in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT) and take cases in that model.
Being a multidisciplinary setting, interns work collaboratively with colleagues from allied professions (i.e. social workers, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners) to enhance assessment and treatment. Clinicians also frequently consult with school staff and other professionals inside and outside of the Institute to achieve maximum progress in treatment.
The Center for Developmental Behavioral Health training program aims to prepare students to function as psychologists in a wide range of settings including medical centers, hospitals, private practice, and institutions working with multi-disciplinary teams. Interns trained in our program will develop unique skills in utilizing evidence-based modalities in treating a wide range of childhood externalizing and internalizing difficulties through family therapy, individual therapy, and group therapy.