General Information
NAAPTC began operating in 1979. It was originally funded by the National Institute of Mental Health as the first program in the USA to focus on development of psychologists with expertise in working with Asian and Pacific Islander populations. In 1980, our Pre-doctoral Internship Program first received an APA accreditation, which it has consistently maintained ever since (the last APA re-accreditation site visit occurred in the spring of 2002).
The clinical internship at RAMS is a full-time year beginning the first week of September and ending the last week in August. The stipend for pre-doctoral internship is $22,942 and post-doctoral internship negotiable. In addition, full health coverage, including medical, visual, dental benefits and life insurance are provided for the interns. Spouses and domestic partners are eligible to purchase coverage through RAMS. The training year includes 192 hours of PTO and ten paid holidays.
To verify the APA-accredited status of the NAAPTC Predoctoral Psychology Internship, please check the American Psychological Association website: http://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation/ or contact the APA Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation. Address: 750 First Street, NE Washington, DC 20002-4242 Phone: 202-336-5979 Email: apaaccred@apa.org
Training Goals and Philosophy
NAAPTC aims to provide the interns with the generalized professional practice skills expected of a clinical psychologist. The goal is to establish proficiency for the clinical assessment and conduct of psychotherapy (individual, family, group & couples) across the life span; skills for intervention with the more disturbed and chronically troubled patient; and clinical sensitivity to diversity.
Development of cultural competency, particularly, in regard to working with Asian, Pacific Islander, and Russian-speaking minorities, is the hallmark of the NAAPTC internship. The mission of our training program is part of a larger organizational mission: to increase the mental health resources for Asian Americans as well as Asian and Russian speaking immigrants and refugees, to enhance the relevance and utility of psychology theories for these populations and other minority groups we serve, to educate other institutions on minority mental health issues, and to promote mutual support and the exchange of ideas among psychologists interested in working with clients of diverse backgrounds.
The interns receive training in brief and longer-term psychotherapy, crisis intervention, and case management. Because of the nature of the client populations they also learn culturally specific treatment strategies and counseling related to post-traumatic stress, mourning, and adaptation to major life changes. While mastering clinical assessment, the interns learn to make the evaluation data relevant to functional life skills, especially for those who are adapting to the American culture. Further, since RAMS emphasizes providing services in naturally occurring environments, the interns become skilled at integrating clinical approaches with community psychology prevention concepts.
The variety of clinical experiences offered through our Outpatient Community Mental Health Clinic, fee-for-service Counseling Center at Asian Family Institute, and the four available Clinical Rotation sites (High School Wellness Center, Hospital Psychiatric Emergency Room, Adult Residential Treatment Facility and Pre-vocational Counseling Services) allows RAMS training program enough flexibility to accommodate specific interests or training needs of each intern. Accordingly, interns have a chance to practice their skills in working with a full range of therapeutic modalities and settings, a full range of mental disorders, and a full range of clients (e.g. age, marital status, ethnicity, etc). The formal training program is designed to complement this intense clinical exposure and to facilitate the interns' growth as clinicians and professional psychologists. For directions to all locations check the Orientation Tour of Rotations document.
Whereas predominantly psychodynamic/systems in approach, Clinical Supervision takes a number of different formats. Interns receive two hours weekly Individual Supervision with two different supervisors. An hour long weekly Group Supervision/Process Group focuses on case presentations and provides group supervision while allowing interns to draw their own experiential conclusions about their formulations and interventions. Psychological Testing Supervision is conducted during an hour and a half weekly Psychological Assessment Seminar/Group Supervision as well as individually (at least 0.5 hour per week, more as needed). The assessment training features both personality and cognitive/neuropsychological tests and addresses adaptation of traditional assessment techniques for culturally diverse populations. There is also weekly group supervision at each of the Clinical Rotations. These supervision experiences establish a venue for didactic instruction that meets the particular needs of the intern group as it faces the unique populations served at RAMS.
The training year starts with an intensive three-week-long Orientation Program. After that, there are two weekly Didactic Seminars one and a half hour each. At these seminars the interns are exposed to clinical and diversity issues within the context of a multidisciplinary treatment team and training cohort: one, which is held on Tuesdays, is a Trainee and Intern Seminar, and the other is held on Wednesday as an In-service Training open to the entire RAMS staff. Approximately half way through the training year, the trainee/intern seminar becomes a Case Conference. Interns and practicum students present their cases to one another, and in this format interns have the opportunity to supervise trainees with less experience as well as practice presenting their own clinical work professionally to peers.
Both supervision and didactic seminars include a strong emphasis on cultural competency. For the first two-three months of the training year, the Intern/Trainee Seminar focuses on the issues of cultural self-awareness. In the Intern and Trainee Case Conference, cultural formulation is required as part of the case formulation write-up; in all clinical discussions pertinent cultural issues are highlighted. Didactic Training too features diversity-focus presentations. This, coupled with the rich diversity of the client population and staff, gives our interns the opportunity to develop clinical sensitivity to cultural issues. In addition, each intern is expected to complete a Cultural Competency Project: Each intern identifies a cultural bias they believe affects his/her clinical work and conducts a clinical study that explores an intersection between relevant clinical and cultural/ social issues.