The theoretical orientation of the internship supervisors are psychodynamic/systems. In supervision, interns present cases, discuss application of clinical theories to the practice of therapy, and bring up professional and personal issues relevant to their clinical work. In keeping with the scholar/practitioner model of training, after supervision meetings supervisors distribute professional articles, and each article addresses some theme, clinical problem, or professional issue that emerges in the course of that meeting.
Each week interns receive two hours of INDIVIDUAL SUPERVISION on their outpatient clinical work: one hour with the Director of Training, Dr. Alla Volovich who serves as a primary supervisor for all predoctoral interns and one hour with either Dr. Sachi Inoue, Dr. Katherine Eng or Dr. Alexander Zinchenko. Also weekly, Clara Kwun, LCSW, provides an hour of GROUP SUPERVISION for outpatient clinical cases. Depending on their clinical interests, interns can choose to attend either one or two other supervision groups: Group Supervision on Child Cases with Dr. Michael Litter or Group Supervision Psychodynamic Conceptualization of Working with Severely Mentally Ill Adults with Dr. Thomas Zurfluh (attendance of at least one of these groups is required).
Dr. Volovich also provides one hour per week of GROUP SUPERVISION on interns' Cultural Competency Projects.
The interns also receive bi-weekly SUPERVISION ON PSYCHODIAGNOSTIC TESTING . Dr. Anastasya Glezerman, Supervising Psychologist at RAMS provides an hour of bi-weekly individual consultation on the conceptualization, implementation and execution of interns' testing cases. Additionally, the interns participate in a weekly one and a half hour GROUP SUPERVISION/ASSESSMENT SEMINAR. In this settings, the interns' skills in administering and scoring psychodiagnostic tests are shored up, and they are exposed to the information, including supervisors’ and group feedback, problem-solving strategies, literature, and research data, needed to enhance their testing skills and to complete the required comprehensive testing reports. These reports use the Mental Status Exam, neuropsychological screening, the Wechsler tests, MMPI and the Rorschach as cornerstones and a solid grounding in these techniques are required. Basic familiarity with TAT/CAT, MCMI, Trails A&B, WRAT, and Incomplete Sentence Blank is also expected. All aspects of testing from clarification of the referral question to sharing feedback with client and providing consultation to referring therapist are covered.
In addition, interns receive weekly ROTATION SUPERVISION at each of the Clinical Rotation Sites. These are conducted during hour-long team meetings as well as individually.
Together, individual and group supervision establish a venue for didactic instruction that meets the particular needs of the intern group as it faces the unique populations served at RAMS.