Adjunct Faculty Instructor
Abby Callis, Psy.D., is a staff clinician at FSGC and provides a short-term weekly Rorschach class, including standard administration, scoring and interpretation as well as supervision to Bachelor's level psychology students. She also teaches in the Intern Seminar. She has completed her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the Florida School of Professional Psychology, Tampa and completed her Pre-Doctoral Internship at FSGC. Her clinical interests include play therapy, trauma work, particularly after loss, crisis work, projective assessment and community presentations. She is also an adjunct professor at Washburn University.
Evaluation of Intern Performance
Interns are evaluated by their supervisors two times during the year; at the mid-point and at the end of the training year in the 4th quarter. Supervisors provide ongoing feedback about the intern's progress and performance during the course of training. Evaluations are conducted using The Child Psychology Intern Competency Assessment Form (CPICAF). This form contains objectives, competencies, and rating scales for all supervised activities that an intern will undertake during the training year. At the beginning of the training year, interns will be asked to evaluate their current level of clinical skill on a variety of dimensions using this form. This self-rating along with early observation by supervisors will serve as a baseline from which to evaluate intern growth and professional development during the training year. Interns are encouraged to develop professional goals for the year and for each supervision process based on their individual needs and preferences.
Internship Evaluation
Twice a year, at six months and at completion, the interns are asked to evaluate the internship program and each supervisor in terms of quality, substance, and learning obtained through the training experience.
Interns will also meet with a member of the executive management committee and asked to complete an evaluation of the internship and their training experience at FSGC at the conclusion of their internship.
Didactic and Clinical Courses
FSGC provides a 2-hour didactic once a week that interns are required to attend. The topics relate to one of four core areas; diagnosis/treatment, multicultural/diversity, ethics, and professional development. These presentations are geared for the intern's present educational level and are aimed at enhancing and adding to the intern's knowledge base. These presentations are open to agency staff and select clinicians from the community. Presenters come from agency staff and clinicians practicing in the community. Interns are required to give one presentation in this forum during the training year and may elect to present either a clinical case or a topic related to clinical issues. Many interns use this as an opportunity to share work from their dissertation or area of clinical interest.
A sampling of the previous years topics include: transcultural issues for the psychotherapist, out patient treatment of eating disorders, collaborative supervision, conducting a mental status exam with children and adolescents, parenting and custody evaluations, ethics in clinical practice, developmental lines of trauma in children, overview of current psychotropic medications, normal child development, and diagnosis and treatment related issues for children with brain injuries.
Interns also participate in a 1- hour didactic each week that is geared specifically to their training needs. In the early part of the training year, these courses prepare the intern for work at FSGC providing orientation to the agency, its paperwork, and services available. Once orientation is complete, the interns are introduced to the basics of interviewing, intake, and diagnostic evaluation. This is followed by specific classes in diagnosis, psychological testing, individual, group, and family treatment approaches, outcome evaluation, ethics in clinical practice, issues in professional development, and multicultural and diversity issues. This series of courses differs from the agency wide didactic in several ways. 1) It is designed specifically for the intern and is a thoughtfully planned sequence of courses intended to provide an increasingly challenging degree of conceptual and clinical mastery. 2) It is taught almost exclusively by licensed clinical psychologists and aids in the development of professional identity. 3) The courses are attended only by pre-doctoral psychology interns and because of its small size offer greater opportunity for in-depth discussion and exploration. 4) Interns have the opportunity to bring in current clinical cases as relevant to the material being presented and integrate clinical practice with theory and research.
These course presentations are intended not only for the dissemination of clinical research and practice, but to enhance the intern's conceptual thinking and professional development. Interns will have the opportunity to discuss relevant clinical modalities, theories, and research and use this forum as a means of furthering their own perspectives, confidence, and clinical approaches.
Weekly Schedule
Interns are expected to work towards conducting approximately 15 hours of clinical work a week. This includes intakes, individual therapy, group therapy, case consultation, psychological testing, and family therapy/parent guidance. Interns receive 2 hours of individual supervision, 1 hour of testing supervision, 1 1/2 hour of play therapy and 1 or more hours of live family therapy supervision each week. In addition to the hours described above, interns attend a once a week 2-hour agency wide didactic and a 1 hour seminar specific to pre doctoral interns. The remaining hours are for paperwork and clinically related activities. The work week is 40 hrs and although there may be times when interns work more (particularly around the completion of test reports) interns are encouraged not to exceed the 40 hr week.
Stipend and Benefits
Interns receive an annual stipend and the following benefits
(effective January 1, 2005):
Annual stipend of $21,000.00
Nine paid holidays
Two weeks paid annual leave
Five days of educational leave (may be utilized for dissertation related work)
$350.00 for workshop and conference expenses
One day of sick leave per month
Mileage reimbursement based on prevailing government approved standard a mile for required travel to clinical/ training related appointments (except to and from work) and team meetings.
Low cost medical and dental coverage is also available.
