Training of interns and practicum students at community mental health centers

Abstract

This study assessed training experiences offered to interns and graduate students at 464 federally funded community mental health centers. Doctoral level internship programs existed at 128 centers, and practicum training was offered at 240 settings. Questionnaires filled out by directors reveal that although the majority of training programs are not as yet APA-approved, they have become an important component in the training network in terms of the number of students being trained. Training and exceptional areas of training are still in traditional clinical areas. However, there has been an evolution of training in community mental health/community psychology areas which is still gaining momentum. Data are presented on consultation settings, orientations to consultation, and the availability of training in consultation. The need for directing effort at obtaining financial support for training is indicated.

What we know about predoctoral internship training: A review.

“…Articles have described training in pediatric settings (Kenny & Bauer, 1975), emergency rooms (Simone, Levit, Kane-Levit, Kassee, & Layton, 1989; Zimet & Weissberg, 1979), medical schools (Shows, 1976; Sheridan, 1981), community mental health centers (Zolik, Bogat, & Jason, 1983), consortia (May, 1986), health maintenance organizations (Belar, 1986), and rural settings (Singer & Heyman, 1986). Most of these articles offer a description of training models and stress the positive aspects of training in each particular setting.…”

Prevention training for minority mental health professionals.

“…This section presents the contents of one such model that could be considered in preparing mental health professionals to work in the area of prevention, especially with ethnic minority populations. Although few references currently exist for those interested in designing prevention curricula, Zolik (1983) and Price (1983) represent two useful resources in this area.…”

Improving the continuity between undergraduate psychology and graduate community psychology: Analysis and case study

“…The first, captured particularly well by Iscoe, Bloom, and Spielberger (1977), is the challenge involved in designing suitable graduate-level programs. A far more disquieting theme, however, is a tone of increasing pessimism about whether any manner of organizing graduate education in community psychology can meet this challenge (Glidewell, 1966(Glidewell, , 1977(Glidewell, , 1983Zolik, 1983). One factor that has been proposed as placing a limit on the growth of the field is the lack of a critical mass of well-trained, graduate-level community psychologists in applied and academic settings (Elias, Dalton, Franco, & Howe, 1984;Zolik, 1983).…”

“…A far more disquieting theme, however, is a tone of increasing pessimism about whether any manner of organizing graduate education in community psychology can meet this challenge (Glidewell, 1966(Glidewell, , 1977(Glidewell, , 1983Zolik, 1983). One factor that has been proposed as placing a limit on the growth of the field is the lack of a critical mass of well-trained, graduate-level community psychologists in applied and academic settings (Elias, Dalton, Franco, & Howe, 1984;Zolik, 1983). In the literature on professional socialization, a critical mass of adherents is regarded as necessary to enrich the base of knowledge and practice and to provide visibility for a field's activities and purposes (Elias, Dalton, & Howe, 1981;Parker & Paisley, 1966).…”