Clinical Training Sites
Clinical training sites have spanned across the URMC enterprise, from our Strong Memorial Hospital campus to our outpatient clinics in downtown Rochester. Offerings vary year to year - below are examples of current and past training sites.
Inpatient Sites:
Inpatient Medicine in Psychiatry (IMIP) is a unique 20-bed unit that offers psychiatric treatment concurrent with treatment for serious medical illnesses. Psychology interns function as full members of a multidisciplinary team and play a key role in staff training and suicide risk assessments and safety planning. Frequently-used treatment modalities include brief motivational interventions to promote healthy behavior for patients with harmful substance use or chronic medical conditions, brief bedside counseling for depression, anxiety, and adjustment problems, and assessment and intervention plans for patients with difficult behaviors.
If you're interested in learning more about the impetus for psychology's integration into this unit, read preliminary psychology/iMIP collaborative research at this link.
Adult Inpatient Psychiatry Interns work with adults and older adults in an acute psychiatric inpatient setting that spans across multiple units. Patients are admitted for acute psychiatric crises, including but not limited to suicidality and psychosis. Interns conduct psychological testing, provide consultation to multidisciplinary teams, and work with patients by providing individual and group therapy. Interns develop skills working in a fast-paced setting and responding to a variety of patient and staff needs.
Inpatient Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is a 20 bed unit that offers rehabilitation services to individuals recovering from complex illness and injury. The training provided on this service focuses on the development of skills working as part of an inpatient interdisciplinary team serving individuals recovering from and adapting to a wide range of illnesses, injuries, and disabilities. Exposure and skill development in neuropsychology is also available during this rotation for interested interns.
Outpatient Sites
Strong Minds is a general adult ambulatory clinic treating those 18 years and older with mental health presentations ranging from mood disorders to psychosis. Interns engage in assessment and treatment of adult outpatients and participate in weekly multidisciplinary team meetings. Clinical settings and caseloads are tailored to personal learning goals and with an effort to ensure exposure to patients with diverse cultural backgrounds, clinical presentations, and needs. One-to-one supervision occurs with both faculty and community clinicians. Options for group psychotherapy training and practice is also offered.
Highland Family Medicine is a primary care setting that has provided services to the Rochester community under the Family Practice specialty since 1967. A full range of services is available, including mental health. Interns have the opportunity to address common behavioral health concerns (anxiety, depression) while also learning about how to provide brief models of care in response to stress secondary to health problems in a largely underserved patient population. The intern closely collaborates with clinicians across the practice and also participates in a weekly interprofessional treatment team.
Telehealth/Geriatrics is a unique training opportunity that focuses on the development of clinical intervention skills via a telehealth platform working with an aging population residing in long-term care and skilled nursing facilities in both rural and urban regions of New York state. Interns have the opportunity to provide consultation to multidisciplinary healthcare teams and can focus on development of integrated care skills.
Interventions for Changes in Emotions, Perception, and Thinking (INTERCEPT) Program: An outpatient clinic for people ages 15-28 who are considered to be at clinical high-risk (CHR) for the development of a psychotic disorder in the next 1-2 years. Interns doing a major rotation at the INTERCEPT Program will be part of a multidisciplinary team including psychologists, social workers, nurse practitioners, licensed mental health counselors, researchers, and graduate students. Interns will complete comprehensive intake batteries, see patients for individual treatment sessions, participate in groups, and conduct additional (i.e., non-intake) assessments as needed. INTERCEPT opened in 2022. As with other CHR programs, the goal of treatment is to prevent the onset of a psychotic disorder. Interns completing a rotation at the INTERCEPT Program will obtain an in-depth experience in the field of risk factors for psychosis, and preventive treatment. Assessment measures include the SIPS (Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk States) and the Positive Symptoms and Diagnostic Criteria for the CAARMS Harmonized with the SIPS (PSYCHS), in addition to other measures related to mood, anxiety, and substance abuse. Individual treatment will include supportive, emotion-focused, cognitive-behavioral, and psychodynamic approaches depending on the needs of the patient. INTERCEPT is a site for multiple research studies, and is participating in the NIMH-funded Accelerating Medicines Partnership ProNET study.
Lazos Fuertes is a URMC Spanish-language outpatient mental health clinic serving Spanish-speaking adults (18+). Lazos offers medication management, as well as individual and group therapy, with care provided by a multidisciplinary bilingual team of psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, therapists, and administrative staff. As one of the only bilingual, bicultural mental health services outside of New York City, Lazos Fuertes is an unmatched resource for the large Latinx community in Western New York. This elective focuses on the development of assessment and intervention (individual and group) skills with Spanish-speaking adults, as well as skills working with an interdisciplinary team. Opportunities for involvement in research with Spanish-speakers are also available. Interns must be proficient in Spanish to qualify for this training opportunity.
Deaf Wellness: The Deaf Wellness Center (DWC) is a program of the University of Rochester Medical Center, based in its Department of Psychiatry. The DWC staff engage in clinical services, teaching, and research activities that pertain to mental health, healthcare, sign language interpreting, and other topics that affect the lives of people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Intern training at this setting focuses on the development of assessment and intervention skills with Deaf individuals. Interns must be proficient in American Sign Language (ASL).
University Mental Health Practice (UMHP) is housed within the Collaborative Care Division of the Department of Psychiatry, University Mental Health Practice (UMHP) provides outpatient psychological and psychiatric services for individuals who require specialized treatments. Faculty provide care for a variety of complex concerns, including: chronic pain, trauma, mood and anxiety disorders, and pre-surgical psychiatric evaluations. The training focus for this setting centers on evidence based approaches in health psychology, working with medically complex patients, and interdisciplinary collaboration.