Past Interns' Consultation Projects
As part of their training, interns complete a consultation project and also do outreach or workshops. Sometimes the consultation project is a workshop. Below are listed some of the projects that recent interns have completed.
2009-2010 Interns
Consultation Projects
Amy Cox
For my consultation project, I worked with Dr. Paterson to organize and improve the Treatment-Resistant Depression Group. Over the course of the project, I researched and added activities and handouts, and organized new and existing materials into a convenient, portable binder for each client's use in group and at home. I elicited feedback on new activities and handouts from Dr. Paterson and group members.
Andre Peri
I completed a consultation project with the Gentle Path program focused on teaching patients mindfulness meditation skills to cope with cravings. As part of the Gentle Path program, patients are required to do complete daily meditations each morning, however, a number of patients did not know how to mediate and requested instructions. Every sixth week, I conducted a hour long lecture in which I provided instructions for meditations and discussed how meditation strengthens the skills of mindfulness which can be used to cope with cravings. These lectures included in vivo brief meditation practice to facilitate learning. Finally, for patients who participated in the Sober Living program at Gentle Path, I conducted weekly 30 minute group sessions which focused on utilizing mindfulness meditation to cope with craving. These sessions focused on rationale for use and practical problem solving on incorporating mindfulness in daily living.
Christina Williams
While on the child and adolescent rotation at Pine Belt Mental Healthcare Resources (PBMHR) I provided consultation to a therapist working with a child with Asperger's Syndrome. As this was the PBMHR therapist's first time working with an individual on the Autism Spectrum, I provided consultation by providing resources, engaging in treatment planning meetings, and also conducting co-therapy with the therapist and patient. After collaborating with the PBMHR therapist on case conceptualization, treatment planning, and resources for future sessions, I attended therapy sessions less frequently until eventually phasing myself out of the sessions at the end of the rotation.
Outreach
Amy Cox, Andre Peri, and Christina Williams
The three interns and Dr. Michele Larrow, the Director of Training, worked together on a presentation for mental health professionals at Pine Grove. The 2-hour talk was “Psychotherapy as the Intersection of Cultures”. This was a talk that was offered for continuing education for psychologists. Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.
Amy Cox
Mindfulness Presentations at Gentle Path
During the Additions Rotation, I volunteered to do lead three groups that taught mindfulness concepts and provided mindfulness practice. For the first group, I presented a powerpoint lecture that explained the main concepts of mindfulness, including the difference between “doing” and “being” and the four main skills of mindful practice, including awareness, nonjudgmental observation, staying in the moment, and beginner's mind. During this presentation, we did a brief awareness of breath meditation, and a “Thoughts on a Leaf” visualization exercise.
The second group consisted of experiential exercises. They included a brief awareness of breath meditation, a Mountain Meditation visualization exercise, a mindfulness walk on the grounds of Gentle Path, and a brief art expression where the patients were encouraged to express artistically what was going on in their minds and body.
The third group consisted of a brief review of mindfulness concepts, a prolonged awareness of breath exercise, body scan, and Lake Meditation and visualization exercise.
2008-2009 Interns
Jude Henningsgaard
Jude did a workshop at Pine Belt Adult Services for Professionals on “Case Management and the Challenges of Working with Personality Disorders (Especially Borderlines)”. Dr. Linda Cox, a psychologist at Pine Belt adult services, supervised this project.
Kelly Leasure
Kelly helped Dr. Craig Paterson, a Psychologist at Pine Grove Outpatient Services, to develop some Cognitive-Behavioral resources for his Chronic Depression group and ran several of the educational sessions of the group.
Regina McConley
Regina completed a research project with Dr. Geralyn Datz in the area of Pain Treatment. She worked with pain patients and did evaluations, completed pain assessments, and collected and helped analyze the data. They presented their research at APA:
Datz, G., McConley, R. L., Payne, K. T., Schenck, J. E., & Suozzi, A. (August, 2009). Pain
catastrophizing predicts post-treatment Pain-Patient Profile ® Scores. Poster presented
at American Psychological Association Annual Conference. Toronto, Canada.
2007-2008 Interns
Consultation Projects
Carrie Swift
I served as a consultant to area Head Start/Early Head Start agencies. Specifically, I worked with them to increase parent/guardian attendance at staff development workshops. I also provided a three-hour presentation at each of the three staff development workshops they held for the Head Start centers in surrounding counties. The presentations focused on: increasing knowledge about mental health disorders in children, identifying warning signs and symptoms of mental health problems, behavioral interventions that can be used with special needs children, and the association between stress, effective parenting/teaching, and child abuse.
My consultation project was a rewarding experience. The teachers, staff, and parents/guardians were very appreciative of the information and resources I provided. In addition, the opportunity allowed me to serve the community and expand my skills as a professional.
Shannon Sticken
I spoke with Dr. Stephanie Hillman at Oak Harbor and Clearview Counseling Center to assess what type of services her team would need. Clearview Counseling Center is a 30-day in-patient drug and alcohol treatment facility. Oak Harbor is a residential treatment facility for individuals who are coming out of in-patient treatment – they provide counseling and transitional living. I presented a 2-hour presentation at Oak Harbor on 2 treatment programs that I have worked with (which were substance abuse treatment facilities for adolescents and adults). I also discussed my dissertation in which I created a substance abuse program for high school students. I brought several handouts that I made for all 3 programs, and I discussed different creative activities that involved art and music therapy. I presented for a room of about 15 people. I asked the staff members to complete a survey on how effective and helpful this information was for them. They reported that it was very helpful and some wanted more information on adolescents/adults. This provided me with a great opportunity to get to know others in the community. I really enjoyed working with Dr. Hillman – she is a valuable individual to the recovering community. You will be expected to write a report on your consultation project.
Leslie Rogers
Leslie worked with Dr. Linda Cox, the Clinical Director at Pine Belt Mental Healthcare Resources on Adult Services. She helped Pine Belt to develop professional training with the clinicians that work for them in some of the surrounding counties.
Outreach
Shannon Sticken and Carrie Swift
Shannon and Carrie did a presentation from mental health consumers at Pine Belt’s annual consumer conference. Their talk was on Managing Stress and involved both experiential exercises and discussion.
Leslie Rogers
Leslie did two training workshops for professionals on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, including one with Dr. Larrow, the Director of Training. She also presented to a group of police officers on making choices in life based on values.
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