The clerkship is offered through the North Hills location, which provides psychotherapeutic services for families with children through the age of 18.  The Center provides comprehensive services to families in which physical and/or sexual abuse has taken place or where there is a risk of abuse and/or neglect.   The clinic population is ethnically and socio-economically diverse.

Testing Duties and Contracted Hours

Psycho-diagnostic Seminar                                                        1 hour

Individual supervision                                                                  1 hour

Testing*                                                                                   13 hours

*(Administration, scoring, interpretation and report writing) 15 hours per week total

Application Procedures

Prerequisite: You must have taken and completed testing graduate coursework before applying for this clerkship.  Please send your resume, a copy of two testing reports (those written for class are fine) and three references.  The name of your testing professor should be one of your references.

Send above information to the attention of:

sschmidt@childguidance.org

Questions and Answers

1) When does the training program begin?

The training begins the first week of September and continues until August 31.  Orientation will take place on two full days during the first two weeks of September.  You will be allotted 2 weeks (30 hours) vacation time during the training year, with sick time as necessary but not to exceed 15 hours.  The center is closed between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.

2) Am I required to be at the center on any particular day?

You will be expected to be at the center on Thursdays from 9:30 to 10:30 for the testing seminar.  You may schedule your testing and related activities in blocks of time on days that are best for you.  Your individual supervision is to be arranged with your supervisor.  You are to be at the center for all of your other hours besides supervision and the seminar.  Testing is generally scheduled in the mornings.

3) What kind of training should I expect to receive?

Training will include the administration, scoring and interpretation of both brief and comprehensive batteries including tests of cognitive abilities, academic achievement and emotional and developmental functioning of children and adolescents.  You will gain experience in using measurements that assist in diagnosing specific disorders, e.g., ADHD, PTSD, learning disabilities/ processing disorders, and mood disorders.

The psychodiagnostic seminar and individual supervision includes the following topics: projective measures, cognitive and achievement measures, trauma measures, Rorschach, the Integrated Visual and Auditory continuous performance test, depression and anxiety measures, object relations measure, behavior checklists, tests of developmental delays, autistic spectrum disorder measures, report writing, and conducting feedback sessions.  You conduct both brief pre-psychiatry testing and full batteries.  By the end of your clerkship, you will have completed  20-30 test batteries, including your findings, diagnosis, recommendations for treatment and referrals.

Supervisory Staff at North Hills

Director: JESSICA A. CARD, Ph.D.

Jennifer Vargas-Carmona, Ph.D.

Director of Training/Crisis Coordinator

Sue Schmidt, Ph.D.

Psychodiagnostic Coordinator

PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING CLERKSHIP AGREEMENT (PDF link)