Welcome
Thank you for your interest! Family Health Center of Worcester offers a rigorous training program for students interested in becoming skilled clinicians. We strive to provide the support and challenges that will allow students to become highly proficient in the craft of psychotherapy and intergrated behavioral health. Interns provide individual, couple, and family therapy to a richly diverse population. Currently we train Social Work Interns, Counseling Interns, and Psychology Interns at Family Health Center. In the past, we have worked with interns from the following graduate programs: Boston University, Boston College, Simmons College, Smith College, William James College, and Springfield College. Overall, we have trained over 40 students in the last seven years.
Description
Program Goals
- Provide individual, couple and family therapy to a richly diverse population
- Help to shape the autonomy of clients
- Coordinating care across the patients care team
- Conducting assessments and developing comprehensive analyses
- Incorporating administration and management within treatment
About Family Health Center of Worcester
Family Health Center of Worcester was originally found in 1972 as Family Health and Social Service Center of Worcester (FHSSC). We have always had social services as well as the primary care as a top priority in the overall care of our patients. Today we serve over 35,000 patients from the greater Worcester area in over 40 different languages. Our services include comprehensive primary care and family medicine, maternal child health, dentistry, mental and integrated behavioral health, a Walk In Center for Urgent and Primary care, a low-cost pharmacy, lab, radiology and digital mammography, a Refugee Health Clinic, a Teen Health clinic, the Homeless Families Program, HIV counseling and testing, health education and promotion programming, and public health programs for the early detection and prevention of disease.
Program Outline
The Behavioral Health Internship Program focuses on preparing skilled clinicians in the field of applied psychotherapy. We strive to encourage our interns to attain a high level of proficiency in psychotherapy. Above all, we strive to shape the autonomy of our clients. We assist clients in figuring out constructive ways to deal with painful emotions, difficult relationships and challenging life circumstances. Interns, when appropriate, will refer clients to work with patient advocates so that they can learn about community resources that can assist them. Interns will also follow best practice model of working to coordinate care and will communicate with primary care physicians and psychiatrists who are part of their client’s treatment team.
The Behavioral Health Interns have the opportunity to conduct risk assessments and triage clients to the appropriate level of care. Interns will conduct biopsychosocial assessments and will learn how to develop comprehensive clinical formulations that showcase hypotheses of how the client was at greater risk of having the presenting problems that led them to seek treatment. Since all interns function like a staff therapist, they will conduct treatment within the framework of managed care which incorporates administering required clinical questionnaires as well as the business aspect of managing authorizations for sessions. Psychology students have the opportunity to perform cognitive and projective testing to help achieve diagnostic clarity and treatment focus.
All interns have the opportunity to attend weekly individual and group supervision as well as a weekly clinical seminar. Students get in-vivo experience of being supervised while conducting therapy sessions. They also have the opportunity to review audio recordings of sessions and utilize process recordings to deepen their reflection and self-evaluation of practice. In the past several years students have had the opportunity to facilitate group supervision of staff involved with ancillary programs in the Behavioral Health Department.
Application
Applicant Qualifications:
- Currently enrolled in a MSW, or PhD/ PsyD program
- Must have ability to do a field placement that is a minimum of 8 months and no less than 16 hours per week.
- Liability insurance (through school or self)
- CORI and vaccinations required
- Comfortable using telephonic language interpretation
- Two letters of recommendation
- Scrubbed Biopsychosocial Assessment
- Bilingual capacity (Spanish/English) is preferred but not required
Contact
Use our Contact Page to get in touch about internship opportunities!