The Duke Child & Family Study Center and the Duke Hospital clinics—where supervised assessments, treatment and consultation are provided for a broad range of children, adolescents and families treated at Duke University Medical Center—are the primary training sites for child psychology interns.
The Child Psychology track offers four concentration options. Applicants may select only one concentration. Interns spend approximately 50% of their time in their area of concentration.
After matching to Duke, interns will rank their preferences for elective rotations based on their interests, training goals and rotation availability.
Concentration Options
The child clinical autism concentration intern, the only intern with a placement in the Duke Center for Autism & Brain Development, should have some background or special interest in autism.
The Duke Center for Autism & Brain Development provides a wide range of clinical services for children, adolescents and young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The center’s multidisciplinary team is comprised of licensed psychologists, board-certified child psychiatrists, licensed clinical social workers, behavior analysts and a pediatrician.
Center faculty and staff strive to provide patient-centered, coordinated team-based care and collaborate closely with experts from a wide range of medical subspecialties, including:
- Pediatric neurologists
- Pediatric primary care physicians
- Speech-language pathologists
- Medical geneticists
- Gastroenterologists
- Developmental pediatricians
These interdisciplinary collaborations foster a comprehensive model of care that is designed to address the complex medical and behavioral health needs of individuals and families who seek services through the center.
Rotation Details
The autism rotation offers numerous clinical experiences, including evidence-based evaluation and treatment of ASD and other neurodevelopmental disorders. In the evaluation component of the rotation, interns gain first-hand experiences administering, scoring and interpreting diagnostic and assessment tools, preparing psychological reports and collaborating with the clinical team.
In the intervention component, interns may be involved in the provision of individual, family and group therapy services. Opportunities to participate in infant-toddler diagnostic evaluations are available. In addition, interns are introduced to early behavioral intervention, based on the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM). The ESDM is a comprehensive behavioral early intervention approach for children with autism aged 12 to 48 months that has been validated in a randomized clinical trial.
Finally, interns participate in case consultations and are encouraged to pursue opportunities to take part in school-based consultations, community presentations and other training experiences. Supervision is provided in individual and group formats. Interns also gain supervisory experience by providing peer supervision to graduate student trainees.
In addition to the clinical training experiences, the rotation involves active participation in a weekly didactic seminar. The didactic series provides exposure to ongoing clinical research that is focused on innovative evaluation and treatment approaches.
Supervisors
Elective Rotations
After matching to Duke, interns will rank their preferences for two or three other elective rotations.
The child clinical trauma concentration intern, the only intern with a placement in the Center for Child and Family Health (CCFH), should have some background or special interest in trauma.
CCFH is a collaborative endeavor of Duke University, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, North Carolina Central University and Child and Parent Support Services. CCFH is a community-based, multi-disciplinary setting that specializes in the assessment and treatment of children and families who have experienced trauma.
Social services, schools, law enforcement or the court have referred many of the families who receive services at CCFH. CCFH serves an ethnically diverse clientele, and the majority of the children and families served are low-income or Medicaid-eligible clients.
Services offered at CCFH include:
- Early intervention and prevention services
- Assessment of traumatic sequelae
- Trauma-focused treatment
- Forensic evaluations
- Family and legal support
Rotation Details
The rotation at CCFH involves working primarily with evidence-based treatments with a culturally diverse clientele of traumatized youth and their families. Interns have opportunities to learn several trauma informed interventions (e.g., Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy). Interns also utilize a range of treatment modalities, including:
- Individual therapy with children and adolescents
- Family therapy
- Parent education
- Intensive in-home treatment
- Community-based interventions
- Group interventions with children, adolescents and parents
The intern serves as a liaison with multiple community agencies, including schools, social services and the court system, for each assigned case and also participates in initial evaluations and limited psychological assessments.
Interns on this rotation participate in a year-long didactic series on trauma and trauma-informed interventions and services. Live and video-based supervision are available. Supervision is generally conducted through a combination of individual and treatment specific group discussions, as well as multi-disciplinary team presentations.
Supervisors
- George (Tripp) Ake, PhD
- Ernestine Briggs-King, PhD
- Karen Carmody, PhD
- Kelly Sullivan, PhD
- Angela Tunno, PhD
Visit the Center for Child and Family Health website for more information.
Elective Rotations
After matching to Duke, interns will rank their preferences for two or three other elective rotations.
The child clinical general concentration intern spends two days per week conducting assessments in the Outpatient Pediatric Neuropsychology Clinic. After matching to Duke, they will rank their preferences for two or three other elective rotations to maximize their interests and training goals.
The role of the intern is to assess neuropsychological and psychological changes secondary to disease processes and/or treatment regimen. The clinic is located at the Duke Child and Family Study Center. The focus for the pediatric psychology intern may include evaluation of patients from the following clinics:
- Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Program
- Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
- Pediatric Neuro-Oncology
- Pediatric Neurology and Neurosurgery (Epilepsy Monitoring Unit; Autoimmune Brain Disease Clinic)
- Pediatric Genetics
- Undiagnosed Disease Network Program
Supervisors
Elective Rotations
After matching to Duke, interns will rank their preferences for two or three other elective rotations.
The child clinical pediatric psychology concentration intern must have some background or special interest in pediatric psychology. This intern spends the majority their time engaged in pediatric psychology clinical work through three mechanisms:
- Outpatient Neuropsychology Clinic (2-3 days/week)
- Consultation-Liaison Service (1 day/week)
- Pediatric Chronic Pain & Somatic Symptoms Program (1 day/week)
Outpatient Pediatric Neuropsychology Clinic
The role of the intern is to assess neuropsychological and psychological changes secondary to disease processes and/or treatment regimen. The clinic is located at the Duke Child and Family Study Center. The focus for the pediatric psychology intern may include evaluation of patients from the following clinics:
- Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Program
- Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
- Pediatric Neuro-Oncology
- Pediatric Neurology and Neurosurgery (Epilepsy Monitoring Unit; Autoimmune Brain Disease Clinic)
- Pediatric Genetics
- Undiagnosed Disease Network Program
Consultation-Liaison Service
The pediatric psychology intern also works as part of the Child Psychiatry Consultation-Liaison (CL) service at Duke Children’s Hospital. The CL service is a multidisciplinary team that includes psychologists, child psychiatrists, social work case manager, residents, fellows and medical students. The CL team serves patients throughout the Children’s Hospital with a broad range of conditions.
Consultations are initiated by members of a child’s medical or surgical team. Common reasons that consultation may be requested from psychology include:
- Adjustment to illness
- Coping with acute or chronic pain
- Assessment of emotional or behavioral concerns
- Family coping and support
- Treatment adherence
The intern may participate in initial consults or follow-up care for patients being followed on the service. All of the patients seen by a member of the CL team have been admitted as inpatients to the Children's Hospital.
If continuing mental health services would be helpful after a patient is discharged from a medical floor, they may be referred within Duke or provided with referrals for providers closer to home. Interns may have the option to provide outpatient therapy should the patient’s care remain within Duke.
Pediatric Chronic Pain and Somatic Symptoms Program
The pediatric psychology intern may have the opportunity to work in this multidisciplinary program serving youth with a variety of chronic pain conditions. The treatment team is composed of psychologists, physicians, nurse practitioners, social workers, physical therapists and occupational therapists.
As part of this rotation, the intern provides initial evaluations as well as weekly CBT for chronic pain; participates in weekly case conferences; and serves as a consultant to other members of the treatment team as well as to patients’ schools. This outpatient clinic takes place at The Duke Child and Family Study Center.
Program Staff
Pediatric psychology is composed of medical psychology faculty, post-doctoral fellows, interns, clinical psychology graduate students, psycho-diagnostic technicians and support staff who work in a hierarchical supervision model.
Didactics
Pediatric psychology interns are required to attend Pediatric Grand Rounds on a monthly basis. Depending on specific interests, interns can also attend other didactics including crossover rounds, epilepsy conference, palliative care, transplant academia, etc.
Current research by pediatric psychology faculty focuses on coping with chronic childhood illness and on the cognitive and behavioral changes associated with disease processes and treatment. Interns have the opportunity to participate in these projects.
Supervisors
- Kyla Machell Blalock, PhD
- Melanie J. Bonner, PhD
- Erin Denio, PhD
- Katherine Donlon, PhD
- Sarah O’Rourke, PhD
Elective Rotations
After matching to Duke, interns will rank their preferences for two or three other elective rotations.