Internship Training in Clinical Psychology - McLean Hospital ...

3) Intern Support: There are a variety of significant resources available that are specifically
designed to support an intern’s professional and personal development.
CORE PROGRAM
I. BEHAVIORAL HEALTH PARTIAL HOSPITAL PROGRAM:
A) Overview
• The Behavioral Health Partial Hospital Program is the intern’s primary clinical training
placement (30 +/- hours per week). The BHP is an integrated program that treats patients in
all major DSM-IV diagnostic categories. It provides sophisticated psychosocial and milieu
treatments which are empirically informed and adapted to the current behavioral health
practices, the efficacy of which is evaluated by the BHP’s active treatment outcome research
initiatives. Specialty tracks within BHP include: the Mood and Anxiety Program (MAP), the
Borderline Personality Disorder Program, and the General Adult Psychiatry Program (GAP)
for Bipolar and Psychotic Disorders. The BHP plays a critical role in providing a
comprehensive array of clinical services that allow patients to either avoid the need for
inpatient hospitalization or to help them build necessary skills to facilitate the smooth
transition from the crisis stabilization functions of inpatient care to the far less intensive
resources available in most outpatient settings.
• The Behavioral Health Partial Hospital Program is an active and well integrated component
of the McLean system of care. During the past year, there were over 850 admissions (70+
admissions per month). The BHP provides an impressive range of individual and group
therapy as well as diagnostic services. A substantial number of patients are referred from
McLean inpatient units with the remainder from local hospitals, community mental health
centers, private practitioners and self-referrals.
• Interns engage in a variety of professional activities including: individual and group
psychotherapy, consultation, assessment, evaluation, psychosocial milieu treatments and
case management.
• Interns play a critical role in the BHP Consultation-Liaison Service (C/L) where they
provide clinical assessments and follow-up treatments as members of this closely supervised
service.
• Group therapy is a major component of treatment in the BHP and here, too, interns play a
central role. They lead, co-lead and often develop many of the program’s therapy groups.
Interns are assigned to groups based on their interests, training and programmatic needs.
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