Externship

Objectives

CCCC is dedicated to make mental health services accessible to the community, and it is accepting a wide array of insurance plans in addition to self-pay and sliding scales. CCCC serves a diverse clientele and has an emphasis on the community as well on the availability of mental health services for all. Clinicians and trainees will provide individual therapy to children, adolescents, adults and geriatric populations. Trainees are also trained to work with couples and families, in addition to having opportunities to participating in groups. CCCC also provides personal and professional coaching for businesses and organization. Trainees will be fully integrated in the clinical and administrative aspects of CCCC, and will have opportunities to participate in didactics, group consultations, clinical meetings, and other training opportunities. Externs/inters are also expected to be actively involved in the psychological testing program, which includes: neuropsychological testing, psycho-educational assessments, bariatric testing, pre-adoption testing, personality assessments, and diagnostic evaluations. Trainees at CCCC will learn the nuances and business sides of private practice, and will be responsible for carrying their therapy caseload and complete psychological evaluations, as determined by their supervisors.

The therapy track practicum placement is an integrative advanced externship, integrating primarily therapy hours with some testing hours. All externs are required to be at practicum (on-site or tele-therapy, as determined by site) for 20 hours/week. The primary aim of the externship is therapy-based, with 9-11 hours being dedicated to providing direct client-contact and to supervision. All externs are required to be on site on Fridays as it is a didactic and supervision day (in addition to clinical services that may be rendered). All externs are required to be available on at least one evening/week or on one Saturday (weekends are available but not mandatory).

In terms of caseload requirements, all externs are to carry a consistent caseload of 8-10 therapy clients/week. Students are also going to be receiving 1-2 DBT Skills Training cases. Students may be expected to split their time between the DC (Eastern Market/ Capitol Hill) and VA (Crystal City) locations. Schedules are determined at the beginning of the year and remain consistent throughout the semesters/ academic year. There is no expectation to go from one office to the other the same day. Schedules are flexible based on room availability and supervisor availability, and are determined over the course of the summer.