Clinical Child and Pediatric Psychology Experiences

The Clinical Child and Pediatric Psychology area offers two separate internship tracks.

  1. Combined Clinical Child & Pediatric Psychology Track
  2. Pediatric Psychology Intensive Track

Combined Clinical Child & Pediatric Psychology Track

On this track, the intern will be exposed to a variety of clinical child and pediatric psychology experiences through rotations: (1) General Child Psychoeducational Assessment, (2) Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, (3) Child Health, and (4) Autism and Neurodevelopment. Interns will also provide outpatient therapy across the year to children, adolescents and families addressing internalizing, externalizing and child health issues.

General Child Psychoeducational/Psychological Assessment Rotation

Supervisors: Joe McNamara, Ph.D., Melanie Nelson, Ph.D.,

During this rotation, interns will conduct outpatient psychoeducational evaluations, primarily focused on diagnoses of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, learning disabilities, and comorbid conditions such as mood and anxiety disorders. Generally, these evaluations include intellectual, academic, and emotional and behavioral assessment, but can also include developmental disability and personality assessment. Interns have the opportunity to conduct assessment interviews, administer and interpret a battery of tests, and provide feedback to families.

Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy

Supervisors: Joe McNamara, Ph.D., Melanie Nelson, Ph.D.

Interns will have the choice of participating in a rotation with (1) the UF OCD program, which focuses on training and treatment of refractory Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder or (2) Parent-Child Interaction therapy. In the UF OCD program, interns learn cognitive behavioral therapy with exposure and response prevention (CBT-E/RP), an empirically supported treatment for OCD and other anxiety disorders. The OCD program includes intensive outpatient (daily) and weekly outpatient services. Alternatively, interns can train in the delivery of Parent-Child Interaction Training (PCIT) designed to address externalizing behaviors in young children.

School-Based Mental Health

Supervisor: Brenda Wiens, Ph.D.

Interns will provide school-linked mental health services (individual therapy, family therapy, consultation with school staff) for children referred by the School District (grades PreK-12). Interns will have the opportunity to see children with a broad array of presenting problems (behavior problems, ADHD, depression, anxiety, family conflict, abuse histories, developmental disorders, academic problems), psychosocial stressors, and barriers to treatment access. On this service, the intern would carry four weekly therapy cases.

Adolescent Clinic

Supervisors: Joy Gabrielli, Ph.D.

This rotation targets specific mental health needs of adolescent patients and their families with exposure to a range of presenting problems (e.g., mood disorders; anxiety disorders; eating disorders; trauma; family conflict; conduct problems; substance use problems). Interns will also learn to navigate the complexity of parent-child interactions during youth transition to greater independence and autonomy in treatment. Treatment modalities include CBT, MI, TFCBT and family system approaches.

Child Health Rotation

Supervisors: David Janicke, Ph.D., ABPP, David Fedele, Ph.D., ABPP, Alana Rawlinson, Ph.D., Sarah Westen, Ph.D., Kimberly Driscoll, Ph.D., Brenda Wiens, Ph.D.

Interns on Child Health Rotation work in a variety of interdisciplinary clinic settings including Pediatric Pulmonology, Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and Pediatric Sleep Medicine. As an example of this experience, interns on the Pediatric Pulmonary Rotation (under the supervision of David Fedele, Ph.D.) work with patients diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. Psychology is part of a large interdisciplinary team that includes pulmonologists, nurses, social workers, and respiratory therapists. Interns consult with patients and their families during their routine outpatient visits to the Cystic Fibrosis Center or during inpatient hospitalizations to evaluate psychosocial adjustment, medical regimen adherence, and disease management, family functioning and coping. Interns will have the opportunity to pick up individual therapy patients from the patients they assess in the Cystic Fibrosis Center pending appropriate insurance. Interns can work with Drs. Westen and Driscoll in the interdisciplinary Type 1 diabetes clinic. Finally, interns will work with David Janicke, Ph.D., in his Thursday afternoon Behavioral Pediatric Clinic conducting brief, targeted assessments and interventions of children with acute and chronic health conditions, most notably pediatric GI conditions (encopresis/toileting issues, feeding aversion, belly pain). Interns will also work with Dr. Rawlinson conducting inpatient consultation and liaison visits at the UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital

Pediatric Psychology Intensive Track

In this track, the Intern will be exposed to a wide variety of hospital-based work environments and settings, as well as a variety of patient populations, some of which are described below.

Primary supervisors: David Fedele, Ph.D., ABPP, David Janicke, Ph.D., ABPP, Alana Rawlinson, Ph.D., Sarah Westen, Ph.D., Kimberly Driscoll, Ph.D., Erika Cascio, Ph.D., Shelley Heaton, Ph.D., Brenda Wiens, Ph.D.

Interdisciplinary Training

The intern will gain extensive training in the targeted assessment and treatment of children & their families in a variety of interdisciplinary pediatric clinics each lasting for 1– 2 quarters.  These include rotations with the Cystic Fibrosis Center, Type 1 Diabetes Clinic, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic, Infectious Disease, Oncology, Cranio-Facial Clinic and Pediatric Sleep Disorder Clinic in which interns will collaborate with interdisciplinary medical teams to address difficulties with adherence, coping, and quality of life.

Outpatient Behavioral Pediatric Consultation/Clinic

The intern will gain experience for 1– 2 quarters in Dr. Janicke’s outpatient Behavioral Pediatric Clinic to address pediatric feeding disorders, elimination disorders, habit disorders, disease self-management and pain/stress related to irritable bowel syndrome and IBD. Experiences include conducting targeted intakes and brief, problem-focused therapy.

Outpatient Therapy

The intern will receive year-long training in CBT and other intervention strategies to address coping and disease self-management related to child health conditions, as well as general clinical child issues such as disruptive behavior disorders, anxiety, and depression.

Inpatient Consultation

Throughout the year the intern will receive training in inpatient consultation. Referrals come from the UF Health Children’s Hospital and originate from a variety of medical disciplines. Interns typically receive consultation requests from the following services: pulmonary, gastroenterology, hematology/oncology, and organ transplantation.

*Research Opportunities

Active participation in research related to child health is encouraged. There are ample opportunities to engage in research with one or more faculty on NIH funded trials or other research studies. Opportunities for manuscript preparation are often available.  For more information on our ongoing research in this area please go to our research website.